If you work in EI in any capacity, check out this new video from the Kennedy Krieger Institute.  Entitled Bringing The Early Signs of Autism Spectrum Disorders into Focus, it is the work of Rebecca Landa, Ph.D, CCC-SLP the Director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD).  In this 9 minute clip, several simple ...

My brother has a lung disorder related to rheumatoid arthritis which may eventually cause him to need a lung transplant. It’s as troubling to write about as it was to hear about a few months ago. Were my brother at the top of the lung transplant list and a judge decided to change the rules and give the next available donor lung to a little girl ...

  Something that was really missed from my early days in OT is the use of crafts. My schooling included two semesters of Media, which entailed all forms of craft making related to specific diagnoses. These days with tight budgets there are very few craft activities used in OT treatment.   Going back to the early days of OT, crafts ...

Well, it’s like it or not it’s official. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) was released earlier this month.  This edition has been controversial because of the changes made in the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder and what it includes and omits. See my earlier blog on entitled More Updates on the DSM-5 for a recap of the ...

As a peds therapist and on staff expert for an equipment company for special needs, I do get asked periodically for more resources on weighted blankets.  There have been some well-known published studies on weighted vests including Fertel-Daly et all on the effects of a weighted vest on attention to task and VandenBerg’s study on the use ...

[Guest blogger Stacey Miller is editor of our sister publication, ADVANCE for Speech-Language Pathologists & Audiologists.] The Fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) was released May 18 during the APA's annual meeting in San Francisco. In the days ...

This title from a recent Advance Article caught my attention.  As a golf enthusiast (where my score does not yet reflect my passion for the game!) and with May being Mental Health Awareness Month I found the topic timely and fascinating.   Basically a group of Level 2 fieldwork students at Kean University in Union, NJ developed ...

Amazing what can happen in one week. In a major healthcare system of a large metropolitan area surrounded by water, we've successfully accomplished separating pediatric from adult rehabilitation in preparation for our growth as the Rehabilitation Institute of South Florida. Every day of this mission has started at 5 a.m. with communication with ...

I was glad to see this pop up on my radar.  This Thursday May 9th is National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day.  With our 24/7 news   and social media feed these days it just seems as if there is a barrage of attention lately focused on escalating violence affecting children.  Traumatic events such as the Sandy ...

I sat in on a great short course for Children and Youth last week at the AOTA conference.  Entitled Finding Our Niche in RtI, instructors Joyce Salis, OTD, OTR/L and Janet Bucey, OTR/L did a super job of explaining OT’s role in the RtI process at each of the tiers.  There was no shortage of suggested resources either, from EBP ...