OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
2/16/2024
AR UCEDD, Partners for Inclusive Communities, Receives $10M from AR Department of Human Services
The University of Arkansas - Partners for Inclusive Communities team was awarded over $10 million from the AR Department of Human Services to expand home and community-based services for children and families! Three new projects, Prevrntion, Stabilization, and Support; Families in Transition Teams; and a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Pilot, will be led by Director Karan Burnette and Associate Director Dr. Elizabeth Cleveland. These projects will help further its mission of facilitating the inclusion of people with disabilities in community life.
2/16/2023
MMI's Adaptive Toys Program Keeps Spreading Skills
A group of 10 families, as well as volunteers from the Munroe-Meyer Institute, gathered at the Munroe-Meyer Guild Institute in early December, all hoping to make the holidays brighter for young family members with disabilities.
6/16/2022
Mailman Center Associate Director Receives Highest Honor in from the American Occupational Therapy Association
Douglene Jackson, Ph.D., OTR/L, LMT, ATP, assistant professor and associate director of community engagement at the Mailman Center for Child Development, has received the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Award of Merit and Roster of Fellows Award at the organization�s 2022 Annual Conference and Expo.
3/10/2022
Mailman Center Occupational Therapist Receives National Recognition
Douglene Jackson, Ph.D., OTR/L, LMT, ATP, research assistant professor and associate director of community engagement at the Mailman Center for Child Development, will receive the Roster of Fellows Award from the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA).
2/7/2022
A Commentary from Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) Applied Behavior Analysis Therapist, TRIAD Co-director on ABA Controversies and the Need for Substantive Community Engagement
This opinion piece is shared by A. Pablo Juarez, M.Ed., BCBA, LBA, co-director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (VKC TRIAD). This commentary is not meant to be a definitive resource documenting numerous issues surrounding the use of applied behavior analysis, but to instead provide a surface-level overview of conversations currently being held among self-advocates and disability support professionals.
1/12/2022
Updates from the CU Pediatric PT Residency Program
The University of Colorado Pediatric Residency is a post-professional physical therapy residency program of the University of Colorado Physical Therapy Program in the School of Medicine and JFK Partners. The residency was established in 2011 under the Founding Director, Mary Jane K. Rapport, PT, DPT, PhD, FAPTA, and it received initial accreditation in 2012.
12/20/2021
HRSA Awardees Study Impact of COVID-19 on Receipt of Services and Parent Mental Health in Children with ASD
University of Delaware�s Dr. Anjana Bhat, associate professor in physical therapy, and JP Laurenceau, professor in psychological and brain sciences, have been awarded a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for a new study to analyze the impacts of COVID-19 on receipt of behavioral, speech, occupational and physical therapy services and parent mental health in 9,000 children with autism from the SPARK cohort and to determine value derived from these services in an online capacity.
6/7/2021
Alaska LEND Alumni Erin Main Joins the Alaska AgrAbility Program
The Alaska LEND Without Walls is pleased to announce that Erin Main, a 2020 LEND alumni, has joined the Alaska AgrAbility program as service administrator. Erin will work part-time and assist with program development to include work with partnerships and community stakeholders. She will be developing the relationship with the AgrAbility program and UAA students in the Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy program. She will also work with the team to continue to expand outreach to build understanding around occupations, health, disabilities and agriculture. Erin's work with AgrAbility was synthesized throughout her LEND experience and LEND leadership project.
6/1/2021
New Tech Opens up Physical Therapy Opportunities
The new Munroe-Meyer Institute building was created to be on the cutting edge of clinical care and therapy for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and one improved technology already is in use and garnering a positive response from therapists and clients. The ZeroG Gait and Balance System includes a safety harness that runs along an 80-foot-long track in the mobility lab in the department of physical therapy, but it is far from a traditional body weight harness, said Sandra Willett, PhD, director of the MMI Department of Physical Therapy.
4/28/2021
Reflection on CCSN Experience Three Years Later
Megan Yung, Tufts Child Health Intern Spring 2018
During my time as an undergraduate at Tufts University, I interned at the Center for Children with Special Needs. Prior to this experience, I did not have much experience with children with special needs. Through this internship, I had the opportunity to not only learn about different developmental-behavioral disorders, but also to interact with and learn from children with these disorders as well. I began to see and understand how much support these children require, and I was inspired to help and learn more about the field. This internship inspired me to take my current job as a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT).
4/19/2021
American Occupational Therapy Foundation Intervention Research Grant 2021
Jewel Crasta, PhD,OTR/L who is an assistant professor in Occupational Therapy at The Ohio State university was awarded a pilot grant characterizing occupational therapy interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. Marc J. Tasse, director of The Nisonger Center, will be her mentor.
4/19/2021
MN LEND Fellow Builds Communication and Trust Through Animals
As a 2019-20 fellow in the Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (MNLEND) program, Carl Luepker spent time with Hold Your Horses, a Greenfield, Minnesota provider of occupational and physical therapy and mental health services using hippotherapy. The practice employs the gait and movement of horses to assist people with neurological and developmental disabilities or mental health issues.
3/10/2021
National Home Visiting Summit Hosts Its First Ever Presentation on Parents with I/DD by the Georgetown UCEDD
During the last week in February, the Georgetown University Parenting Support Program (PSP), a DC Health-funded home visiting program under the UCEDD umbrella, gave a groundbreaking presentation at the National Home Visiting Summit. It was the first presentation about home visiting services tailored to address the needs of parents identified as having intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) ever at this Summit.
2/25/2021
Interdisciplinary Training Clinic Meeting Needs 360
Sara Clancey, PhD., MOTR/L, IMH-E
The Interdisciplinary Training Clinic (ITC) operated by the Institute for Human Development at Northern Arizona University (NAU) offers comprehensive evaluations and recommendations to families and educational agencies serving said families at no cost to the family. The clinic serves as a training experience for graduate students in a number of different disciplines learning about interdisciplinary practices. Graduate student teams supported by faculty mentors from their respective disciplines provide the services offered by the clinic.
2/22/2021
Sharing Stories of Individuals with Disabilities: Vanderbilt Consortium LEND's Collaboration with Saddle Up!
By Tatum Gross, Family Discipline LEND Trainee at Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt Consortium LEND's trainees have been split into groups to work on interprofessional collaboration group projects. My group is working with Saddle Up!, a therapeutic horseback riding program in the Nashville, TN, area. Saddle Up! provides Adaptive Riding, Therapy Services, and an Equine Assisted Learning Program to individuals with disabilities ages 2-26.