Wheelchair Skills Training Program

The Wheelchair Skills Training Program (WSTP) is a structured, evidence-based intervention that teaches wheelchair users the individual skills needed for safe, independent mobility, from basic maneuvers to advanced ones such as curb negotiation and wheelies. Developed by R. Lee Kirby and colleagues at Dalhousie University as the training companion to the Wheelchair Skills Test, the WSTP applies motor-learning principles — goal setting, structured practice, feedback, and progression — and was shown in randomized controlled trials (MacPhee et al. 2004; Best et al. 2005) to produce clinically significant, safe gains in wheelchair-skill capacity. It pairs assessment and training in a single closed loop: test, train the deficits, retest.