Task‐specific training: evidence for and translation to clinical practice

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<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>There is mounting evidence of the value of task‐specific training as a neuromotor intervention in neurological rehabilitation. The evidence is founded in the psychology of motor skill learning and in the neuroscience of experience‐dependent and learning‐dependent neural plastic changes in the brain in animals and humans. Further, there is growing empirical evidence for the effectiveness of task‐specific training in rehabilitation and for neural plastic changes following task‐oriented training. In this paper, we position the evidence for task‐specific training in the context of rehabilitation; review its relevance for occupation‐based neurological rehabilitation, particularly in relation to upper limb function and everyday activities; and recommend evidence‐driven strategies for its application. We recommend that task‐specific training be routinely applied by occupational therapists as a component of their neuromotor interventions, particularly in management related to post‐stroke upper limb recovery. Specifically, we propose five implementation strategies based on review of the evidence. These are: task‐specific training should be relevant to the patient/client and to the context; be randomly assigned; be repetitive and involve massed practice; aim towards reconstruction of the whole task; and be reinforced with positive and timely feedback. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.</jats:p>

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