In-Person Course for Pediatric Therapists. Complete both days for 15 Contact Hours (1.5 CEUs)
September 20 and 21, 2025
Children’s Hospital at Erlanger
Chattanooga, TN
7:30 am – 5:15 pm
EARLY BIRD RATE!
Register by August 9, 2025 to receive $20 off your registration. Enter coupon code EARLYBIRD20 at checkout to receive the discount. Must be used at time of registration.
COURSE INFO:
This course “Babies’ Bodies and Brains: Multi-System Assessment and Treatment of the Premature/Medically Complex Infant for the Rehabilitation Professional“ complements Holly’s other course “Baby Beat and Breaths: Therapeutic Interventions for the Premature Infant with Cardiopulmonary Compromise”. These courses are not sequential in nature and may be taken in any order. If you have not taken either course before, Holly recommends taking this course first: “Babies’ Bodies and Brains: Multi-System Assessment and Treatment of the Premature/Medically Complex Infant for the Rehabilitation Professional”.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This intermediate-advanced course will provide a systems-based approach to assess the premature/medically complex infant in the NICU/PICU setting. This course will focus on understanding the co-morbidities associated with prematurity and medically-complex infants and increase critical reasoning skills for the clinician to create treatment plans to advance motor and feeding skills for the infant. It will build on information provided during the “Baby Beats and Breaths” course but can be a stand-alone course for advanced clinicians working with medically complex infants. This course will provide the clinician with hands-on treatment techniques for positioning/handling infants in the Small Baby unit (infants under 32 weeks gestation), oral motor interventions to support pre-feeding/feeding development, edema management including lymphatic facilitation, post-surgical considerations for infants, trunk facilitation to support cough development, extremity facilitation to support ribcage development, pelvic floor activation for stooling, abdominal facilitation for infants with GI complications, scar assessment/treatment, and feeding techniques for infants with multi-system co-morbidities.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- Identify three anatomical and kinesiological developmental changes for the premature and newborn thoracic and abdominal cavity as related to motor development for oral feeding and postural control
- Apply at least two positioning/handling interventions for small babies, with focus on interventions for infants 28 weeks and younger
- Identify three neurological and gastrointestinal co-morbidities of prematurity (including anatomical changes post-surgical interventions for necrotizing enterocolitis) and the effects those co-morbidities have on feeding/motor development for the infant
- Differentiate the lymphatic system of the premature infant from that of the full-term infant and how those differences affect feeding skills
- Assess infant edema within face, extremities, and trunk using objective measurements.
- Apply two treatment strategies with positioning, handling and edema management using the provided case study
- Integrate a systems approach to a current individualized care plan for a premature and/or medically complex infant
PARTICIPANT REQUIREMENT:
In order to maximize the learning experience during lab time, each participant needs to bring a soft body doll. The ideal size would be 10-15”, but any soft body doll will work.
AUDIENCE:
This course is recommended for intermediate to advanced neonatal therapists, PTs, PTAs, OTs, OTAs, and SLPs, working with infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Holly Schifsky, OTR/L, CNT, NTMTC, CBIS, has worked in pediatrics for the past 28 years with the past 17 years in a level IV NICU. She is a Certified Neonatal Therapist, Certified Neonatal Touch and Massage Therapist, Certified Brain Injury therapist, a 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 BS in OT from the University of North Dakota. She is a faculty member for the Neonatal Touch and Massage certification; and Manuel Edema Mobilization training. She is the recipient of the National Association of Neonatal Therapists Clinical Excellence award in 2018, due to her clinical expertise and dedication to advancing the therapeutic interventions for NICU infants with cardiopulmonary conditions.
Financial Disclosures: Holly Schifsky receives a speaking fee when she teaches for ERI.
Non-Financial Disclosures: Holly Schifsky has no relevant nonfinancial relationships to disclose.
I have now attended four of Holly's courses. She has so much knowledge backed by clinical research as well as extensive experience. She is very organized in her approach with her lectures. I appreciate how well she organizes her bibliography and takes the time during her courses to highlights specific references which would be helpful for us to either gain more understanding or to help justify to upper level management need for changes in practice. After her courses, as a seasoned therapist in the NICU, I always gain more knowledge and new techniques to offer my patients, the following Monday. -Jennifer C., PT
Holly afforded me the opportunity to synthesize what I have learned previously in a comprehensive and practical way so I am able to provide the best evidenced based therapeutic intervention to the babies I see in the NICU. This was the best course I have taken in my 25 years as an OT practitioner. --Karen D., OT
This course was amazing! It helps you really understand anatomy and physiology and then applies treatment strategies in real time. All information was appropriate and useful PLUS all of the research articles to support the interventions is SO helpful when bringing new ideas to your medical team. -Mackenzie D., SLP
I enjoyed this course. I feel that even though I work in an outpatient hospital based clinic, it gave me valuable information that I can use when evaluating and treating premature and medically complex infants in our NICU follow-up clinic, as well as ongoing cardiac patients. -Melissa M., PT
Holly is an incredible educator. I really appreciate the literature review because, although it's dense, it allows us to pull research quickly to support what we are doing to share with providers. She has such a wealth of knowledge and is really moving our profession as both OTs and Neonatal therapists forward! -Christine H., OTR/L
Holly has once again presented quality, useful information with clarity and literary support to the extent that the class did not drag and in fact flew by! She has again surpassed my expectations and provided information that I was able to use in my NICU after the first of 4 night classes! -Christina A., OTR
VENUE ADDRESS
900 E 3rd St.
Chattanooga, TN 37403
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