Winners Announced in Inaugural Award for Excellence in Creative School Based Therapy

Vreative School Based Therapy Award ERI Award Winning Therapy Team from Silver Lake Preschool and Kingston Elementary School[/caption]

We were thrilled to launch this award to recognize an individual/team who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment and has made outstanding contributions to the practice of school based therapy by enriching the lives of students through creative solutions.

Our awardee team has been described as meeting the most challenging of student needs in  unconventional and unique ways that engage teachers, staff and families collaboratively. 

The inaugural award goes to the therapy team of Leesa Bleicken, Eileen Beaulieu, Sandy Doogue and Kellie Theobald for their creative multidisciplinary approach to servicing their growing medically complex population at the Silver Lake Integrated Preschool and Kingston Elementary School, Massachusetts. They stood out among so many wonderful nominees.

In their nomination papers, the team was cited for several creative service delivery programs including their co-treatment paradigm that incorporated weekly take home sheets outlining the sessions using visuals, motor learning considerations, sensory exploration, music, vocabulary words, sign language, total communication methods and parent resources. Parent engagement and communication grew quickly.

We were honored to meet  such a wonderful passionate group of therapists and present them with the award at ERI’s Annual Therapies in the School Conference November 16-17, 2017 – Framingham, MA.

Congratulations!

Thank you to all of you who submitted nominations. There were so many worthy candidates.

]]>

A Celebration of Neonatal Therapists

We were excited to join our professional partners, the National Association of Neonatal Therapists (NANT) in celebrating neonatal therapists everywhere during International Neonatal Therapist Week

Members of NANT were offered entry into a drawing to win a 2 day ERI course of their choice.

We received a tremendous response and would like to congratulate Angela, an OT from Cleveland OH, as the winner of our randomized drawing. 

Celebrating 30 years of life-changing learning, ERI provides evidence-based, clinically relevant CEU courses for neonatal  occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech language pathologists, Dieticians and Nurses working in the NICU, and beyond. Learn skills you’ll use right away, through hands-on learning. It’s about improving outcomes by improving patient care. Our cutting edge courses are taught by distinguished internationally renowned faculty who are leaders in their field.

Please click here to check out our CEU courses for the neonatal therapist and to learn more about NANT 

]]>

SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT: Nechama Karman

Nechama Karmen[/caption]

We are thrilled to announce multiple opportunities to hear our new faculty member Nechama Karman speak:

If you Can’t Breathe, You Can’t Function – Introductory Course Plus TWO days of Intensive LAB
December 1-3, 2017 – Wilkes Barre Township, PA
June 22-24, 2018 – San Antonio, TX
September 14-16, 2018 – Alexandria, VA

Annual Therapies in the School
November 16-17, 2017 – Framingham, MA

Nechama Karman, received her MSPT from Columbia University in 1994, her Advanced MS in orthopedic PT from Touro College in 1998, and she has completed all coursework toward a PhD in Health Sciences at Seton Hall University. She has held academic appointments at Hunter College and NYIT. Nechama is chief clinical educator at Mobility Research, providing pediatric and adult trainings, introductory and advanced seminars, webinars, and clinical support for LiteGait in the USA and internationally. She is a primary instructor in LiteGait’s “train the trainer” program. she treats patients with complex neurological conditions and/or complex pelvic conditions.

Nechama had served as a teaching assistant for each of Mary Massery’s courses for over a decade before starting a 2-year faculty apprenticeship in 2014. She became Mary’s first certified faculty member in June of 2016! One of Nechama’s proudest “Mary Massery” moments occurred when she treated a man suffering from prostatectomy-related incontinence using Mary’s approach. She taught him to transfer without incontinence for the first time in 9 months – all in under 15 minutes! She is passionate about helping other therapists learn these important concepts.

Nechama works closely with Mary Massery at Massery PT

What other are saying:  “This course (If you Can’t Breathe, You Can’t Function – Introductory Course Plus TWO days of Intensive LAB) exceeded my expectations. Everyone should take this course! Many treatment ideas that can be applied easily.” – L. Vanselow, SLP

“Nechama is a very relevant speaker and her presentation of Mary Massery’s information is excellent.” – L Jorns, PT

“Nechama is very knowledgeable and easy to listen to. Great info on anatomy and physiology in relation to postural control. Definitely new outlook on things! The course booklet is very thorough. References are amazing! Slides and case study photos extremely helpful.”

]]>

Posted in: News

 

To Intervene or Not? PT or no PT? Motor Issues in Autism

GUEST BLOGGER: Kathryn Biel

Here’s something I struggle with every year. That ambulatory, fast, strong child with autism. Gross motor delays? Absolutely. Typical movement patterns? No way.

Do I keep this child on program? Do we want to be making him stronger and faster? What should I recommend?

I remember one year going round and round with a parent who wanted her child to receive PT so he could play ball. We would spend session after session attempting to play ball. After several years, we were finally up to 4 repetitions. Was it because he had no interest? Was it because the frequency of 1 x 30 minutes per week? Was it because the motor planning and attention required was too far beyond his current skill level? Did I give up too early?

One of my biggest struggles in working with a severely autistic child is how to make my extrinsic goals intrinsic to the child. My random, extrinsic-based goals (skipping, ball play, etc) often have little value in the child’s world, and are therefore unmotivating. Without the support of a conditioned-response (ABA) type program, applying value becomes difficult.

Understanding why a child with autism has movement disorder is key in decision making, as is using evidence-based strategies. Goal-setting becomes critical in ensuring that goals are motivating to both the student and the therapist.

To continue this discussion, plan on attending Jennifer Colebourn and Julie Goff’s session, Using Evidence to Help Guide Decisions on Goals, Dosage, Frequency, Priorities, and Interventions for Motor Issues in Autism at the
Eighteenth Annual Therapies in the School Conference – November 16-17, 2017 – Framingham, MA

~Kathryn Biel, PT, DPT

]]>

Speaker Spotlight – Holly Schifsky, OTR/L, CNT, NTMTC, CBIS

Holly Schifsky OTR/L, CNT, NTMTC, CBIS[/caption]

We are honored to welcome Holly Schifsky to our faculty and thrilled that she will be presenting her course: Baby Beats and Breaths: Therapeutic Interventions for the Premature Infant with Cardiopulmonary Compromise in 2018. 

Having first met her at the 2017 NANT conference, we know that she will be so well received by our community of therapists.

Holly is an Occupational Therapist who has worked in pediatrics for the past 20 years with the past 15 years in a level 4 NICU.  She is a Certified Neonatal Therapist, Certified Neonatal Touch and Massage Therapist, Certified Brain Injury therapist, an active member of National Association of Neonatal Therapists, and has completed 6-month mentorship in infant/child NDT.  She has worked within the NICU and NICU follow-up clinic to maximize patient and family outcomes for the most complex premature and medically-fragile term infants.  Holly received her bachelors degree in Occupational therapy from the University of North Dakota in 1997.  She has dedicated her career to clinical care and advancing developmental care practice patterns for all multidisciplinary team members.  She has presented at many regional and national conferences including NANT, Audrey Harris Vision NICU conference, and the University of Minnesota NICU conference.  

Baby Beats and Breaths: Therapeutic Interventions for the Premature Infant with Cardiopulmonary Compromise
This course will focus on the cardiopulmonary implications for the premature or medically-complex infant as related to physiological stability, evolving motor control, sensory stability, and transition to oral motor skills that support feeding. It will focus on advancing the critical reasoning skills of the neonatal therapist to support the infant’s ability to obtain foundational motor and sensory skills. These skills include the ability of the infant to cough, produce audible phonation, oral motor skills, swallow skills, trunk facilitation, gestational age appropriate positioning/handling to support the emergence of gross motor skills for postural stability. You will learn movement analysis skills (via lab time and video presentations) to assess breathing patterns, facilitation techniques to support trunk development, positioning strategies to support chest wall development, and feeding techniques to maximize postural control. 

January 19-20, 2018 – Akron, OH
March 2-3, 2018 – Washington, DC
September 29-30, 2018 – Houston, TX

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
to learn about course relevant to your field coming to your region.

]]>