Putting FUN in FUNctional! (AT, CSN, OT, PT, F)
8:45 a.m.–noon
Act 48; Social Work; ACVREP; Infant/Toddler: 3 hours; ASHA: 0.3 CEU; Psych: 3.25 CE hours
Instead of monotonous activities, why not incorporate ones that are meaningful into a child’s home and educational program? For the benefit of young children and students with complex needs, we need to move past simply “entertainment” and into active engagement to provide rich experiences for learning. Playing that facilitates imagination, rhythm, storytelling, and art will create an avenue to access the child’s internal regulating system. Every student needs to be challenged and motivated, using age-respectful activities. Technology is very helpful in engaging students with complexity. Based on flexibility of electronics, a powerchair can now be used for children to have movement experiences. A powerchair provides multiple avenues for discovery, through which ever-changing exploration is possible. Potential seat functions can be used to foster participation in daily tasks as well. When a student is able to actively initiate movement to participate in novel play situations instead of repeating the same activity over and over, success happens. Repeating the same activities with lack of variation only leads to boredom whether you have complex needs or not. Through activity-based treatment and a theme approach, these children will too have the opportunity to have FUN. A program based on mobility, age-respectful activities, and FUN will be a successful one.
Outcomes
- Become re-excited in your role of working with students with complex support needs and treatment possibilities
- Design meaningful age-respectful activities that facilitate play and imagination and explore how to engage literacy, whether technology is available or not
- Recognize when to interject and when to be a quiet observer as a child engages in play
- Discuss possible uses of switch activation and power mobility to go beyond entertainment, but move into intentional interaction
- Examine how seat functions can be used to accomplish functional tasks
Christina Mayer, PT, has primarily been a school therapist for the last 18 years. At this time, her schedule is mixed between being a school therapist and developing her private practice. She treats both children and adults and is passionate about seating and how it relates to functional play, especially through use of power mobility. She has developed a power mobility program in her school system which supports children with complex needs acquiring skills through experience to eventually become self-directed drivers and participants in life.
Pain in CHARGE Syndrome (DHH, VI, DB, Fam)
8:45 a.m.–4:15 p.m.
Act 48; Social Work; ACVREP; Infant/Toddler: 6 hours; ASHA: 0.6 CEU; Psych: 6.5 CE hours
Pain is ubiquitous in CHARGE syndrome. Individuals with CHARGE have a medical history fraught with opportunities to experience pain. However, not every person with CHARGE experiences pain the same way or is able to describe it. This presentation will address sources of pain in persons with CHARGE, how pain may influence behavior, and the assessment of pain in those who are unable to label or talk about their pain.
Outcomes
- Explain how CHARGE syndrome impacts a parent’s child/student
- Describe interventions for their child/student with CHARGE Syndrome
- Examine research efforts around the intervention of children/students with CHARGE Syndrome
- Discuss how pain can affect behaviors in a child/student with CHARGE Syndrome
Tim Hartshorne, PhD, is a professor of psychology, specializing in school psychology, at Central Michigan University. His doctoral degree is from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the grant holder for DeafBlind Central: Michigan’s Training and Resource Project, which provides support to children who are deafbind in Michigan. He has been researching and presenting about CHARGE syndrome since 1993, motivated by the birth of his son with CHARGE in 1989. His particular interest is in understanding the challenging behavior exhibited by many individuals with CHARGE. He has been awarded the Star in CHARGE by the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation. His research was recognized in 2009 by the Central Michigan University President’s Award for Outstanding Research. He is editor, along with, Meg Hefner, Sandy Davenport, and Jim Thelin, of the book CHARGE Syndrome.
Blockbuster Braille: Creating Reading Superstars, Part 3 (AT, Fam, VI, TBI, DB)
Session 3 Thursday: 8:45 a.m.–4:15 p.m.
Act 48; Social Work; ACVREP: 6 hours; ASHA: 0.6 CEU; Psych: 6.5 CE hours
This session will continue a discussion of strategies that will lead to successful reading and writing in Braille for striving readers who need more intensive instruction. Also, there will be a presentation about the Unified English Braille (UEB) code that will be implemented in the coming months: what is UEB all about and what do teachers need to know?
Outcomes
- Explore specific strategies for helping struggling readers with comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency
- Identify basic changes from current code in UEB and demonstrate their ability to write simple sentences, illustrating basic UEB principles on the Perkins braille writer
- Discuss how they can get involved in the implementation plan being developed by the Braille Authority of North America
Frances Mary D’Andrea (see bio from Tuesday’s Great Start session)
Making Physical Activity Meaningful for Students Who Have a Visual Impairment (VI), are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (HOH), or Deafblind: at School, Home and in the Community (OT PT APE CSN F DHH VI DB)
8:15 a.m.–4:15 p.m.
Act 48; Social Work; ACVREP: 6 hours; ASHA: 0.6; Psych:6.5 CE hours
This session will cover instructional tips from professionals working with students with VI, deaf or HOH, or deafblind and is based on a compilation of journal articles related to this topic. This session will look at the correlations of physical activities and how they affect a student’s home life. Interviews from parents of students who have VI, are deaf or HOH, or deafblind will be shared.
Real-life examples of skill demonstrations and physical activities will be presented. The importance of the team approach in educating the student will be examined along with strategies when working with interpreters or interveners. Participants will have firsthand experience of the physical activities using sensory loss simulation.
Outcomes
- Identify best practices regarding physical education programs and instructional tips when working with students with VI, deaf or HOH, or deafblind
- Discuss how the team approach in education benefits the student and other educators
- Identify strategies when working with interpreters and interveners
Beth Foster (see bio from Wednesday’s Low Incidence session)
Self-Initiated Mobility Is the Way to Go (AT, CSN, F, OT, PT)
1:00–4:15 p.m.
Act 48; Social Work; ACVREP: 3 hours; ASHA: 0.3 CEU; Psych: 3.25 CE hours
Explore the many benefits and strategies of providing opportunities for self-initiated mobility and sensory motor experiences to preschool/elementary children with physical disabilities to augment development, learning, and interaction gained from exploring and physically interacting within the environment. Through slides and videos, we will share intervention strategies and ideas for accessing the environment, suggestions for matching standing mobility devices (support walkers) to the child and the environment, modifications that improve performance, and strategies for encouraging sensory motor development.
Outcomes
- Identify areas of development which self-initiated mobility experiences can positively impact
- Describe features that make a support walker more functional to use outdoors and indoors
- Describe developmental activities that can be achieved with the use of a self-initiated mobility device
Christine Wright-Ott, MPA, OTR, is an occupational therapy consultant at the Bridge School in Hillsborough, California, a private school for young children with physical and communicative differences. Her interests are in the areas of early exploration and self-initiated mobility for young children with physical disabilities. She developed the TOTWalker (KidWalk) and Gobot through previous research projects at Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. She authored the chapter “Mobility” in the sixth edition of the book Occupational Therapy for Children.