2010 Educational Sessions | North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association

Educational Session Descriptions

Below are descriptions of each of the sessions that will be delivered in Winston-Salem. To download these descriptions, see the link at right.

Session A: Saturday, October 2, 2010 - 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

A-1: Autism Spectrum: Strategies for the Classroom

Presenter(s): Sherry Stancliff, OTR/L
Autism prevalence has risen in the last 10 years such that statistics indicate 1 in 100 people are Autistic and 1 in 94 boys are Autistic. This session will review Autism characteristics and move to how to meet the needs of these children with adaptive writing methods. We will also review Sensory Processing Disorders and look at ways to meet the needs of these children in the classroom setting.

A-2: Optometric Considerations in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Acquired Brain Injury

Presenter(s): Susan Durham, OD, FCOVD
This workshop will detail specific visual deficits following acquired brain injury (ABI); review Optometric evaluation of the brain injured patient; and review Optometric treatment protocols for this population. Participants will gain understanding in how to integrate vision rehab into the ABI patient's general rehab treatment plan.

A-3: Safe Patient Movement Programs: Why and How Are They Therapeutic?

Presenter(s): Patti Lawton, MBA, OTR/L
Patients are coming to us with increased disability and weight. It is time to re-engineer how we transfer and re-position our patients in order to keep therapists healthy and to prevent injuries to our patients. This workshop will explain the basic features of a comprehensive Safe Patient Handling Program. OTs can play an important role OT when implementing an interdisciplinary program. It will also explain how various SPH Equipment can be utilized therapeutically during OT/Rehab sessions.

A-4: NC Community Mental Health: Perspectives from an Intensive In-Home Specialist

Presenter(s): Wayne Faison, MS; Tomeico Faison, MS, OTR/L
This session will consist of a general overview of community-based mental health services in North Carolina for families dealing with mental illness/es. Service provision will be discussed from the perspective of an Intensive In-Home Specialist, QP. NC community mental health services have experienced significant changes over the past 5 years and this session will help occupational therapist to be cognizant of the current environment. In turn, OTs will be able to make appropriate community mental health referrals, as well as have knowledge about employment options in non-traditional mental health settings.

Session B: Saturday, October 2, 2010 - 3:50 p.m. - 5:50 p.m.

B-1: Technology and Handwriting: Can't We All Just Get Along?

Presenter(s): Denise Donica, DHS, OTR/L, BCP
Handwriting deficits are often seen by OTs working with children. With the explosion of technology and its role in communication, many view handwriting as becoming obsolete. However, handwriting is a foundational skill that still needs to be developed in children. This session will explore some of the new technologies that are available and illustrate how they can be used not to replace handwriting but to enhance it. The technologies to be explored include iPad, SmartBoard, and Pulse Pen by Livescribe. Opportunities will be given to allow participants to participate in demonstrations with some of the tools discussed.

B-2: Enhancing Occupational Performance in Adult Patients with Low Vision

Presenter(s): Sarah King, MOT, OTR/L
This course will provide an overview of common visual disorders and their impact on occupational performance. Therapists will be empowered to address vision in everyday practice through the introduction of assessment tools, treatment strategies, collaboration techniques, and ways to educate patients. The prevalence of low vision in older adults continues to grow as the population ages. Visual impairments impact the physical performance, as well as psychological well-being of older adults. This course will give therapists tools to implement immediately with older adults regardless of the type of setting.

B-3: Fostering Communities of Practice Through Education, Practice Development and Research Formation

Presenter(s): Allison Darwin, MS, OTR/L; Elizabeth Hartzog, MS, OTR/L
This workshop will use interactive dialogue and professional examples to describe the affinity of communities of practice to the occupational therapy profession. A rehabilitation hospital manager will explain how promoting a career ladder, empowering employees, and encouraging participation in research has cultivated a valued collegial environment. A clinical educator and chair of a state association special interest section will provide examples of how communities of practice have fostered mentorship opportunities, collaborative presentations at state and national conferences, and teaming of practitioners in specific practice areas to enhance professional approaches and bodies of knowledge. Participants will also have networking opportunities to form practice-based connections.

B-4: OT Collaboration: Developing Preclinical Skill of Students in Other Disciplines

Presenter(s): Dorothy Bethea, EdD, OTR/L and WSSU Students
The incongruence between academic and clinical performance has become a concern in disciplines that utilize a high degree of complex manual skills. A study was conducted that examined the impact of an ergonomic based manual dexterity program developed by occupational therapy students on dental hygiene students' preclinical laboratory performance. Using a progressive six-week intervention focusing on hand strengthening, finger fitness, and visual motor performance, the results were favorably with improvements in general eye-hand coordination, and manipulation of instruments. The implication for OT consulting in technical education programs as an emerging area of practice will be discussed.

Session C: Sunday, October 3, 2010 - 8:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

C-1: I'm Talking, But Nobody's Listening!

Presenter(s): Beth Fain, OTR/L Brenda Kennell, OTR/L
Baby Boomers and Millennials. These two generations along with Gen X-ers, have divergent values and completely different styles of communicating. This leads to difficulties in the classroom and the workplace, with lack of effective communication between faculty and students or managers and employees. In this workshop, we will explore these differences and learn to appreciate what each generation "brings to the table". We will then use those characteristics to develop teaching and management strategies, including the use of technology, that will be more effective when dealing with Millennials. This workshop will be interactive (as befitting the Millennial generation), utilizing multi-media and audience participation.

C-2: Can Memory Improve for Function? Spaced Retrieval is a Cognitive Treatment Technique That Works.

Presenter(s): Marisa Velez-Spina, OTR/L, Ruth Siebert, MS, OTR/L, Maureen McBride, COTA/L
Spaced Retrieval is a technique that can help persons with memory impairment remember important information for very long periods of time. The name "Spaced Retrieval" comes from the idea that the person is taught a piece of information such as a loved one's name or a safety strategy and are cued to recall it over spaced out periods of time. The therapist provides a reason why the client should work on a goal, demonstrates desired behavior and uses the same consistent prompt question at each expanding time interval.This techniques uses "procedural memory" and the client with memory impairments is capable of learning many functional strategies.

C-3: Using the I-Touch/I-Pad and its Applications for School Based OT

Presenter(s): Angelia Wood, OTR/L; Ellen James, COTA/L, Patty Galsgow, COTA/L
A new tool for the OTs tool box is the I-Touch and the I-Pad. Powerful applications are available for therapists to use for fine motor, visual motor and ADL training. This new assistive technology is appealing to the younger population, that is so immersed in the technology of the day, and those with a diagnosis of Autism. Its multi-sensory approach to learning is a must have for the therapist who has limited time, limited storage space and travels place to place. Leave this workshop with practical knowledge of how to use this assistive technology and its therapy related applications.

C-4: Benefits of the Hippotherapy Treatment Strategy for Children and Adolescents with Mild to Severe Neuromusculoskeletal Dysfunction

Presenter(s): Ellen Key, MS, OTR/L ; Milinda Kirkpatrick, NARHA Instructor
This presentation will cover the following topics: What is hippotherapy? The hippotherapy team? Why the horse? Who benefits from hippotherapy? The horse staff. Therapy equipment. Progression to independence on the horse. Case studies. Evidence. Video. This presentation will advance the practice of OT by expanding the participant's knowledge about a very fast growing, motivating, and unique treatment strategy in North Carolina.

C-5: The Role of Occupation at the End of Life

Presenter(s): Tim Holmes, OTR/L, COMS; David Benthall, OTS
Maintaining meaningful occupations at the end of life is an intriguing, and sometimes overlooked aspect of increasing quality of life. To better understand the phenomenological experience of individuals' occupations in the end stage of life, it is necessary to explore how these occupations are continued, altered, and adapted when an individual is actively dying. This presentation will provide knowledge about ways individuals prepare for death, as well as strategies OTs can use to facilitate occupation as a therapeutic change agent at a pivotal stage of life.

Session D: Sunday, October 3, 2010 - 10:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

D-1:Therapeutic Interventions to Improve Perceptual Motor and Oculomotor Skills

Presenter(s): Toni Schulken, MS OTR/L; Courtney Enos, MS OTR/L
This session will include a review of the seven areas of visual perception, visual motor control, visual motor integration, and oculomotor skills. An overview of the relationship between each of these skills and school performance will be given. A majority of the session will be spent learning about and engaging in hands-on activities to improve these skills. ion.

D-2: Making the Non-traditional Traditional: Therapeutic Horticulture in High Definition

Presenter(s): Allison Darwin, MS, OTR/L ; Katie O'Toole, OTS
Therapeutic horticulture describes the practice of using plants and plant-related activities by healthcare practitioners. Engagement in gardening can have specific therapeutic benefits for many populations. This workshop will explain how OTs can design and implement a therapeutic horticulture program in a variety of practice environments and how it can be utilized with individual clients to address therapeutic goals. They will also discuss how activities can be designed for a group setting with a focus on increasing participation and improving emotional well being. This discussion will include strategies for writing therapeutic goals and using outcome-based assessments for horticulture activities. Additionally, this session will provide sample activity analyses for specific group activities and examples of objectives / goals that can be used to demonstrate efficacy of services.

D-3: Occupational Therapy and Inclusive Tourism: Lessons Learned and Opportunities Discovered

Presenter(s): Jenny Womack, MA, MS, OTR/L, SCDCM; Shruti Cherian, MS Ed, OTS
Despite advances in accessibility awareness throughout the last two decades, travel and tourism remain occupations in which people with disabilities often encounter obstacles to full participation. Even when physical access to tourist sites is well-established, many other facets of tourist destinations and activities remain less than fully inclusive. This session will consist of information about this topic learned from nontraditional fieldwork experiences, collaborative work with state agencies and review of the work of other occupational therapists. Participants will explore reasons for occupational therapists in various practice settings to be aware of inclusive tourism principles, and opportunities for involvement in this arena as advocates and consultants.

Session E: Sunday, October 3, 2010 - 1:15 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.

E-1:Anticipating the Dynamic Needs of the Developing Child with a TBI or SCI: A Developmental Framework

Presenter(s): Tara Jensen, MS, OTR/L; Kelly Clair, MS, OTR/L
This presentation highlights the challenges in caring for pediatric spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury clients as the child matures and transitions through developmental stages. A developmental framework will be presented to broaden the perspective of goal setting to facilitate resumption of meaningful occupations. Emphasis will be placed on the occupational therapist's role and the focus of intervention based on the dynamic needs of the population to improve the continuum of care.

E-2: Practicing Authentic Occupational Therapy: Strategies for Becoming a Reflective and Reflexive Practitioner

Presenter(s): Debbie Amini, EdD, OTR/L, CHT
Authentic Occupational Therapy, also known as occupation-based and client-centered OT, is being promoted nationally through official AOTA documents, journal articles and publications. Unfortunately, clinical practice- especially that occurring within physical disabilities settings-- continues to be marked by reductionist techniques that do not align with or promote the espoused tenets of the profession. In order to advance Occupational Therapy and to put forth a consistent practice paradigm, practitioners must take personal responsibility for the choices that they make when engaging clients in treatment. This workshop will offer strategies to assist practitioners in becoming reflective and reflexive professionals who can recognize the need for, and create change within, their practice settings.

E-3: Food Science Class: Interdisciplinary Intervention for Students with Multiple & Intellectual/ Developmental Disabilities

Presenter(s): Catherine Alguire, MLA,OTR/L, Luanne Holland, CCC-SLP, Jennifer Michalonek, MEd
This interdisciplinary weekly class provides opportunities for K-5 students with moderate to severe I/DD and other disabilities to improve communication, use A.T. and common products, read, make choices, solve problems, work as a team and develop skills in a daily life-long occupation: food preparation. The teaching/intervention methodology has evolved over many years, in response to new evidence and models of interdisciplinary practice. The class promotes occupational participation and independence through the use of purposefully selected hand tools, assistive technologies and unique visual / language educational materials. The curriculum content follows the N.C. Standard Course of Study for elementary students; however, the methodology and intervention components are appropriate for use with older individuals with similar disabilities.

E-4: A Practical Approach to Treating Dementia: The Global Deterioration Scale

Presenter(s): Danielle Norris, OTR/L, Sandra Christos, MS, CCC-SLP, Tisha Jones, MS CCC-SLP
Developed by Barry Reisberg, MD, the Global Deterioration Scale enables the clinician to ensure that all patients with dementia are given the opportunity to achieve and maintain their highest level of function for as long as possible. We will discuss cognitive, behavioral and physical characteristics of each of the seven stages, view videos of individuals at numerous stages of the disease, and review treatment strategies. The participants will be given information on how to identify key clinical considerations; approaches and therapeutic interventions for stages of dementia related to the patient's ability to process and learn information.

E-5: Use It or Lose It: Constraint Induced Activity Program

Presenter(s): Leah Holland, MS, OTR/L Amy Mahle, COTA/L
Learn how Constraint Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) can benefit patients who have experienced a CVA or TBI with resulting hemiparesis. Briefly explore the current research and trends in CIMT and learn which patients would be an appropriate referral. Review case studies and outcomes from CIMT program at Carolinas Rehabilitation.

Session F: Sunday, October 3, 2010 - 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.

F-1:Admin & Management SIS

Various topics including clinical questions, reimbursement and advocacy will be addressed. Bring your questions and ideas for what will be a discussion format. Make plans with colleagues for addressing these in the coming months.

F-2:Pediatric/Development Delay SIS

F-3:Gerontology SIS

F-4:Physical Disability SIS / Technology SIS

F-5:Home & Community Health SIS / Mental Health SIS

F-6:Fieldwork Consortium

The intent of this initial Fieldwork Consortium meeting will be to bring individuals together to brainstorm ways to develop a full working consortium or Special Interest Section and to discuss current issues revolving around fieldwork.