Celebrating the Legacy of Dr. Jane Koomar
A Series of 8 Conversations with leading experts moderated by Robyn Carreras, MS, OTR/L
LiveTalks are hour long discussions between an expert speaker and SPIRAL moderator. These LiveTalks have not been recorded yet.
SPIRAL members will receive access to Live Talks through their SPIRAL Foundation account.
Non-member participants may register for each session individually as Live Talks occur. Individual talks cost $25, or become a member, $149/year, to access all LiveTalks and more.
Description: This year’s Live Talk series continues Dr. Jane Koomar’s legacy of mentoring though the sharing of firsthand knowledge and experience in the art of therapy. We will hear insight from experts, field leaders, and master therapists, all once connected to Jane, on the artful skills that comprise the process of sensory integration based occupational therapy. In other words, we’ll be discussing what sensory integration based occupational therapy actually looks like in practice. Specific focus will be given to the therapeutic relationship; establishing safety and trust, promoting motivation and self-direction, adjusting therapeutic activity to promote the adaptive response, initiating and terminating the therapy process, and becoming an agent of change through one’s role as therapist. Case studies will be presented.
SPIRAL cofounder Dr. Jane Koomar was a pioneer in the field of sensory integration. She was a researcher, educator, author, and master clinician who demonstrated passion and reverence for her work. Her clinic OTA Watertown, now named OTA the Koomar Center in her honor, has not only been changing the lives of families affected by sensory processing disorder for 40 years, but has also during that span mentored and brought forth many new generations of therapists skilled in both the science and art of sensory integration based occupational therapy. February 23, 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of her passing.
Series Overview:
- Developing the therapeutic relationship
- Deciding where to begin intervention
- Promoting motivation, engagement, and fun
- Being child-led
- Creating the ‘just right’ challenge
- Co-regulation
- Skillful transition and flow of activities
- Decisions about when to discontinue intervention
Learning objectives: By the end of this series participants will be able to:
- Describe what it means to be child-led.
- Identify ways to establish safety and trust with clients using a sensory integration-based framework.
- Define the ‘just-right’ challenge
- Identify when a therapeutic activity requires modification.
Course Level: Introductory. There are no prerequisites for this course.
Suitable For: OT, PT, SLP, OTA, PTA, Educators, Parents
AOTA Areas: Occupational Therapy Service Delivery: Evaluation, Intervention and Outcomes. Foundational Knowledge: Human Body, Development, and Behavior.
Contact Hours: The entire 2023 series is approved for 8 contact hours or 0.8 AOTA CEUs. Individual conversations are each worth 1 contact hour or 0.1 AOTA CEUs.
About the Speaker: This series is set to include a lineup of topic experts including but not limited to Zoe Mailloux, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA, Susanne Smith Roley OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA, and Anne Trecker, MS, OTR/L. Speakers to be introduced with each individual Live Talk.
The Moderator for this series is SPIRAL Foundation’s Education Coordinator, Robyn A. Carreras, MS, OTR/L. Robyn is a licensed and registered occupational therapist. She holds a master’s in occupational therapy from Boston University, where she also completed her undergraduate degree in therapeutic studies. Robyn has worked with children in a variety of settings including public/private schools, residential care, inpatient/outpatient hospital, and was a long-time senior therapist at OTA the Koomar Center throughout the 2010s. Robyn’s extensive experience in sensory integration includes direct client and family-centered therapy, groups, intensive intervention, mentoring, consultations, parent coaching, research, and lectures.
Disclosure: No disclosures.
Completion Requirements: To earn contact hours or AOTA CEUs for each Live Talk, participants must attend or view the online session in its entirety (accessible via a Zoom link), and successfully complete the accompanying quiz.
ADA/Section 504: If you require special accommodations, please contact the Spiral Foundation at admin@thespiralfoundation.org or (617) 969-4410 ext. 282.
Continuing Education: Occupational Therapy Practitioners/ Occupational Therapy Assistants: The Spiral Foundation is an Approved Provider of Continuing Education for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants by the American Occupational Therapy Association. The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.
