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ABOUT THIS 2-DAY POLYCLINIC
A 16 hour in-service packed into 2 days. Designed for the SLP or speech therapist, this course includes information on working with both children and adults in water for language and speech development.
Provides tips on positioning patients in water for speech therapy, use of aquatic equipment to maximize results, and progressions for improving breath control, vocalization and other speech-only goals. Shows tips for taking augmentative communication into water. Discusses which aquatic specialty techniques (e.g. Watsu®) may be usable by the speech therapist. Includes information on current research supporting performing speech tasks in the pool. Addresses why a therapy pool is an appropriate tool for the speech therapist and discusses whether or not SLPs should pursue including 97113 as a reimbursable code for speech.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Participate in an open forum discussion on the emergence of the therapy pool as a viable treatment venue for the SLP (forum) 2. Make a 3 minute verbal “case” for providing speech therapy services in the water. 3. Locate and describe what ASHA, state laws, and payers have to say (if anything) about SLPs working in water (lecture) 4. Recite 5-6 aquatic precautions and contraindications specific to the speech patient (lecture). 5. Outline 1-2 ways to divide labor and schedule pool-time when all three disciplines are involved in a patient’s care. Describe 1-2 ways that the goals of water-based OT, PT, and speech should differ (lecture) 6. Determine under what conditions an adult should be considered for aquatic speech therapy (lecture) 7. Craft a sample home program for parents/caregivers who wish to incorporate 3-4 speech-related tasks in the shower, bathtub or community pool. Be able to share with parents where they can obtain additional training materials (lecture) 8. Describe why aquatic therapy may be the treatment of choice if (a) the patient has poor respiratory support and control for speech, (b) the patient is difficult to position for therapy; or (d) the patient is unwilling or unable to vocalize on land (lecture) 9. Demonstrate 2-3 effective positions to work with adult and pediatric clients in the water (lab) 10. Perform 3-4 aquatic therapeutic movements, tasks, or exercises designed to:
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increase attention to a task (a foundation for building strong language skills)increase strength of speech-related musculatureimprove ROM of chest and shoulder regionimprove head and trunk righting as a precursor for speechperform lip and mouth closureimprove total communicationimprove verbalization, articulation, descriptive language and sentence richness
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encourage play and social interaction (lab)
11. Demonstrate 1-2 aquatic tasks or activities from each of the following specialty techniques (as each relates to the speech patient):
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Aquatic Sensory Integration (ASI)Aquatic manual therapy and stretchingOral Motor exercisesAugmentative communication
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Watsu (lab)
12. With a partner, design and implement a 15-minute aquatic treatment plan (including equipment selection) for 1-2 of the following:
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Non-progressive neurological disorder (e.g. cerebral palsy, CVA, TBI)Progressive neurological disorder (e.g. Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis)
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Pervasive developmental disorder (e.g. autism)
Typical Schedule
Though our classes are designed to fit your schedule, lectures will preceed pool labs. If you opt for the DVD lecture, the remaining seven hours of pool lab would be held on a single day at your facility. These labs could be contiguous or broken up into morning, noon and evening sessions to minimize your pool down-time.
Day 1
8:30-12:00 Lecture
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-3:40 Pool lab
3:40-4:00 Energy break
4:00-5:45 Pool lab
Day 2
8:30-12:00 Lecture
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-3:40 Pool lab
3:40-4:00 Energy break
4:00-5:45 Pool lab
5:45-6:00 Wrap-up and questions
CEU Approval
This course is offered for 1.9 ASHA CEUs
(Intermediate level, Professional area)
MARS Rebate
Short for Marketing, Advertising and Registration Service, this add-on is designed to help you preserve valuable resources and defray training costs when you open up your polyclinics to outside therapists. Going "open" allows you to transfer your registration worries to us as we employ our extensive online web presence to find you new attendees. Why? Because each new registrant we bring in earns you a $300 rebate, up to $2400 max. In other words, if we find 8 outside attendees, you get your class for half-price!
ATU Inside℠ Staff Certification
Sign up for this value-packed add-on and we will provide you with two ATU Inside℠ window decals and a year's supply of customized marketing brochures for display in your lobby for. We also will mail up to 25 brochures to any referring physicians or clinics in your area to that you specify. Let the world know that your therapists have been trained by the best!
CEU Pre-Approval Service
Don't have the time or staff to fill out the myriad forms required by your state licensing board? Let our continuing-education experts handle all the paperwork headaches. We will apply for CEU pre-approvals and pay any fees required by your state PT and OT and SLP agencies for you so your therapists can concentrate on their clients.
Aquatic Therapy Boot Camp DVD Pre-Study Module
We will send you one DVD of our time-tested Aqautic Therapy Boot Camp, good for 4.0 credit hours. Facilities choose this add-on to allow their staff to prepare in advance without the need for pool downtime. Take this module at your leisure during lunches or take-home sessions. Comes with enough manuals for your entire staff.
Pre-Conference Site Survey
Is your pool under-utilized? Patient census down? Insurers slow to pay? We can help with that! Just sign up for our day-long Site Survey Add-On and our consultants will tour your facility, browse your policies and procedures and review your marketing materials. We will then recommend best-practice improvements to your staffing, training, programming and billing functions to help turn your operations around and become profitable again. Visit typically scheduled the day before polyclinic, but can be after. Price is $2000 for one-day visit and consult, $1000 for 1/2 day. Add-On includes 2-hr question-and-answer forum and a bound Site Survey Report.
While ATU strives to present as small a footprint as possible to our valued customers, there is still a number of responsibilities we ask our facilities to fulfill . Here are some of those tasks:
Minimum Equipment List
A minimum equipment list is to be provided by the host facility. This is the pool equipment needed by the instructor to teach the polyclinic. This is to be either in possession or purchased by the start of class. ATU will provide the facility with the required MEL within 4 weeks of class as well as make a good faith effort to keep this list to the minimum needed for your staff to practice and treat patients with after we leave.
Catering
As host, you are free to administer your polyclinic as you see fit. While some facilities provide lunches and energy breaks to their staff during in-services, others release their staff to get lunch on their own. Either way you decide, please remember to treat all your attendees as you would your own staff.
Pool Temperature
Water temperature should be kept as close to 91-93 degrees as possible to maximize attention span and minimize hypothermia during our 3-4 hour-long lab sessions. The air temp should also be kept within 10 degrees of the water temp. While we will hold the polyclinic no matter the temperature, you may want to consider holding the class at another pool in your area if your site cannot accommodate this range.
Facilitator
A point-of-contact is needed who is familiar with your facility and able to help coordinate and pre-plan the polyclinic with ATU staff and instructor. This person will need to provide equipment lists, campus maps, directions, pool layouts and floor diagrams, as needed. Also, the facilitator should be available all days of the polyclinic to help set up the classroom, ready equipment for the labs, meet and orient the instructror, open up the facility and arrange for catering.
