Integrating Sensory Strategies for All Ages: Neurodiverse Approaches to Support Clients with Sensory Disorders, Developmental Delays, and Motor Impairments

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Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Speaker

Michelle Lindsey, DPT, PT, MBA Related seminars and products

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Michelle Lindsey, DPT, PT, MBA, has over 26 years of experience and is the owner of Rising Star Therapy Specialists, LLC, in Phoenix where she specializes in treating pediatric and adult special needs clients. Throughout her career, she has worked in various settings, including orthopedics, skilled nursing services, home health, outpatient, and acute care. Dr. Lindsey views her clients as unique individuals with varied skills and abilities. She inspires them to extend beyond their best efforts by providing a comfortable, compassionate, and respectful environment in which they thrive.

Her first book, The Wellness Equation, offers hands-on-postures and exercises that promote healing at the union of modern medicine and traditional yoga. The Metamorphic Gift: Easy, Simple Breathing and Postural Techniques to Transform Your Life; is a great book for self-healing that integrates the body with breathing and postural exercises, using understandable anatomy and physiology.

Dr. Lindsey is also Certified as a Personal Trainer (CPT), KRI Yoga Instructor, a Level 3 Reiki Practitioner, Dolphin Therapist, Fall Prevention Specialist, and Tai massage therapist. She also holds a dry needling certification. She has been a featured speaker in many large-scale conferences. Dr. Lindsey has won national recognition in many areas of fitness including figure skating, elite marathon running, duathlons, and professional speed skating.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Michelle Lindsey is the CEO of Rising Star Therapy Specialists, LLC. She had previously received compensation from Link Med Technologies. Michelle Lindsey receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Michelle Lindsey has no relevant non-financial relationships.

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Objectives

1. Identify therapeutic techniques that stimulate physical/cognitive performance to enhance overall client function and movement.
2. Integrate neurodiverse and sensory re-education techniques to improve clients’ ability to process new information and execute functional tasks.
3. Evaluate clients’ needs using assessments and translate those into attainable functional goals.
4. Integrate targeted interventions into your plan of care for clients with unique challenges and severe cases.
5. Determine practical strategies to improve gait cycle, posture, balance, stability, and mobility across the lifespan.
6. Distinguish between Sensory Integration and Sensory Regulation.

Outline

• What is Sensory Regulation? Explore differentiating elements
• Types of clients that benefit from these therapies – areas of disabilities that may be encountered
• Key elements to success
• Establish trust
• Learn semantics/reading and being an observer

• Connect – physical, cognitive, and behavioral function
• Neurological and neuroplasticity techniques
• Integrate sensory information to the CNS
• Altering Sensory Input – Proprioception | Vibration | Joint Distraction | Compression
• Functional movement patterns – connecting stimuli motor performance
• Navigating neglect
• Tapping as an approach to stimulate the CNS
• Visual rehab – colors | use of glasses |binoculars
• Stability – modulate tone – proprioception/grounding techniques
• Auditory response – foster regulation through sound
• Olfactory system – tips to enhance connection/functional movement
• Digestion
• Tactile defensiveness

• Typical assessment
• Additional factors & considerations
• Body awareness
• Neuro techniques or ROM
• Midline/crossing midline techniques/eye focus
• Environmental modifications
• What is the patient saying to us – Are we listening?

• Contractures
• Scoliosis
• Tonal deficits – hypertonicity and hypotonicity
• Co-occurring conditions

• Positioning
• Neuroplasticity techniques
• Range of motion:
  • Reflexology
  • Sensory integration
  • Affecting tonal patterns
• Adapt and modify exercises/activities/play

• Positioning
• Neuroplasticity techniques
• Range of motion:
  • Reflexology
  • Sensory integration
  • Affecting tonal patterns
• Adapt and modify exercises/tasks/occupation

• Multi-sensory mindfulness strategies:
  • Counting techniques
  • Breathing techniques
• Grounding/pacing strategies using all sensory systems
• Organization/alignment interventions
• Tips for treating clients with diverse sensory experiences

• Positioning in conjunction with mobility
• Introduce the client to new sensory input
• Advance exercises, activities, play, and occupational tasks
• Add stretching and ROM routines
• Interdisciplinary treatment approaches

• Proper standing posture
• Weight shift as a pivotal element of the gait cycle
• Effective gait training devices
• High level balance activities
• Dynamic stabilization exercises

• Establishing an individualized home program
• Classroom interventions for pediatric clients
• Occupation, community engagement, and ADLS in adult clients
• Incorporate meaningful activities into the POC

Target Audience

• Physical Therapists
• Physical Therapist Assistants
• Occupational Therapists
• Occupational Therapy Assistants
• Behavioral Health Professionals