Therapro Newsletter - Measuring Outcomes That Families Consider Important

Therapro LOVES:

providing innovative products that solve problems for our customers;
therapists who come to us with original ideas we might help design and bring to all;
meeting therapists, teachers, parents, and other providers around the country at national and local conferences;
our speakers and attendees who make our Saturday Seminar Series so stimulating as we learn and share together;
your passion and our passion for helping make lives of all children full and meaningful!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Karen Conrad Weihrauch, PhD, OTR/L

Details on all Therapro offerings can be found at www.therapro.com and our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest or contact us with any feedback or questions.

Measuring Outcomes That Families Consider Important

Therapro carries a broad range of assessments you can examine in the 2016-2017 Assessments Catalog. The "Handy Evaluation Chart" which is included in the catalog and online is a handy tool when you're trying to decide which assessment is appropriate for your client. Your feedback has told us that the chart is practical, functional, and attractive. In this color-coded index you'll find the assessment title along with the ages for which it is designed, and where to find it in the catalog for a more detailed description.

AOTA's OT Practice publication recently (September, 2016) issued an article entitled Demonstrating the Value of Sensory Integration Approaches by Addressing and Measuring Outcomes that Matter to Families, by Ellen S. Cohn and Jessica A. DeMarinis. The authors advocate a collaborative approach to treatment between therapist and family because it leads to informed care, and respect for the family's goals and choices. When therapists take into consideration the family's concerns and openly discuss the family's goals for their child, meaningful interventions can be designed.

The objective of the article is to review studies that examine parent perspectives about desired treatment outcomes for their children who have been identified as having Sensory Integration issues, and then comparing the outcomes that are identified as important to parents, with studies that looked at outcomes of SI and sensory-based intervention. The authors provide a list of assessments that measure intervention outcomes that are consistent with the parents' and child's therapy goals.

A number of assessments mentioned in this article are available from Therapro.

For Selected Measures for Child's Perspective:
- Here's How I Write: A Child's Self-Assessment of Handwriting and Goal Setting Tool (Grades 2-5) published by Therapro. This is a handwriting self-assessment tool in which the child assesses his/her handwriting and becomes an active part of the goal-setting process.
For Selected Measures for Participation Outcomes:
- Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) - Social participation sub-scale (5-12 years). This is the first assessment to show how sensory processing problems may be evident in various settings including school, home, and in the community.
For Selected Measures for Skills Outcomes:
- Peabody Development Motor Scales (PDMS-2) (birth-5 years). This is an early childhood motor development program that provides comprehensive assessment of gross and fine motor skills as well as training or remediation of fine and gross motor skills.

Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery-VMI) (2-100 years). This test identifies difficulties in integrating and coordinating visual perceptual and fine motor abilities.

Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting (ETCH) (Grades 1-6). This tool evaluates legibility and speed of handwriting tasks.

Goal Oriented Assessment of Life Skills (GOAL) (7-17 years). This assessment evaluates functional motor abilities necessary for ADL skills by using 7 real-life tasks.

If you would like a copy of Therapro's free Assessments Catalog, please click here.

Karen Conrad Weihrauch, PhD, OTR/L

Featured Products

Clinical Observations of Motor and Postural Skills: 2nd Edition (COMPS)

A screening tool based on 6 of the Clinical Observations developed by A.J. Ayres. It generates a score to help identify a number of subtle motor coordination problems in children. Includes the ScoreCalculator software - just type in the numbers and let the software calculate the correct scores.

Motor-Free Visual Perception Test - 4 (MVPT-4)

The MVPT-4 is the most recent revision of the only nonmotor visual-perceptual assessment that can be used throughout the life span. The MVPT-4 provides a quick, reliable, and valid measure of overall visual perceptual ability in children and adults.

Developmental Test of Visual Perception - Third Edition (DTVP-3)

The DTVP-3 is the most recent revision of Marianne Frostig's popular Developmental Test of Visual Perception.

Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition (BRIEF-2)

The BRIEF2 is an enhanced rating scale of executive function that continues to be as efficient, comprehensive, and consistent with current models of executive function as its predecessor but now includes a quick screener and enhanced features.

Saturday Seminar Series

All seminars are free, and are held Saturdays from 9-11 AM in our Showroom.

To check out what's coming up for our Saturday Seminar Series, just click on the News and Events Tab on our website. View past seminars and upcoming seminars, see speakers' descriptions of their seminars as well as their learning objectives. We hope that knowing what to expect from the seminar in advance will help you decide if it is one that you may wish to attend (or view on our YouTube channel).

Cancellation of Saturday Seminars due to inclement weather will now be posted on the Therapro website.

Upcoming confirmed events:

March 4, 2017

Post-Secondary Transition Planning

Speaker: Tee Stock, MS OTR/L, MBA

May 6, 2017

Weighted Blankets and More for Use in Your Sensory Room or Sensory Carts!

Speaker: Kristi Langslet, OTR/L

April 8, 2017

An Introduction to Yoga and Mindfulness in the Classroom

Speaker: Meg Durkin, MS, E-RYT, RCYT

Always check our website for the newest updated information.

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