Teaming Up – Supporting Upper Extremity Recovery While Addressing Cognition Following Stroke or Brain Injury Using an NDT Approach – October 7, 2024

Workshop Description:

Often after a stroke or brain injury, there can be cognitive and perceptual difficulties in addition to physical impairments that impact a client’s independence in everyday tasks.

As Occupational Therapists it can be challenging to figure out how to best manage our time so that we are incorporating the more involved upper extremity (UE) into tasks while also addressing a client’s cognitive and perceptual impairments.

This one day workshop will present NDT principles related to the incorporating the more involved or hemiplegic UE into cognitive and perceptual tasks through using the UE in an active support role.  The course will provide a holistic opportunity to explore practical tips to engage the UE in active support while being creative of how to work on cognition and perception while considering the environment, client’s goals and impairments.  Course format will include a lecture, with a large focus on handling and problem solving labs. These labs will work on facilitating the UE in active support as well as ideas of how to address cognitive/perceptual impairments.

Course Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of the course the participants will:

• • Learn about the benefits of using the UE as an active support during functional tasks for clients who have neurological impairments and particularly as applied to the management of the hemiplegic UE
  • Explore research on cognition, cognitive treatment strategies and how cognition and exercise can impact one another
  • Develop basic assessment problem solving and handling skills to improve trunk and upper extremity alignment to promote active support during cognitive and perceptual tasks
  • Problem solve strategies of how to set up the client’s environment to address client’s trunk and UE impairments using the arm in active support while also working on cognition and perception
  • Collaboratively explore and analyze a variety of cognitive and perceptual tasks and problem solve how to grade the complexity of these tasks to best address client’s goals and impairments

Instructor: Sherry Rock

Sherry Rock OT Reg.(Ont) is an Occupational Therapist who has worked at an outpatient NeuroRehabilitation Clinic in Kitchener Ontario for over 21 years. She is the first Adult NDTA™ OT instructor in Canada. She holds a Masters of Clinical Science degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Western Ontario.  She has over 20 years of experience working with clients with stroke and other neurological diagnoses in both outpatient and inpatient settings. She completed her NDT Certificate course in 2005 and has taken numerous advanced NDT courses as well as various cognitive and perceptual courses related to acquired brain injuries.  She continues to expand her knowledge in these areas as well as in the area of emotional well-being and how to help clients manage and cope with the life changes that have occurred.   Sherry became an Adult NDTA™ OT Instructor in 2018.  She has taught on many introductory, intermediate and certificate NDTA™ courses as well as presented on topics related to cognition and perception at conferences in Ontario.

Her passion is working collaboratively with clients with neurological conditions, their families and other health care professionals to help clients navigate their life changes and maximize their independence in completing activities that matter to them while improving their quality of life.

Requirements:

Participants must be registered Occupational Therapists, Therapy Assistants or Rehabilitation Assistants.

Workshop Agenda: 

• 9:00 – 9:15       Welcome and Introductions
• 9:15 – 10:15     Lecture: Teaming Up: Supporting Upper Extremity Recovery While Addressing Cognition Following Stroke or Brain Injury
• 10:15 – 10:45    Assessment of the Upper Extremity Lab
• 10:45 -11:00     Break
• 11:00 -11:30   Exploring Normal Movement Lab
• 11:30-12:30      Upper Extremity Active Support Facilitation Lab (in sitting and standing)
• 12:30 – 1:15       Lunch
• 1:15 -2:00      Problem Solving Lab: Analyzing and Exploring Cognitive and Perceptual Tasks
• 2:00 -3:00     Putting it All Together: Case Studies
• 3:00-3:15      Wrap up and Questions

Please note that this workshop has reached capacity. You may indicate your interest to be added to the waitlist by emailing Tina Vallentin, Regional Stroke Education and Data Coordinator, at vallent@hhsc.ca.

**This workshop will take place at St. Peter’s Hospital, in Hamilton, Ontario and is only open to stroke care providers in the Central South Region. 

In your response, include the following information:

• Work Email
• Profession
• Place of work  
• Role in the stroke continuum (i.e., acute, inpatient rehab, community, etc.)

Participants will be notified by September 6th. Seats will be distributed with consideration for representation of stroke care providers across the Central South region and across the continuum of care. If the workshop has not reached maximum capacity, registration requests will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis as of September 4th.