Description:

This workshop series is the continuation of the Foundation of Development Program – Impact on Function, Academics and Social Skills, now exploring the powerful years between ages 2 and 4. This period is marked by explosive language growth, emotional intensity, emerging independence, imaginative play, and the early foundations of executive functioning. It is also when challenges such as rigidity, dysregulation, language delays, and social struggles often begin to surface. Drawing on over four decades of combined pediatric experience, Maude Le Roux partners again with occupational therapist and mother Millicent Viljoen. Maude provides the clinical research, developmental frameworks, and therapeutic insight, while Millicent shares real-life reflections from her parenting journey, enriched with recorded developmental moments that bring theory to life. Across four terms over 12 months, participants will explore development from 24 to 48 months through recorded webinars and live sessions (all recorded for registered attendees). Participants will gain a whole-child lens to better understand behavior, support regulation, and strengthen the foundations that shape later learning, relationships, and identity.

This workshop series will be hosted over a 12-month period and consist of 4 terms of 3 months each, during which recorded webinars and live sessions would be scheduled as noted below. All live sessions will be recorded and made available to attendees registered in the program. To satisfy CE requirements, if you need to miss a live session, you can view the recording and write a summary paragraph regarding your thoughts on the live session and forward it to us to obtain credit.

This workshop series is ideal for:

This program is designed for clinical professionals working with toddlers, preschool and school-aged children, including occupational therapists, speech-language therapists, psychologists, educators, pediatric providers, and early intervention specialists. It is particularly valuable for professionals who find themselves asking, “Why is this child struggling?” and who want to look beyond behavior to the developmental foundation underneath.

The years between 2 and 4 are often when concerns first emerge: emotional intensity, rigidity, language delays, social challenges, impulsivity, sensory sensitivities, or difficulty with transitions. Understanding what is developmentally typical, and what signals vulnerability, is essential for accurate assessment, realistic goal setting, and meaningful intervention. This series especially appropriate for professionals working with older children, as many school-age struggles reflect areas of “stuckness” rooted in the toddler and preschool years.

Outline / Agenda:

First Term July through September 2026

Track 1: From 25 to 30 months

Recorded Webinars released on June 1, 2026

(Watch on demand as individual timetable allows)

1. Sensory, Gross and Fine Motor Skills
2. Play and Socio-Emotional Development

Live session for cohort:  Tuesday, July 8, 2026, from 10am to 12pm US ET (2 hours)

The live sessions will be held on different times of day throughout the year to accommodate for international time zones. The goal of the live sessions would be to discuss clinical cases from the audience to which the foundational developmental milestones may continue to have an impact. Attendees may also formulate questions based on the recorded material for discussion. Live sessions will be recorded and posted on the website for review within one week of the live session.

Recorded Webinars released on July 8, 2026

3. Functional Emotional Developmental Capacity 4 (FEDC4)
4. Communication and Language

Live session for cohort:  Monday, August 3, 2026, from 3 to 5pm ET (2 hours)

Recorded Webinars released on August 5, 2026

5. Activities of Daily Living
6. Building Cognition and problem-solving skills

Live session for cohort:  Tuesday, September 2, 2026, from 7 to 9pm (2 hours)

Second Term October through November 2026

Track 2: From 31 to 36 months

Recorded Webinars released on September 4, 2026

7. Sensory Integration and Refinement of motor planning
8. Evolving social-emotional capacities

Live session for cohort:  Tuesday, October 6, 2026, from 9am to 11pm ET

Recorded Webinars released on October 8, 2026

9. Functional Emotional Developmental Capacity 5 (FEDC5)
10. Language fluency, sentence formation, and pragmatic language skills

Live session for cohort: Tuesday, November 3, 2026, from 3 to 5pm ET 

Recorded Webinars released on November 5, 2026

11. Routines, Transitions, and Autonomy in activities of daily living
12. Cognitive Expansion: Early reasoning, memory, and flexible thinking

Live session for cohort: December 2, 2026, from 7 to 9pm ET (2 hours)

Third Term January through March 2027

Track 3: From 37 to 42 months

Recorded Webinars released on December 4, 2026

13. Praxis and Sensory Integration as Foundations for Functional Participation
14. Sensory Modulation, Emotional Regulation and early roots of executive functioning

Live session for cohort: Tuesday, January 6, 2027, from 10 to 12pm ET (2 hours)

Recorded Webinars released on January 8, 2027

15. Social-problem-solving, peer relationships and perspective taking
16. Language as a tool for thinking, regulating and relating

Live session for cohort: Monday February 1, 2027, from 3 to 5pm ET (2 hours)

Recorded Webinars released on February 3, 2027

17. Autonomy, Identity formation and early moral development
18. Cognitive Integration, Play Complexity, and Pre-school achievement

Live session for cohort:  March 3, 2027, from 7 to 9pm ET (2hours) 

Fourth Term April through June 2027

Track 4: From 42 to 48 months

Recorded Webinars released on March 5, 2027

19. Separation-Individuation and the Consolidation of the Self
20. FEDC6 and the Emergence of Logical Bridges

Live session for cohort: Wednesday, April 14, 2027, from 10 to 12pm ET (2 hours)

Recorded Webinars released on April 16, 2027

21. Autobiographical Self and Narrative Identity Formation
22. Executive Functioning foundations for School Readiness

Live session for cohort:  Monday, May 10, 2027, from 3 to 5pm ET (2 hours)

Recorded Webinars released on May 12, 2027

23. Social Comparison, Moral Development, and Peer identity
24. Cognitive Integration, Symbolic Play Maturity, and Academic Readiness

Final live session for cohort: Wednesday, June 2, 2027, from 7 to 9pm ET (2 hours)

Learning Objectives:

Track 1: 25–30 Months

1. Sensory, Gross/Fine Motor and Play Foundations
   Participants will be able to differentiate typical and atypical sensory-motor and early play indicators in children 25–30 months and identify functional implications for participation.
   Evaluation Method: Post-webinar case vignette with multiple-choice differentiation items.
2. FEDC4 and Early Communication
   Participants will be able to analyze observed behaviors and map them to Functional Emotional Developmental Capacity 4 (FEDC4) and foundational communication skills to determine intervention priorities.
   Evaluation Method: Case-based small group discussion
3. ADLs and Early Problem-Solving
   Participants will be able to select developmentally appropriate supports for activities of daily living and emerging problem-solving skills in toddlers.
   Evaluation Method: Reflective application worksheet

Track 2: 31–36 Months

4. Sensory Integration and Motor Planning Refinement
   Participants will be able to interpret sensory integration and motor planning patterns and predict their impact on functional participation.
   Evaluation Method: Poll questions with clinical reasoning rationale.
5. FEDC5 and Pragmatic Language Development
   Participants will be able to distinguish between emotional developmental capacity (FEDC5), praxis and pragmatic language skill deficits when analyzing dysregulation.
   Evaluation Method: Comparative case analysis exercise
6. Routines, Transitions and Cognitive Expansion
   Participants will be able to design developmentally appropriate strategies to support autonomy, flexibility, and early reasoning within daily routines.
   Evaluation Method: Strategy design template discussion

Track 3: 37–42 Months

7. Praxis, Modulation and Executive Function Foundations
   Participants will be able to explain the relationship between praxis, sensory modulation, emotional regulation, and early executive functioning.
   Evaluation Method: Short-answer knowledge check
8. Peer Relationships and Language for Regulation
   Participants will be able to apply language-based and relational strategies to support peer problem-solving and co-regulation.
   Evaluation Method: Case vignette with intervention selection
9. Autonomy, Identity and Play Complexity
   Participants will be able to evaluate emerging identity formation and recommend play-based interventions that support preschool participation.
   Evaluation Method: Guided reflection with goal-writing exercise.

Track 4: 42–48 Months

10. Separation–Individuation and FEDC6
    Participants will be able to identify markers of separation–individuation and FEDC6 logical bridging in preschool-aged children.
    Evaluation Method: Clinical observation checklist exercise.
11. Narrative Identity and Executive Functioning for School Readiness
    Participants will be able to translate executive functioning foundations and narrative identity development into measurable school-readiness goals.
    Evaluation Method: Goal development worksheet
12. Integration: Social Identity, Symbolic Play and Academic Readiness
    Participants will be able to synthesize sensory, relational, language, play, and cognitive factors into a whole-child developmental summary with actionable recommendations.
    Evaluation Method: Final integrative case study with written recommendations.

Assessment:

Completion of Feedback Form and 60 Questions

Pending AOTA Approval. CEU Certificate provided for OT’s. Certificate of attendance for other attendees

Provider Name: The Maude Le Roux Academy

Presenters:

Maude Le Roux, OTR/L (US)
Millicent Viljoen, OTR (UK)

Bio: Maude Le Roux is a global trainer in multiple methodologies and a mentor to therapists from multidisciplinary teams. She opened her practice, A Total Approach in Glen Mills, PA, USA in 2001, and the satellite office in Allentown, PA in 2023. Maude started her training career in 2007 and opened her online academy in 2019. She has designed the Developmental Pathways Model (DPM), which she applies to her own unique assessment and intervention protocol for major diagnosis such as Dyspraxia, ADHD and Executive Functions, Autism, Reading and Writing Disorders, and Trauma and Attachment. Maude served 9 years on the Board of Directors for ATTACh and currently serves on their Advisory Board. She also serves on the Advisory Board for LSWorks (Neuralign program). She is a co-author of two books and more recently wrote a chapter on Trauma and the Body in “Healing Connections” which launched in September 2024. Maude received an award for “Continued child advocacy” through the ATTACh organization in September 2024. She also received the Champion Award through ICDL in November 2024. Maude has a “whole child” approach to care and intervention and equipping the child, while empowering the parent is at the core of who she is as a clinician and trainer.

Millicent Viljoen is an Occupational Therapist based in Bath, United Kingdom. After moving to the UK in 2019, having a baby during the Covid19 pandemic, and taking a two-year hiatus, she founded Whole Occupational Therapy, a pediatric focused practice.   Originally from South Africa, she has worked in the pediatric field since qualifying as an Occupational Therapist in 2010, from the University of Pretoria.  Millicent is SIPT certified and specializes in Sensory Integration. She works closely with children and their families, especially focusing on coaching parents through the developmental stages of child development. She works with a range of developmental delays, ASD, and sensory processing difficulties.   Millicent incorporates the DIR Floortime framework in her work. She is an Expert training leader for ICDL since 2019 and is a mentor for likeminded professionals.

Maude and Millicent met in 2011 when Maude was teaching DIR/Floortime in South Africa, starting a training foundation which evolved into a mentoring relationship and now, a partnership of working and training together. They share a deep interest in developmental relational frameworks.

Target Audience:

Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Physical Therapists, Social Workers, Psychologists, Educators

Special Needs Accommodation: We invite anyone who may need a specific accommodation to contact [email protected] and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Cancellation policy: Payment is due in full with registration through PayPal on this website. Due to access to recordings provided there will be no reimbursement for cancellations. Please contact [email protected] if you have any further questions in this regard.

Educational Level: This series is considered Advanced Level because it requires participants to move beyond foundational knowledge of child development and engage in complex clinical reasoning, synthesis of multiple frames of reference, and application to nuanced case analysis. Participants are expected to already understand basic developmental milestones, sensory processing concepts, and pediatric intervention principles. The program emphasizes:

• Integration of sensory integration, DIR/Floortime (FEDCs), executive functioning, attachment theory, language development, and cognitive neuroscience
• Differential analysis of overlapping presentations (e.g., dysregulation vs. pragmatic language deficits vs. executive functioning vulnerabilities)
• Application of developmental theory to real-world clinical cases across multiple contexts
• Synthesis of relational, sensory-motor, emotional, and cognitive factors into cohesive, participation-focused intervention planning
• Translation of developmental foundations into long-term functional and academic outcomes

The course requires advanced clinical judgment, the ability to evaluate subtle developmental variations, and competence in designing individualized, occupation-based intervention strategies. It is intended for experienced practitioners seeking deeper specialization in early childhood development rather than entry-level skill acquisition.

Instructional Methods: PowerPoint, Video, Interview, Case Reflection, Group Discussion and Reflection

Research Articles:

1. Nilfyr, K., & Plantin, L. (2025). Thriving children’s emotional self-regulation in preschool: A systematic review from an interactionist perspective. Education Sciences, 15(2), 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15020137
2. Durham Child Health and Development Study (2024). The role of emotional regulation on early child school adjustment. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, in press. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883941724001377
3. Veraksa, N. N., Veresov, V. L., Sukhikh, M. N., Gavrilova, M. N., & Plotnikova, V. A. (2023). Play to foster children’s executive function skills: Types of play and developmental outcomes. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13158-023-00377-8
4. Madanipour, P. M. P., Garvis, S., Cohrssen, C., & Pendergast, D. (2024). Early childhood teachers’ understanding of executive functions and strategies employed to facilitate them. Frontiers in Education, 9, 1488410. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1488410
5. Wang Haoyue, & Oyam, D. M. A. (2024). The role of play-based learning in early childhood cognitive development. com Journal (International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research), 12(3), 139–144. https://zenodo.org/records/13143653
6. Etokabeka, E. (2025). Supporting the development of executive function skills through structured play: A qualitative study of South African preschool teachers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 53, 2973–2982. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-024-01827-1

Contact Hours: 30 Hours

Fee: $1500.00

 Maude and Charl Le Roux own the Maude Le Roux Academy and thus the proceeds of this course will cover operational expenses as well as provide income for Maude and Charl Le Roux.