Dual-Task Training in Children With Cerebral Palsy: What a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Found for Balance, Walking Speed, and Gross Motor Function

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who work with children with cerebral palsy in outpatient, school-based, early intervention, or inpatient pediatric settings, and any clinician who wants a quick, accurate read on where dual-task training evidence currently stands.

Licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. The material is also relevant to occupational therapists and rehabilitation clinicians involved in pediatric neurologic care.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Introductory

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

This course reports on a single published systematic review with meta-analysis of dual-task training in children with cerebral palsy. Every finding, figure, and conclusion described in the course comes from that paper.

Cortés-Pérez I, Castillo-Pintor MLÁ, Barrionuevo-Berzosa R, Piñar-Lara M, Obrero-Gaitán E, García-López H. Dual-Task Training Interventions for Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Effects on Postural Balance and Walking Speed. Medicina (Kaunas). 2025;61(8). doi:10.3390/medicina61081415. PMID: 40870460; PMCID: PMC12387913.

The review was registered in advance in the PROSPERO database and was reported following the PRISMA 2020 statement and the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe the population, intervention, and comparison conditions examined in this systematic review of dual-task training for children with cerebral palsy.
2. State what the pooled results showed for functional, dynamic, and static balance, for walking speed, and for the standing and walking/running/jumping dimensions of the Gross Motor Function Measure.
3. Explain the limits the authors placed on their own conclusions, including the small number of trials, the quality of the included studies, and the publication bias they identified.

1. Start Here: how this course works and what it covers
2. Podcast: Dual-Task Training in Cerebral Palsy — The Evidence in Brief (about nine minutes)
3. Dual-Task Training and Children With Cerebral Palsy: The Question and the Sample
4. Inside the Review: Searching, Screening, and Rating the Trials
5. Balance, Walking Speed, and Gross Motor Function: What the Pooled Data Showed
6. Reading the Findings With Care: Small Trials, Medium-Quality Studies, Publication Bias
7. From Review to Clinic: What the Authors Suggest and What Remains Unsettled
8. Key Takeaways
9. Post-test and course evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 0.5 contact hours (30 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. This course reports on a single published systematic review with meta-analysis of dual-task training in children with cerebral palsy. Every finding, figure, and conclusion described in the course comes from that paper.
2. Cortés-Pérez I, Castillo-Pintor MLÁ, Barrionuevo-Berzosa R, Piñar-Lara M, Obrero-Gaitán E, García-López H. Dual-Task Training Interventions for Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Effects on Postural Balance and Walking Speed. Medicina (Kaunas). 2025;61(8). doi:10.3390/medicina61081415. PMID: 40870460; PMCID: PMC12387913.
3. The review was registered in advance in the PROSPERO database and was reported following the PRISMA 2020 statement and the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.