Category Archives: School-Based Practice

Discover school-based therapy resources and intervention strategies tailored to therapists working in educational environments. Support student engagement, learning, and development through targeted tools that align with IEP goals, classroom expectations, and inclusive practices.

Minnesota School-Based OT/PT Institute, October 2-3, 2017

Events & Conferences, School-Based Practice,
Minnesota School-Based OT/PT Institute 2017

Therapro was delighted to receive an invitation to exhibit at the 2nd Annual School-Based OT/PT Institute in Minneapolis. Registrations for the conference more than doubled from the conference’s inaugural year in 2016, with over 400 attendees! Mary Kay Eastman, PT, MS and her efficient team, including Tanya Grabinski, PT, DPT, MHS, PCS, Margaret Knebel, MEd, OTR/L, and Michelle Schlueder, PT, DPT ran a well-planned and well-orchestrated conference that won rave reviews all around.

The Keynote speaker, Kathy Flaminio, MSW, opened the conference with “Taking Care of Yourself Inside and Out: Nourishing Your Mind, Body and Heart.” Speakers presented on a variety of timely topics including “Meeting Sensory Needs in the General Education Classroom,” “Effects of Mobility on Cognition,” “Emerging Evidence in Pediatric Brain Injury: Role of School-based Services.”

Attendees visited the Therapro exhibit with many positive comments that warmed our hearts. Therapists told us “I love Therapro – my favorite place to get therapy supplies!” and “It’s good to have a conference where vendors are zeroed in on what we need!” We enjoyed helping the therapist who is working at a brand new Charter school with no therapy materials. We helped her select “must have” items such as Pencil and Hand Gripper Sampler 1, Raised Line Paper Assortment, Fine Motor Olympics, Fidget Kit, and Drive Thru Menus, and much more!! Therapists told us they were excited to try out our products and examine books they had only seen in the catalog.

We love getting feedback on Therapro products that therapists use and love. We heard that Learn to Dress Monkey is a big hit in a preschool class in which students love to dress and undress the adorable stuffed animal while practicing 11 dressing skills including zipping and buttoning. Frog and Turtle Beanbags were popular with both PTs and OTs who use them in many creative ways. The one that stands out involves launching them from a platform by having a child stomp on a connected spring device. So clever AND fun!

Therapro’s I Can Work! 5-module prevocational curriculum drew much interest for therapists who work with middle school and high school age students. Having the manual available now in printed form along with the CD was a bonus for therapists.

Our experience at this conference was outstanding. We loved the opportunity to share ideas and receive feedback from our colleagues in the Midwest. We hope to see you next year!

Filomena Connor, MS, OTR/L

Simple Hacks to Optimize Backpack Safety and Organization

School-Based Practice, ,

One of the essential back-to-school items on every parent’s shopping list is a new backpack.  Beginning in preschool and progressing all the way through high school, kids use their backpacks every day.   As therapists, we are aware that how that backpack is filled and carried will either create problems for kids or solve them.   A pack that is too heavy, so full that it creates perceptual, sensory or cognitive roadblocks to organization, or missing essential tools for kids with special needs, is not doing it’s job.  With targeted education and the introduction of simple alternative strategies, we can improve the chances that backpacks end up helping every child perform well during this school year.

Here are some ways to help students manage their backpacks for optimal performance throughout the school year:

  • Lighten up. Kids tend to make their packs heavier than they need to be.  Hypermobile kids, kids with orthopedic issues and kids with low tone may be carrying packs that put them at significant risk for injury.  Make sure parents are aware of this issue, and help them by suggesting a review of backpack contents and downsizing the “essentials” whenever possible.  Small water bottles, travel sizes of toiletries, and a minimum number of pencils, pens or markers lighten the load.  For kids that aren’t aware of the sensory or cognitive overload of an overfilled pack, a backpack checklist or a smaller pack help them manage without an adult assuming responsibility for content management.

Highlighter Strips, a helpful tool for organization

  • Teach kids how to pack and wear their pack. The heaviest items should be carried close to the body and content weight should be distributed equally across the back. Kids should use both straps when wearing their backpack.  The one-shoulder carry can be preferred by middle-schoolers wishing to look “cool”.  This overweighting of one side of the body puts them off balance and at-risk for injury.  It may be hard to change habitual behavior in children at this age.  Try identifying the child or children who seem to be admired and copied by their peers.  Influencing the kids who are acknowledged social leaders can change class culture quickly.   Don’t wait until children report neck and shoulder pain, but remind parents and teachers that the risk of strains, sprains and exacerbations of issues seen in tweens and teens like scoliosis are real.
  • Frequently used items should be quickly accessible in surface pockets, and items they need for their first class are reachable when they open their pack, not packed under other materials. Laminated photos of pocket contents can help children learn the habits of efficient storage.

Tactile Ruler

  • Help kids remember to use their sensory tools by having them handy. Tools like Highlighter Strips and the Desk Buddy Multi-Textured Ruler are slim and can be left between pages of a book or workbook, ready to be used.  Calming tools like the Wristful Fidget can be worn, not shoved into a pack.  Since it looks like a sport wrap, kids aren’t as eager to toss it away when they pack up and go!  Kids may need more than one set of tools so that they can leave a set at school and another one at home. Items that do more than one job, like the Desk Buddy Ruler, have an advantage over carrying a bunch of fidgets and then an equal number of classroom tools.

Wrist Weights

  • Accept that altering behavior is a long game. Don’t get discouraged if kids only use some of these strategies to improve how they manage their backpacks.  Habits change slowly, and as the demands of the school year mount, it may take periodic reviews and revisions to find the right combination of equipment, organization and carrying strategies to make a difference!

Gueste Blogger: Cathy Collyer, OTR, LMT, PLLC

Cathy Collyer, OTR, LMT has treated children with neurological, orthopedic and sensory processing disorders for over 20 years.  She is the author of The Practical Guide To Toilet Training Your Child With Low Muscle Tone.  Learn more about her work at tranquilbabies.com.

25th Annual OT/PT School-Based Conference: Highlights

Events & Conferences, School-Based Practice, ,

The Annual Ohio OT/PT School-Based Practice conference celebrated its 25th year on August 7-8 in Columbus! From one year to the next, this conference attracts therapists from Ohio as well as surrounding states. This year the venue was bursting with almost 700 energized attendees. The conference always offers exceptional speakers who present the latest information for both new and seasoned therapists.

We were proud that Therapro author Tere Bowen-Irish, OTR/L presented the Keynote address entitled: “Weaving Visualization and Mindfulness into Your Practice.” She offered a variety of sessions throughout the conference, attracting capacity crowds eager to hear her lively presentations incorporating her Drive Thru Menus. Tere introduced a brand new addition to her product line-up called: Sensory Processing Support Planning Guide.

Other presentations offered show the diversity and breadth of this conference: Athena Oden, PT presented “Ready Bodies, Learning Minds: Cultivating the Complete Child.” Take a look at her website for learning more about her unique approach that provides developmental support for integrating both the sensory systems and motor systems as a basis for academic success. Just a few of the other excellent sessions included: “Integrating Primitive Reflexes to Improve School Function’ by Kim Wiggins, OTR/L, “Developmental Coordination Disorder: Best Practices for Recognition and Management in the School Setting,” by Erin Iverson, PT, DPT, PCS and Patti Sharp, OTD, MS, OTR/L, and “Are We Ready to Meet the Obesity Challenge?” by Cindy Miles, PT, PhD, PCS.

Therapro owner/president Karen Conrad Weihrauch and I enjoyed greeting all the therapists who stopped by the Therapro exhibit. Attendees eagerly tried out some of the latest Therapro products: Safety Grip Scooter Board, Eazyhold universal cuffs, Yoga Spinner Game, Gyrobi fidgets, Stikbot, and Peg Friends: Around the Town.

The Therapro game, Letter Treasure Hunt, was acclaimed by therapists who purchased it at last year’s conference. One therapist excitedly relayed that she loved the game because it was so versatile. She discovered she could use it for students of a variety of ages and abilities. For example, she told us that with one student, she used just the spinner part of the game to help develop fine motor skill.

Fine Motor Olympics a OT/PT School-Based Conference favorite

The new revised edition of Fine Motor Olympics was hard to keep on the shelves! Therapists loved the 64 beautiful color card deck photos of children’s hands performing various fine motor tasks. On the reverse side of the cards there is information on how to perform and adapt the activity as well as identification of the hand functions that are being targeted by the activity. The revised manual includes a quick screening form, a fine motor observation checklist, a record form, plus an in-service training program. All agreed that Fine Motor Olympics is a very practical, important tool to add to the therapy toolbox!

 

Mary Kay Eastman, PT, MS and Molly Dodge, OTR/L co-chaired this event once again seamlessly. With a dedicated team of hard workers, the two-day conference hummed along and offered attendees a broad selection of relevant, interesting topics. Conference coordinator, Holly Bartholomew of First Class Conferences, once again made sure all ran smoothly throughout the conference. Great job, ladies! Thank you for two exhilarating days. We look forward to seeing you next year!

Filomena Connor, MS, OTR/L