ERI’s Therapies in the School Conference is a long-running annual conference that has been providing school-based therapists with the latest research and strategies to implement in classrooms all across the country and beyond. We’ve taught thousands and thousands of therapists over the years, and this year we’re so excited to be celebrating our 25th Anniversary.
As a fun way to kick-off the anniversary celebration and take a walk down memory lane, we’ve decided to put together a list of 25 Fun Facts about ERI. Take a read below and see if you knew any of these interesting tidbits!
- Since its inception, research has always been and continues to be a core value at ERI. Did you know that co-founder, Carol Loria, received national recognition (Dorothy E. Briggs Memorial Scientific Inquiry Aware, APTA) for her research challenging the long held principle of the relationship between proximal and distal development? In this study, she offers applications for intervention to improve reach as well as to improve prehension.
- In addition to our distinguished, world-renowned faculty, ERI has had the privilege of offering workshops taught by pioneers in the fields of OT, PT and SLP; leaders who have shaped the practice of therapy including: Shirley Sahrmann, Lois Bly, Joan Mohr, Patricia Wilbarger, Stephen Haley, Wendy Costa, Jeannetta Burpee, Regi Boehme, Winnie Dunn, Martha Burns, Kristine Strand, to name a few.
- The first course ever offered was Treatment of the Child with Cerebral Palsy taught by founders Carol Loria and Barbara Goldfarb in 1985. It filled within days…the rest is history!
Our longest presenting faculty member is Suzanne Davis Bombria who has been teaching with us for over 25 years!
- We’ve had over 200 faculty present at Therapies in the School over the years.
- At one of our very first conferences, we presented a session on the topic of inclusion. ERI is proud that from the beginning we’ve been putting this at the forefront and continue to promote inclusion today by having topics related to embedding services in recent years.
- There’s been a total of 3,484 individuals who have attended Therapies in the School since we first started the conference in 2000.
Our Therapies in the School topics have always been timely. For example, in 2004 we had a session on the reauthorization of IDEA so therapists could immediately grasp the impact of the new federal legislation on their practice.
- Therapro has been a sponsor since the beginning. What’s your favorite Therapro product?
- Remember when iPads were first showing up in schools as teaching tools, assistive tech and fun new gadgets? We held our first session on using iPads as educational tools back in 2011.
- Mary Meyer has been our longest attending therapist – attending Therapies in the School for 19 years!
Over the years, ERI has gone through 4 iterations of its logo. You can see the evolution of the design to what it has become today!
- In 2001, United Airlines was the official airline of ERI that provided a 5-10% discount on airfare.
- Therapies in the School has been offering scholarships to therapists for 10 years now and has awarded a total of 20 scholarships.
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We’ve had 222 therapists attend the conference for 5 years.
- The children of both co-founders were filmed during their development and are part of the normative data for the MAI (Movement Assessment in Infancy).
From the earliest days, we’ve been on the front lines of supporting therapists with managing their workloads. The session, Too Many Kids, Too Little Time was back in 2003 and we are still working to support therapists 25 years later! Just last year, we had a session around dosing and difficult conversations and in 2022 there was a session on managing workloads!- Vice President, Alyson Loria, was involved in a study looking at the development of gait with Striderite shoes vs. barefoot. She was 13 months old at the time. The study was funded by Striderite and they were probably disappointed when the findings showed no statistical difference!
- We’ve had therapists from all across the country attend this conference, but our reach is international! Therapists from Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand have all attended as well.
Our Therapies in the School topics have always been timely. In 2004, we had a session on the reauthorization of IDEA so therapists could immediately grasp the impact of the new federal legislation on their practice.
- We’ve had 38 therapists attend the conference for 10 years.
- ERI has always kept it in the family! Carol’s mother was ERI’s first bookkeeper, her father was the first mailing labeler when we used snail mail to correspond, and many of the staff’s children have worked at ERI on school vacations through the years.
- Since the year 2000, ERI has presented over 290 educational topics at Therapies in the School Conferences.
- ERI’s newest employee joined the team in September 2023, and ERI’s most seasoned employee just celebrated her 28th ERI anniversary!
Everybody knows the benefits yoga can have on your mind and body. ERI has been including a yoga session to kick off Therapies in the School for years now…both at live events and virtually!
To register for this year’s conference and view our exciting lineup of speakers and topics, visit our Therapies in the School Conference page for all the details. We can’t wait to celebrate the 25th Anniversary with you!