Earn your OT CEUs by listening for free to our episodes, then logging into the OT Potential Club to take a quiz and earn a certificate. In each episode, we discuss new OT-related research and invite an expert guest to pull out actionable takeaways. Perfect for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants. Episodes are released every other week.
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#93: OT and BPPV with Jeff Walter
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The Epley maneuver is a 💎 rare gem 💎 in the OT toolkit. A patient can walk into our treatment room, and they can walk out cured. They can walk out with instant relief. (Yes, there is nuance to this. Sometimes the maneuver needs to be repeated. Sometimes it simply doesn’t work. There are important contraindications.) But, the other thing that makes …
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#92: OT and Multiple Sclerosis with USA Paralympian Sarah Adam
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Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of non-traumatic disability in people aged 18-65 years. As rehab professionals, we know that exercise is one of the mainstays of treatment for these clients. Though not definitively established, exercise has the most potential promise to be disease modifying if started early in the course of disease.…
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#91: Motor Learning in Neuro Rehab with Katie Riccio
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As occupational therapists, many of us have witnessed the wonder of motor learning in neuro rehab. Yet despite years of research attempting to identify the most effective post-stroke interventions, the reality is that our understanding of how to improve recovery of function remains incomplete. The article we are reviewing today serves as an update …
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#90: OT and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome with Emily Rich
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Unfortunately, research on the lived-experience for those with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome shows us that we as a profession need to be doing a better job. People with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome report: A lack of reliable information for themselves Social stigma from peers. Lack of awareness of EDS in the healthcare community As occupational therapy professi…
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#89: AI in Documentation with Dennis Morrison
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In 50 years, you will look back on your occupational therapy practice and see a clear line in the sand between pre-AI augmented documentation and today. Ambient AI augmented documentation is going to: ✅Make documenting QUICKER ✅Make your notes HIGHER QUALITY ✅And, transform how you interact with clients And, if we harness this technology correctly,…
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#88: OT and Driving with Ganesh M. Babulal
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The population of the United States is older than it has ever been. And, by 2050 the older adult population (>65 years) is projected to increase another 47% (from 58 million in 2022 to 82 million by 2050). This will transform many aspects of our society—and one change we need to prepare for is: The safety of older drivers. Because by 2050 the older…
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#87: Community-based OT with Ryan Lavalley
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In our OT work with individuals, there can be a feeling of futility. As there is a growing collective consciousness around what we, as OT professionals, experience day in and day out: The communities in which we live have such a profound impact on our health. And, we can fail individuals by focusing only on their individual choices—and not the larg…
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#86: Emotional Disability and OT with Michelle Flemen-Tung
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Children with emotional disability (also known as emotional disturbance) are significantly more likely than children with other disabilities to: NOT be integrated into regular classrooms Experience a disciplinary removal Drop out of school Over the years, multiple social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions have been developed to support children…
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#85: OT and Interoception with Kelly Mahler
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Interoception is having a moment. The popularity of the 8th sense is likely due to the fact that it gives words to sensations that we all experience, like: hunger, fatigue, heart rate, and pain. But, even though these sensations seem universal the reality is that there are vast differences in how and to what degree we experience the components of i…
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#84: Swim Safety in Autistic Children with Erika Kemp
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If you have not been paying attention to recent statistics on drowning, you need to be. After decades of decline, deaths by drowning are on the rise. Groups already at higher risk have seen the greatest increases in drowning deaths. This includes adults ages 65 years and older of all races and ethnicities, as well as Black people of all ages. But t…
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#83: OT and Functional Neurological Disorder with Naoya Ogura
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Functional neurological disorder (FND) has been called a “silent epidemic,” a “crisis” in neurology, and psychiatry’s “blind spot.” And, I have to admit it has been a huge personal blind spot for me. Luckily, others in the OT community have been hard at work standardizing care for these patients. Multidisciplinary treatment, including referral to O…
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#82: OT and Leadership with Victoria Garcia Wilburn
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The world desperately needs OT leaders. It needs leaders that can think holistically. It needs leaders that understand both individual level change and systems level change. It needs storytellers, collaborators, and compassionate thinkers. And, these are the qualities of an occupational therapy professional. Today, we’ll explore a paper on best pra…
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#81: OT and CRPS with Megan Doyle
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In a massive 53 page treatment guideline on Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), the authors state: “Occupational therapists are the ideal therapeutic leaders in the functional restoration process…” And, go on to devote 2 pages to what this OT care can entail. In this one hour course, we’ll pull out important implications for OT practice from the…
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#80: Advocacy in Pelvic Health with Lindsey Vestal, Carlin Reaume, and Alyson Stover
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In a rapidly changing world, we as OT professionals need collective mobilization like never before. But, it feels like our systems of advocacy are all underfunded and difficult to navigate. Against this backdrop, which can feel discouraging, I think it is critical to shine the light on what I consider one of the greatest OT triumphs of the past dec…
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#79: OT Hopes and Fears for AI with Alyson Stover and Karen Jacobs
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The idea of AI transforming occupational therapy stirs both hopes and fears. Will it help us revolutionize our broken systems? Will it augment the best of our care? Or will it bolster inequality and threaten our jobs? This is a story we are actively writing—and have the power to shape. In this one hour course, we’ll talk to two leading voices on th…
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#78: OT and Habits with Zipporah Brown
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There is a growing public consciousness around the power (and difficulty) of habit change, especially as the impact of chronic conditions soars. And, as we’ll see in the featured scoping review on OT and habit change/health promotion, we’ve been addressing habits since 1912, it is a core part of our 2020 practice framework, and is increasingly embe…
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#77: OT and Making the OTD Capstone Matter with Daniel Rortvedt & Alana Woolley
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The number of OT entry-level doctoral (OTD) programs has been expanding rapidly. In 2017 there were 7 programs. As of 2023, there are 95, with an additional 76 in development. The article we'll cover in this course presents early stage research on the doctoral capstone experience and employment opportunities. It backs up what I have now personally …
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#76: OT and Pediatric Constipation with Quiara Smith
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I’ve been surprised as my own kids enter elementary school to anecdotally find that constipation is a common reason to miss activities. But, this aligns perfectly with the research we look at today, and the growing concern that constipation has become a public health concern. As many as 32% of kids (0-18) experience constipation. And, a growing num…
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#75: Knowledge Translation and OT with Tim Dionne
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It takes an average of 17 years for evidence to make its way into practice. The fields of knowledge translation and implementation science are seeking to change this. And, today we are looking at a scoping review of knowledge translation research in rehab. To be frank, I think the article is pretty convoluted. (Which is funny since it comes from re…
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#74: Finger Prosthetics and OT with Haley Van Escobar
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The art and science of digital prosthetics is rapidly advancing. Yet, many people with amputated fingers do not wear a prosthetic. Part of the problem may be our own fault as health providers. We may be stuck in old stereotypes of poor outcomes and limited options related to digital prosthetics. In this one-hour podcast-base course, we’ll look at a…
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#73: Diversity in OT with Arameh Anvarizadeh
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In previous courses, we’ve discussed that one of the primary ways we can improve our care, as OT professionals, is to increase the diversity of our workforce—with the ultimate goal of having our workforce’s diversity mirror the diversity of the populations we are seeing. This goal will ensure we have the multiple perspectives needed to respond to t…
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#72: What is OT in 2024? with Ryan Lavalley and Carlin Reaume
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Through OT Potential, we’ve released over 70 episodes all exploring new influential OT research. As we enter 2024, it’s time to reflect on the research and ask: What trends are we seeing in OT? How is new research enriching how we think about our practice? In this 1 hour-episode, we’ll talk about new trends, with a particular focus on what commonal…
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#71: Building a Global OT Profession with Vikram Pagpatan
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Since this keynote address from the World Federation of Occupational Therapy Congress was published in 2019, it has been cited so many times that it made our list of the 100 most-cited OT journal articles. It’s easy to see why this has become such a popular read. The article stitches occupational therapy together with global trends, in particular g…
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#70: OT and Dyslexia with Penny Stack
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Dyslexia is the most common form of neurodivergence. It affects around 20% of the population, meaning that people with dyslexia are on almost every occupational therapy professional’s caseload. And yet, not enough OT-specific research and resources have been devoted to how we can help this population. Today, we look at a leading theory of dyslexia …
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#69: OT for Adults with Intellectual Disability with Meghan Blaskowitz and Wanda Mahoney
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For OT professionals working with adults with intellectual disabilities it can feel like there is a lack of resources around best practices for working with this population. Today’s article flips that long-held narrative on its head. The authors set out to find evidence to inform OT for adults with intellectual disability—and to their own surprise …
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#68: Acute Care OT and PT After Birth with Jenna and Rebeca Segraves
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Maternal deaths are on the rise, here in the United States. And, we have a postpartum mental health crisis. In OT 90% of us are women, and many of us have personally experienced the inadequate support given to birthing individuals. But, not enough of us have stepped back to ask: why aren’t we (with our training in mental health & daily participatio…
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#67: Pain and OT with Irvin Eisenberg
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I once heard a neuroscientist say: Many of our frameworks end up being wrong—because the body is more complicated than we ever imagined. Pain science perfectly illustrates this. We are living in an era where new frameworks are being written—because classical understandings of pain have not only been inadequate, they have led to ineffective and even…
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#66: Early Intervention Timing and Intensity with Sarah Putt
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The main finding of this important research from JAMA is extremely promising for early intervention OT professionals. In the study, greater early intervention service intensity was associated with better functional gains. But, there’s a problem. Federal spending per child on early intervention services has declined over the past decade. And, in thi…
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#65: OT & Perinatal Pelvic Health with Kyrsten Spurrier and Carlin Reaume
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The number of OT’s providing perinatal care is on the rise. Which is exciting…and necessary. There remain so many gaps in the care of new and expecting moms, among which is treating incontinence. As we’ll see in our featured journal article, a staggering percentage of women experience incontinence postnatally, despite the known effectiveness of pel…
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#64: CO-OP Approach and Cerebral Palsy with Helene Polatajko
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The OT treatment approaches that are gaining support from evidence, seem to have one common thread between them: The clients set their own goals. Today, we look at a pioneer of this client-centered process, The CO-OP Approach™. We’ll dive into a new research article where, yet again, we see CO-OP outperforming conventional therapy—this time for chi…
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#63: OT and ADHD with Bryden Carlson-Giving
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The number of children diagnosed with ADHD has been steadily increasing. Now it is estimated that 1/10 children will be diagnosed with ADHD at some point. Even though about half of these children receive some type of behavioral treatment, there has been a lack of studies around OT-specific support for ADHDer children. In this one hour OT CEU course…
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#62: Self-Determination for Autistic Students with Dora Onwumere
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Self-determination interventions are linked to positive academic and functional attainment results—and, most compellingly, can improve post-secondary outcomes. But what does it look like for OT professionals to foster self-determination in the school setting? In this one hour course, we’ll breakdown a scoping review that examines the Independence C…
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#61: Strengths-based OT for Autistic People with Kavitha Murthi
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If you are an occupational therapy professional working with autistic people, you’ve likely heard of strengths-based practice (SBP). But, does this approach work? And, what are the benefits of it? In this one hour OT CEU course we will discuss a scoping review that explores these questions. As we’ll see, strengths-based interventions were related t…
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#60: OT and Psoriatic Arthritis with Duana Russell-Thomas
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Where does OT fit in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) care? In this one hour course we’ll dive into a comprehensive guideline for psoriatic arthritis treatment, which recommends patients utilize a mix of non-pharmacological tools, like occupational therapy. This article will help you brush up on psoriatic arthritis, see OT within a holistic approach to ca…
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#59: OT Education for Planetary Health with Moses Ikiugu
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What does planetary health have to do with occupational therapy? The author’s of this week’s article argue that engagement with environmental sustainability is foundational for our profession. The authors aim to help OT students and professionals translate environmental awareness to practical action. They theorize 3 skills to do so: Clinical reason…
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#58: OT and AI with Sarah Brzeszkiewicz
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Is AI going to replace occupational therapy? There’s no doubt that this technology will transform healthcare. It will surely accelerate the existing move toward healthcare taking place at home. To help us wrap our minds around this transformation, we review an article that explores three technologies: Artificial intelligence Blockchain Wearables Th…
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#57: OT for Spasticity in Adults with Scott Thompson
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Spasticity can be present in many of the conditions we treat as occupational therapy professionals. And, it can add significant cost and burden for our patients. The article we are discussing in this 1-hour course gives you a big picture overview of the science behind what we know (and don’t know!) about spasticity. You’ll find certain approaches (…
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#56: Depression in Neurodegenerative Diseases with Rachel Wiley
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The research we are discussing on this 1-hour episode really drives home the complex connection between depression and 3 neurodegenerative diseases: Alzehimer’s Disease Parkinson’s Disease Huntington Disease Even though depression has a high comorbidity with all of these diseases, you’ll learn why it should not be an assumed part of the disease pro…
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#55: OT, Plagiocephaly, and Cognitive Outcomes with Amirra Condelee
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Plagiocephaly has historically been thought of as a benign, cosmetic issue. But, the seminal study we are looking at during this 1-hour course indicates that severe to moderate skull deformity may be best understood as a biomarker for developmental vulnerability. As we’ll see, moderate to severe skull deformity was linked with lower cognitive and a…
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#54: Cancer Rehab for Older Adults with Mackenzi Pergolotti
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About half of cancer survivors report difficulty with ADLs and a third difficulty with iADLs. But, unfortunately, only around 1 in 10 older adults with cancer who have a known functional limitation receive a referral to OT or PT. Even less make it to an eval. And, even less than that, complete their full course of rehab. Why are we failing to suppo…
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#53: OT & Smart Home Tech Adoption with Carol Chiang
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The research we’ve explored on the podcast, seems to be pointing to a new reality: The future of healthcare will be in the home. But, how will we get there? How will our homes ever be ready to age in place? The transition is going to be a complex story of the right technologies, the right funding, and the right narratives. All of which will ultimat…
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#52: Anti-racist OT Praxis with Khalilah R. Johnson and Ryan Lavalley
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As occupational therapy providers, we have a duty to truly understand the word “occupation.” This means acknowledging the role occupation has played in shaping societal policies and norms, many of which are fundamentally unjust. We also need to admit that our professional knowledge base, itself, is skewed. The foundations of OT have evolved from an…
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#51: Racism and Occupation with Ryan Lavalley and Khalilah R. Johnson
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The article we are looking at today challenges us to look critically at occupation—and how it can be used as a tool for justice or injustice. The reality is that many of us have narrowed our view of occupation into the medicalized and individualized categories of ADLs. But, we know from research (and lived experience!) that occupation is much more …
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#50: OT and Social Determinants of Health with Joy Doll
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It’s no secret that our healthcare systems are built to react to sickness and health events—not to keep people healthy in the first place. If we want to get serious about producing health for our patients, we have to start shifting our healthcare system to address social determinants of health. But, how is such a seismic shift even possible—and wha…
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#49: Participation-focused Knowledge Translation in Pediatric OT with Satvika Garg
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Both participation-focused OT and knowledge translation are hot topics in OT right now. And, in this one-hour course we will explore a research article that puts forth a knowledge translation roadmap to accelerate the uptake of participation-focused OT assessments and intervention. These are both big topics in their own right, and when you mesh the…
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#48: Pediatric TBI and OT with Nelson Gonzalez
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Children are not little adults. Their brains are actively developing. Because of this neuroplasticity, one might assume they would more quickly and fully recover from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). This is not the case. A brain injury can have a more devastating impact on a child than a similar injury in a mature adult. (Brain Injury Association o…
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#47: OT and Falls Prevention with Pooja Patel
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Falls are a complex problem. This makes preventing them a perfect target for our OT skillset. This week we are looking at an article that explores “the state of the science” on preventing falls in hospitalized patients. The authors walk us through: The scope of the problem The science (or lack thereof) supporting different interventions While many …
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#46: OT Hand Therapy Interventions with Hoang Tran
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When we think of hand therapy, we tend to think of it as a practice area with an abundance of research. But, the mapping review of hand therapy interventions we examine this episode reminds us that there are also sizable gaps in the research—especially when it comes to more complex diagnoses. This means that when OTs are working with upper extremit…
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#45: Telehealth, Parent Alliance, and OT with Adam Griffin
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As OTs, we believe that creating a therapeutic alliance is one of the most powerful vehicles to change. But, we also know that there are many barriers that exist to building transformational relationships with our clients Telehealth can feel like another such barrier—but it doesn’t have to be! The article we are looking at in this 1 hour podcast-ba…
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#44: Early Intervention for Motor Performance with Sarah Putt
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From pregnancy to age 2 is arguably the most important developmental window of our lifetimes. This makes the work of OTs who work with this age incredibly important. And, for the rest of us, we should be using our professional knowledge to advocate for the proper support for families at this critically important window. In this one hour podcast cou…
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