KidsCare Therapy’s Spring Fling
OT Success Story
KidsCare Therapy hosted its first ever Spring Fling, along with Girl Scout Troop #1665 in April. Despite the weather, we had
a great time enjoying food, crafts and games with our patients and their families at Flag Pole Hill in Dallas!
Sophia P. was seen for occupational therapy from November
of 2009 to April of 2010 for delayed development of overall
milestones. She also had expressive language delay. Sophia
has a twin sister, and they were born five weeks prematurely.
Although her sister is developing on target, Sophia has
been delayed along the way. Sophia has a diagnosis of
hypothyroidism-- at 12 months of age she sustained a
subdural hemorrhage due to a fall from balance deficits and
underwent a craniotomy. She received physical therapy from
ECI, before I joined to provide occupational therapy. Initial
testing revealed delayed fine motor skills and ADLs, balance
deficits and tactile sensory processing deficits. Sophia did
not initiate play or utilize bilateral coordination, nor did she
speak.
Sophia’s tactile processing was diminished compared to her
peers, so I utilized as variety of techniques, including deep
pressure and joint compression input, during therapeutic
activities. She was also a bit tactile defensive, so I used the
brushing protocol and educated mom on how to perform
on Sophia in order to decrease her sensitivity, thereby
improving her initiation of play or ADL’s through touch. She
had balance deficits, so I utilized a variety of sensorimotor
activities including a scooter board, therapy ball and balance
board while performing some type of eye/hand coordination
task: i.e. bubbles, balloons, etc. Last of all, for her fine motor
deficits, she played with a variety of fine motor manipulatives,
including craft activities, play dough, peg/board, stringing
beads, etc. Sophia initially required hand over hand assist,
before ultimately working her way to independence of skills
for her age.
Her mom was very involved in each treatment session, and
often went above and beyond when it came to following
through on sensory diet activities and home program.
Sophia, twin sister Olivia (both 1 1/2-year-olds) and
Joey (3 year-old cousin) were all present during treatment
sessions, as Sophia received OT services from “Miss Sue.”
Over the five months of “playing”, Sophia made steady
gains. She was recently reevaluated and found to be age
appropriate in all areas. She had blossomed into a happy girl
who could express her own needs, play appropriately with
her peers, and had become functionally independent for her
age. Sophia was a joy to treat. Although it was often times to
me like treating the whole “daycare” with sibling and cousin
also present, Sophia was always happy to see me. Sophia
was recently discharged. It was my pleasure to help this
sweet little girl!!
— Sue Khammar, Occupational Therapist
www.KidsCareTherapy.com
Things Are Heating Up! continued from page 1
Dallas/Fort Worth area, to hear company therapists give an
interesting and enlightening presentation on ethics, which
is an important part of our company. Then, just weeks later,
KidsCare Therapy hosted a two-day CEU on feeding, which
is also an integral component of KidsCare Therapy’s service.
In addition, May brought Better Speech and Hearing Month,
a chance to thank all of the fabulous speech therapists that
are a part of the KidsCare Therapy team! Their hard work
and dedication to improving the lives of kids in the Dallas/
Fort Worth area does not go unnoticed– we feel so lucky to
have them and are honored that they represent KidsCare
Therapy in the community! National Nurses Week, also in
May, let us recognize and honor these integral parts of our
company– I don’t know what we’d do without their hard
work and knowledge!
As the weather is heating up so are things at KidsCare Therapy! A number of new therapists will be joining our team in the
upcoming months and our schedule is full of exciting events.
We can’t wait to have our best and busiest summer yet!
Continued Education a Priority
at KidsCare Therapy
KidsCare Therapy recently hosted two continuing education programs (CEU) for area therapists. The first, entitled
“Ethics: What does it mean to me?” drew nearly 200 Speech,
Physical and Occupational therapists from all over the Dallas/
Fort Worth area to Maggiano’s Little Italy for a delicious meal
and informative presentation given by three KCT therapists.
Stephanie Hill, Shannon Smith and Heather Anderson covered
the Code of Ethics and
highlighted the most
important parts of the
Texas Administrative
Code for each discipline. Ethical scenarios
were also discussed in
groups.
The second, a CEU
entitled “NICU and EI
Feeding for Medically Fragile Children,” was designed for those
who work with infants in, or just discharged from, a NICU.
Therapists gained more knowledge about factors that impact
successful oral feeding with a strong focus on bottle feeding.
In addition, information on preterm and ill-term infants and
strategies to facilitate infant abilities was emphasized.
Check our website for future CEUs.
www.KidsCareTherapy.com
2010
Children and Pregnant Women Program
Cinco de Mayo Community
Health Fair
Fort Worth, TX
KidsCare Therapy is proud to announce their new “Children and Pregnant Women” (CPW) program, led by our
social workers, Anamaria Castellanos and Victoria
Glasgow. The CPW program provides case management
services to children with a health condition/health risk,
birth through 20 years of age, and to high-risk pregnant
women of all ages in order to encourage the use of costeffective health and health-related care. Together, the
case manager and family assess the medical, social,
educational and other medically necessary service
needs of the eligible recipient.
GLSEPTSA Special Needs Activities
and Resource Fair
Lewisville, TX
May 5- 12
National Nurses Week
May 14- 15
Feeding CEU
Richland Hills, TX
At this time, KidsCare is only taking inner agency referrals, which means that you may
refer any client KidsCare is currently serving to CPW program. The unique thing about this
program is that a family needs assessment is completed during a home visit, which not
only addresses why the client was referred, but also any other concerns or issues the family has regarding this client and/or any other household member. Once a referral is sent to
the social work department, the social workers will decide if the referral is appropriate for
the CPW program. If so, the social worker will offer this service to the client/family upon
consent. According to the CPW policy, the social workers have seven days to contact the
family once the referral is received and then submit for prior authorization to Medicaid.
Upon approval from Medicaid (within three days), a family needs assessment must be
completed within seven days. A service plan is created on the same day in which goals and
all other timeframes are decided and agreed upon between the social worker and the
parents/caregivers.
Dallas Happy Hour
Dallas, TX
January
Haley Kemp, CF
Miriam Reyes, Bilingual STA
Ava Shahparasti, SLP
Amy Taylor, Event
Coordinator
Natalie Torres, Processing
Tiffany Daniels, SLP
Darby Felder, SLP
Veronica Montiel, SLP
Christina Zito, SLP
April
Kristin Ferris, SLP
Nancy Glaze, SLP
June 12
Anthem Strong Families Fiesta
Dallas, TX
June 25
Therapist Mandatory Meeting
May
9330 LBJ Freeway, Suite 790
•
August 5-6
Staci Henderson, SLP
Sarah James, SLP
Toby Treul, Staffing Coordinator
Jana VanLeer, Recruiter
Eileen White, SLP
Jennifer Worden, PT
Congratulations to Kathleen Frye,
winner of the KidsCare Therapy
“Refer a Friend” Cancun trip promotion. Kathleen will be enjoying
free airfare, a $500 gift card and an
all-inclusive stay at a sunny resort
thanks to her referral. KidsCare Therapy is currently accepting
referrals for another promotion. Send us the name of a certified SLP,
OT or PT to come in for an interview only and your name will be put
Dallas (214) 575-2999
Autism Society National
Conference and Expo
Dallas, TX
Debra Lantz, OT
Anita Walker, HR Manager
Refer a Friend!
•
Look Inside
Fort Worth Office “Open House”
Fort Worth, TX
• Things Are Heating Up! .....................1
KidsCare Events
Fort Worth Happy Hour
Fort Worth, TX
into the drawing for a two night stay at your choice of
either the Great Wolfe Lodge or the Gaylord Texan.
To submit a name and phone number please contact:
[email protected]
Contest ends September 3rd.
Dallas TX 75243
For t Worth (817) 546-8661
•
www.KidsCareTherapy.com
Things Are Heating Up!
Take a
June 4
July 7-10
February
Volume II, Issue 2: 2010
May 28
For more information, please contact Anamaria at [email protected],
Victoria at [email protected], or call (214) 575-2999.
New Hires:
Edition
May 5
• KidsCare Therapy Ropes in Recruits
at the 2010 TSHA Conference ..........1
• KidsCare Therapy’s Spring Fling ......2
• OT Success Story .............................3
• Continued Education a Priority at KidsCare Therapy .............................3
• Children and Pregnant Women Program ..4
• Refer a Friend! .................................4
• KidsCare Events ...............................4
• New Hires ........................................4
KidsCare Therapy Ropes in
the Recruits at the
2010 TSHA Conference
KidsCare Therapy had an amazing time at the 2010
Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association Conference in
Fort Worth on March 25-27. The conference theme
was “Communication, Culture and Cowboys,” and our
amazing booth, complete with a spin wheel full of prizes
and a caricature artist, pulled in hundreds of students
and therapists from all over
Texas. We were able to
interview many qualified
candidates and talk with
even more potential future
therapists. Thanks to all who
stopped by to help out or
visit – it was great to see
you there!
Dallas (214) 575-2999
•
Summer is here, and with it
comes the end of a successful
spring for KidsCare Therapy!
We have had a busy past few
months and, I couldn’t be
happier with all of the exciting
things that have happened
and changes that have taken
place.
We officially opened our Fort
Worth branch on February
3rd, which has been a dream Cortney Baker, M.S., CCC/SLP
CFO/President of Clinical Services
come true for me. The transition has been smooth, and I’m so appreciative of the great
staff from both sites that assisted in the process. March
brought the Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association
Conference, also in Fort Worth, and we had a phenomenal
showing at this huge event! Our recruiting team was able
to pull in a number of great candidates, and we’ve already
been able to reap the rewards of all of the hard work that
went into the conference. We unveiled our redesigned website, too – be sure to check it out! On it, you’ll find career
listings, additional success stories and even an all-new
“Developmental Milestone” chart, created by our therapists
for parents to see if their child is progressing at a typical
pace. We hope you’ll find it as useful as we have!
In April, we honored our hard-working Occupational Therapists for National OT month and gave them a huge thank
you for all that they do to help the families that we serve!
KidsCare Therapy also hosted our first-ever Spring Fling for
patients and their families, which, despite the weather, was
a blast! Kids, parents, therapists and employees braved the
rain and came out for an afternoon of games, crafts and food
at Flag Pole Hill. We also hosted two very successful CEUs,
the first of which drew in nearly 200 therapists from the
Fort Worth (817) 546-8661
continued on page 3
•
www.KidsCareTherapy.com