READY, STEADY, GO!

Increased participation and meaningful engagement in daily life are vital treatment outcomes within occupational therapy and allied health professions. However, from a developmental, body-based, sensory integrative approach, prior to participation it is essential to organize the body for regulated engagement across all environments and tasks.

This two-day course will introduce participants to the clinical reasoning template of “Ready, Steady, Go” which blends theory, assessment, and treatment activities into one approach. Ready, Steady, Go serves as a guiding template to structure treatment from the basis of regulating one’s physiological arousal, interoceptive sense of self, and organizing movement within time and space as a precursor to participation in all aspects of life.

Lecture content will convey the importance of breath, emotion and movement, embodied self-awareness, and state regulation (“Ready”); working from the ground up to establish stable and dynamic postural control in conjunction with organization of the eyes and ears (“Steady”); and developing coordinated movement within three-dimensional space and as key foundations for accessing higher-level skills of self-monitoring and sustained attention (“Go”).

Theoretical lectures will be supplemented by video examples and interactive treatment labs where participants will be introduced to assessment and treatment activities that correspond with each of the three components of the approach. This course will be appropriate for occupational therapists and other health professionals working in private practice, school, or home environments.

Sheila Frick, OTR/L is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist and founder of Vital Links. Since 1980, Sheila taught internationally clinician, lecturer, and pioneer in Occupational Therapy. Sheila has well over 30 years of clinical experience, having worked in psychiatry, rehabilitation, and home health before specializing in pediatrics. Sheila expertise includes sensory processing dysfunction, sensory integration, and auditory interventions.

Sheila has explored the links between Sensory Integration and developmental movement patterns through many avenues including the teaching of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen at Body Mind Centering, Marcia Monroe and Donna Farhi on developmental yoga training, and Peggy Hackney on Bartenieff Fundamentals. In addition, Sheila has collaborated with well-recognized leaders in the field of Sensory Integration including Mary Kawar, Patricia Wilbarger, Julia Wilbarger, Patricia Oetter, Eileen Richter, and Mary Fiorentino. Sheila’s interest in further exploration of the impact of traumatic experiences on sensory processing and overall participation in daily life led her to training and later teaching with the TRE® organization.

Personally mentored and trained by Sheila M. Frick, Tracy Bjorling began her occupational therapy career at Vital Links in 2010 after completing her Master’s in Occupational Therapy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Tracy credits her graduate school professor, Julia Wilbarger, PhD, OTR/L, for setting her on her current career path by introducing her to Sheila and Vital Links. She has been influenced by a number of other exceptional therapists including Mary Kawar, Julia Wilbarger, Gail Ritchie and Brenda Lindsey.

In addition to actively treating clients in the clinic, Tracy has been trained in the both the clinical practice and teaching of Therapeutic Listening and Quickshifts. Tracy currently enjoys joining Sheila in her efforts teaching these practical treatment tools with therapist across a variety of treatment settings.