Tag Archives: conference highlights

Our therapy conference recaps and previews highlight important sessions, emerging trends, and innovative tools from leading occupational therapy, speech-language, and special education events. These summaries offer insights for professionals who want to stay current and inspired by what’s happening in the field.

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

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

Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium (MEIC)

Events & Conferences

Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium LogoThis year’s annual Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium conference in Framingham, MA, attracted over 750 attendees over the course of two days! Therapro was thrilled to participate as an exhibitor this year, greeting old friends, welcoming the opportunity to introduce Therapro to new early intervention providers, and meeting families of children from birth to 3 years.

MEIC provides this yearly opportunity for learning and networking among professionals and families who work tirelessly on behalf of infants and toddlers with special needs. Therapro joined this group in celebrating individual differences and offering fun and creative therapeutic resources for the challenges providers and families encounter with this age group.

Among the Therapro products attendees loved was the perennial favorite, Rapper Snappers. It was fun listening to therapists and educators describe how they creatively use these colorful, adaptable tubes in a gazillion ways!  Other fine motor manipulatives including Giant Nuts & Bolts, Gator Grabbers, and Pop Beads were deemed ideal for developing little hands.

Therapists restocked their oral motor tool kits with Z-vibes, Flexi Cut cups, Chew Lollies and Chewy Tubes at the Therapro exhibit. The Therapro publication, Pediatric Feeding Disorders: Evaluation and Treatment generated positive exclamations of its usefulness from speech and occupational therapists.

We were energized by the enthusiasm and commitment of the professionals and parents we encountered at this conference! Therapro‘s ongoing assurance is to partner with these providers by offering exceptional products to support their interventions.

Filomena Connor, MS, OTR/L