Raising Kellan

Emily Bruce is the CEO and Founder of Determinism, LLC, the developer of the platform PeerKnect. She is a Board Certified and licensed Behavior Analyst (BCBA, LBA) in the State of Tennessee with an M.S., in Psychology. She joins us today to talk about PeerKnect, an app that builds friendships and connections for children with special needs by bridging the gap between parents, caretakers, and therapists using smartphone technology.

1:50   What is PeerKnect?

3:45   Safety and HIPPA compliance?

10:20 Who could subscribe to the app?

11:30 Features of the app?

15:00 Cost of subscription?  Individual users can subscribe through the App Store and clinics would need to enroll through the website.

19:00 Emily's background?

20:44 Future plans?

You can reach Emily Bruce at [email protected] or check out the website at https://www.peerknect.com/

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Penny Johnson is the Program Director at the Tennessee Center for Decision-Making Support. This virtual resource center is a collaboration between the Arc Tennessee, Tennessee’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, and Disability Rights Tennessee and its function is to provide decision-making tools and resources.

Penny and I chat about: 

2:00 What does the program provide?

5:45  What is a conservatorship?

9:30 What are the areas of decision-making ability assessed?

[Resource: The LifeCourse Decision-Making Support Tool developed by The Charting the LifeCourse Nexus] This tool determines support needed in the integral domains of daily living including Daily Life and Employment; Health Living; Social and Spirituality; Safety and Security; Community Living; Advocacy & Engagement. The tool is available at https://www.tndecisionmaking.org/ 

20:00 What is an ABLE account?

22:00 Difference between Power of Attorney and Durable Power of Attorney

23:00 Special Needs Trust

24:00 Healthcare Agent and Medical Directives 

Takeaway Gem: Penny suggests looking at the LifeCourse Tool not only when your child transitions at age 14 or at the age of majority(18 years old) but also for the younger kids.  It allows parents to intentionally help their kids build capacity for understanding choices, providing opportunity, and making-communicating decisions.

This episode is sponsored by Green Mountain Support Services in Vermont, USA.

Transcript

This was one of the most interesting conversations on the podcast as Dara and I talked about:

Resources:

https://thearctn.org/

https://thearc.org/ (National Chapter)

www.tndecisionmaking.org

https://familyengagementtn.com/

Transcript

This episode is sponsored by Green Mountain Support Services of Vermont who will be hosting the Cerebral Palsy Conference on Oct 1-2, 2021

Joshua Smith, Executive Director of Green Mountain Support Services based in Vermont, chats to us about the upcoming virtual cerebral palsy conference.

The 6th Annual New England Cerebral Palsy Conference will be held on October 1 and 2, 2021, and is free to attend.

Its primary focus is to provide a networking opportunity for individuals with cerebral palsy and the family/ health professionals who provide their care.

You can find out more by checking out www.cerebralpalsyconference.org and listening to this short podcast episode I recorded with Josh. 

Enjoy!

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Healing Horses is, once again, excited to host the 5th Annual Farm2Table Dinner. Even more exciting is this year’s event will take place at the Main Street Dyersburg Farmers Market on Thursday, September 23rd beginning at 6:30 p.m. As is tradition, guests will enjoy a multi-course meal consisting of ingredients sourced from local growers while local talent provides music and entertainment for the evening’s event.

In today's episode Sonya Burks, Healing Horses Founder and Executive Director provides a brief overview of how funds raised from Farm2Table are used to continue the program’s mission and how the success of therapeutic horseback riding continues to have with children and family members. 

This episode is sponsored by Healing Horses, Inc. 

Linda Frease is a creative and experienced occupational therapist from St Petersburg, Florida(USA). She is a member of the American Hippotherapy Association and provides us with some clarification between hippotherapy vs adaptive/therapeutic riding and the benefits of equine assisted therapy... Get your cuppa and sit down to enjoy this informative conversation including:

02:14 What put you on the trajectory to become an OT?

05:00 Experiences that cemented your decision to pursue OT?

08:30 What is Hippotherapy? What is Adaptive/therapeutic Riding?

10:00 History of Hippotherapy: The Story of Lis Hartel.

13:20 Therapy and the Benefits of Horse Riding.

23:00 Advice to parents and resources (AHA and PATH)

This episode is sponsored by Healing Horses Inc. A Path certified riding center in Dyersburg, TN.

For more info check out www.raisingkellan.org

Ashley Schilling, PT joins us for an exciting conversation that spans how she got into physical therapy, the origin story of Music City Trykes, Wired on Development, benefits of cycling for children with disabilities, and an upcoming course on August 21 geared towards physical therapists wanting to know about how to access and find the right adaptive bike for a child. 

01:28 What put you on the trajectory to become a physical therapist?

04:30 Clinical Rotation in Pediatric Physical Therapy "Kids are not little adults"

05:46 How to seek pediatric clinical placement.

10:06 Advocacy and Networking for a physical therapy student.

10:30 Wired on Development

12:50 What is Ambucs?

15:37 How did Muscle City Trykes start?

18:00 Recycling Trykes.

21:50  Funding Sources.

27:00 Recreational vs Therapeutic Riding.

30:00 Try before you Buy.

31:40 Volunteering.

32:30 Conclusion and the Power of Kindness. 

Transcript

Alex Farrell is a marketing and communication specialist at Child Care WAGE$ Tennessee and a co-host of the “Lean Into You” Podcast.

In a recent interview with Alex Farrell we talked about:

for transcript and to learn more about Signal Centers go to https://www.raisingkellan.org/

"What makes special needs, special?" This question is asked and answered during today's episode which is centered on the models and language of disability. The forum includes Dr. Cara Whalen Smith, PT DPT a public health physical therapist from Ohio who works to improve health equity for people with disabilities; Rebecca Renfro, PT a pediatric physical therapist; Drake Box; host of the Box Factor Podcast and Marsh Naidoo, PT and parent raising a disabled child. 

02:40  Cara delves into the Models of Disability that shape our biases and perceptions. She talks primarily about the Charity and Human Rights Model

10:00 Disability as seen from the parent's perspective. 

15:00 The Balancing Act

19:00 Drake Box talks about his experience of Cerebral Palsy.

21:00 "Nothing about us without us" The Human Rights Model calls for the full participation of individuals with disabilities in all aspects of human life and calls for disability to be seen as a demographic of human identity. 

25:00 Language of Disability: person first vs identity first.

30:00 The use of clear-cut language to facilitate awareness and inclusion #say the word movement.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed today are solely those of the individuals. As a warning, some of the conversations on this podcast may be difficult for both parents and healthcare providers however we hope that it ignites meaningful conversation around disability and inclusion. 

The resources and references highlighted by Dr. Cara Whalen Smith PT, DPT  and transcript will be housed at https://www.raisingkellan.org/blog/the-models-and-language-of-disability

This episode is sponsored by Move Up Physical Therapy

Alex Lopiccolo a/k/a Mr. Alex is an experienced Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant, Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Consultant. Alex is well known as The King of Swings. When he is not treating as a full time Sensory Integration Therapy practitioner he travels around the world sharing his knowledge of sensorimotor therapy with OT's and students at pediatric clinics and universities. He especially enjoys designing home sensory gyms to help his young clients at home... you can learn more about Alex https://www.sensorydigest.com/

01:50: What put you on the trajectory to become a therapist?

02:32: What is sensory integration?

04:21: What lead you to add "swings" to your therapy toolbox?

05:32: What are the requirements to set up a home sensory gym?

08:00: What makes up a swing?

09:00: Swinging alone or in combination with other activities?

12:00: Benefits of swinging?

14:00: How does Alex help clinics with their clinic design?

15: 48: Recommended resources to learn more about sensory integration?

17:15: What is a sensory diet?

19: Alex offering and how can he be contacted @ https://www.sensorydigest.com/

Transcript