Changing Roles: Importance of Connection and Parent Support during Periods of Change

Originally recorded: May 11, 2020
Featuring: Melanie Salort, OTR/L

LiveTalks are hour long audio-only podcasts. This LiveTalk is part of the Complex Cases: Applying Clinical Reasoning to Challenging Clients bundle. Click to preregister for the 2020 series!

Description: Many of us have experienced sudden changes to our schedules, routines, and roles. For parents, this burden can be even greater as they adjust to their own life changes but also have to support the ever-changing needs of their children. As Occupational Therapy professionals, we may witness first-hand the impact of these changes on our clients and their families. What meaningful supports can we offer during these times of change? How can Occupational Therapy professionals support our clients’ parents and engage them in therapy? Melanie Salort and Erin Flynn will explore communication strategies for better attunement between therapist and parent and between parent and child. They will also discuss ways for the therapists to identify the parents’ strengths and use those strengths to help co-regulate with their children. Ways to engage parents in telehealth and clinic-based intervention will also be explored.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this LiveTalk listeners will be able to:

1. Choose communication strategies to support attunement between parent and occupational therapy professional and between parent and child.
2. Select parents’ strengths to help them co-regulate with their children.
3. Identify strategies to support parents’ engagement in therapy.

Course Level: Introductory. There are no prerequisites for this course.

Suitable For: Occupational Therapists, OT Assistants

AOTA
Domain: Areas of Occupation
Process: Intervention

Contact Hours: This course is worth 1.0 contact hour or 0.1 AOTA CEUs.

Completion Requirements: To receive contact hours for this course you must listen to the recorded LiveTalk in its entirety, and complete the accompanying assessment.

About the Speakers: Melanie Salort, OTR/L, is a licensed and certified occupational therapist, who has worked for much of her career with children and their families in both a clinical and teaching capacity. She is a graduate of Quinnipiac University. With a specific interest in sensory processing, Ms. Salort went on to complete WPS’s Comprehensive Program in Sensory Integration, becoming certified in the Sensory Integration Praxis Test. Since 2003, she has worked at OTA The Koomar Center (formerly known as OTA Watertown), a private clinic specializing in sensory processing, providing both evaluation and intervention to toddlers, school-age children, adolescents, and adults. Most recently, she has completed the fellowship program, Infant Parent Mental Health, through UMASS Boston broadening her knowledge and clinical application to supporting the parent child relationship.

ADA/Section 504: If you require special accommodations, please contact the Spiral Foundation at admin@thespiralfoundation.org or (617) 969-4410 ext. 231.

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.