NEW Pediatric Strength Training Course

Bobby Nabeyama picture resizedWe are excited to welcome a new member to our faculty: Bobby Nabeyama, PT, DPT, MS a well respected clinician and dynamic instructor received his BS in psychology from Queens College CUNY, an MS degree and DPT degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Advanced Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis from Queens College.  He currently serves as consultant and evaluator for numerous agencies contracted by the New York City Board of Education.  He served as senior physical therapist and coordinator of education at The Children’s Learning Center and United Cerebral Palsy of Nassau County.  He served as adjunct faculty at Stony Brook University Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy Program.  He has taught evidence-based practice and the scientific-practitioner model directly to clinicians and students for over a decade.  He also practices within an outpatient setting treating those with numerous disabilities including orthopedic and neurological involvement. 

Bobby will be presenting his acclaimed course:

Positive Functional Outcomes Through Strength Training in Children with Developmental Disabilities
August 26-27, 2016 – Rockford, IL
November 5-6, 2016 – Middletown, NY

Most children with disabilities and motor impairments have strength deficits and weakness-related impairments.  These strength deficits correlate or directly interfere with their functional level and participation across multiple environments including at home and school.  This seminar with focus on how to best apply available literature into clinical and educational practice for optimal outcomes.  Through practice, extensive case problem analysis and discussion, participants will learn best practices in data driven, scientific based interventions for strength, endurance, and function.  This seminar will encourage the success of children with special needs and set up high standards in outcomes.  

This course will help therapists set realistic goals, prioritize treatment and implement successful programs for children with disabilities including cerebral palsy, multiply handicapped, obesity, chronic orthopedic conditions, and autism from preschool through school age, adolescence, and towards adulthood.

Please click here for full details, CEU information, to download a brochure and to register

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Have a Seat!

GUEST BLOGGER:

Kathryn Biel

This is me, asking for help. You know when you have your favorite shade of lipstick or hair color, only to find out it’s been discontinued the next time you go to buy it? I’m there.

I knew it happened. Rifton stopped making their Toddler and Compass chairs. I knew it. But because their products are so durable, it didn’t bother me until now. I need a chair or two. Really, I need the Compass chair, but could make the Toddler work as well. While I love the Rifton Activity chair, it’s too much. I have some friends who simply need a heavier chair. One with a back and arms to define space. To give a little guidance as to where one should maintain his or her body.

I’ve been combing the internet looking for something comparable. It’s not going well. So, I’m turning this out to you (because I know I’m not the only one in this boat right now).

What chairs are you using now in place of the Rifton Compass and Toddler Chairs?

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated!

~Kathryn Biel, PT, DPT

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A Pep Talk for Clinicians. Restoring Focus – We Are Making A Difference!

GUEST BLOGGER:

Kathryn Biel

This isn’t about helping our kids who struggle to pay attention. This blog is a pep talk for us, the clinicians. I’m mostly coming from the stand point of the school-based clinician, but this can certainly apply to those in other settings, so keep reading.

I have 26 days left in the school year. Not that I’m counting or anything. 26 days is not a lot of time, especially when you consider that I have at least one meeting scheduled on 16 of those 26 days, and I’m taking one of those days off while my son graduates from elementary school (please pass the tissues). Then there’s the packing and cleaning and sorting. Not to mention all the reports I have left to write. I’m starting to—no, I’ve already got angina—thinking about it all.

And the worst part is, I don’t feel like doing anything. I’m rapidly approaching burn out. I don’t have time to finish my evals. To chase down prescriptions for summer school that the parents haven’t sent back yet. To deal with the parent demanding to know why we won’t evaluate at her child, even though no concern has been raised all year. I’m still trying to treat. To squeeze my kids in where I can. I do (HAHA) make-ups, especially if I chronically miss the same kids.

Then I look at the kids who either haven’t come as far as I’d hoped, or who are starting to fall apart. Why wouldn’t they fall apart—the adults are even having trouble keeping it together at this point. I write up the eval for the student with the progressive, terminal condition and try not to make it look too bad, even though we all know it is. I work with the child who I just cannot seem to get through to and wonder what kind of goals I can even write for him, because he ignores me the entire session as it is.

But then, I have a day like yesterday. A day that brings it all into focus. A day that reminds me why I’m here, and why I work so hard. A day where I made a difference in a child’s life. For this child and his family—a heartbreaking situation where nothing we’d tried made a difference. Watching the mom cry at meetings because her child was suffering. This mysterious condition that has been robbing him of his ability to communicate with the world. To make friends. To participate in life. And I said to her, “He doesn’t live inside the box, so we’ve got to think outside of it to help him.” And that’s what I did. And it may have changed his life. At least for yesterday, he had the ability to communicate. We’ll see what next week brings.

I am going way outside the box. I’m a physical therapist, but I’m trying to figure out what is going on in this kid’s brain. What is driving (or getting in the way) of his motor control. Way outside my comfort zone. But I stepped outside of my box and tried. And this one time, it was successful. Yesterday, my heart was full. I knew that all the paperwork, the bodily fluids, the tantrums (from students, parents, and coworkers alike), the running around, the exhaustion—it is all worth it.

For the rest of my 26 days this year, I will remember that. Why I do what I do. Why we all do what we do. When you’re approaching that burn out. When you don’t want to think. When you’re ready to just phone it in. Remember, what we do makes a difference. We may not be told that. Parents may not express their gratitude. Students may not realize that all that hard work has had results. Teachers may not realize what we’re doing. But we’re making a difference. We’re helping, each and every day.

And that is something on which we should stay focused.

~Kathryn Biel, PT, DPT

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Cancer Rehabilitation – There is a Need.

Great article from the New York Times in April related to Therapy in Cancer Rehabilitation

After Physical Therapy, Why Not Cancer Therapy? – The New York Times
By Susan Gubar April 7, 2016 12:30 pm

“Cancer patients like me would profit from supportive care aides who could spring us from this induced passivity and its accompanying fear. In my case, such a counselor would have allayed the bewilderment of treatment and also empowered me to exert a modicum of control over the broken rhythms of everyday existence.
………
Why not use the model of the occupational and physical therapist in orthopedics to create a central role for therapists in oncology, advisers who could help cancer patients help themselves in taking small, strengthening steps? After surgery and at the start of chemotherapy, my family and I would have given anything for the house calls of a creature we never imagined: an oncological therapist”.

Please click here for full article

We are excited to offer this course presented by Lisa VanHoose:
Evidence Based Cancer Rehabilitation Resources and Its Role in Cancer Survivorship
Advances in the medical management of cancer have steadily increased survival rates. Research shows that most cancer survivors will have at least one physical side effect of cancer treatment, including fatigue, neuropathy, muscle weakness, and balance deficits. This interactive course will provide evidence-based tools and strategies for the care of patients with diverse cancer types across the cancer continuum. The course will also address functional outcome measures and reimbursement concerns.

August 26-27, 2016 – Laguna Hills, CA
September 23-24, 2016 – White Plains, NY
October 28-29, 2016 – Framingham, MA
November 18-19, 2016 – Hollywood, FL

There is obviously a need for Cancer Rehab. Therapy.
What are your experiences and thoughts?

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Another Winner – Celebrating OT Month Competition

CELEBRATING OT MONTH!

We asked OT’s to share their thoughts about being an OT.
We received an outstanding number of responses, all so wonderful to read.
We struggled to come up with a winner so we decided to announce two winners!!