This back to school is like no other. Like you, I am thinking about many things...chief amongst them is PPE. I'm grateful for documents created by the APTA Pediatrics and my colleague Amanda Iannotti. These documents give me concrete direction and comfort in knowing that we can be safe. One of my worries when we are back to face to face is scaring kids...to which I made a mask with a clown face. My 7 year old niece thinks it looks to scary...back to the drawing board!!! If I was a marketing guru I'd probably put my logo on it but...mehh. As my husband would say, keep your day job!
I do have some great news. The new Fit4Work book is available. I spent the late Spring and much of the summer in this rewrite, and it truly is a rewrite. As I continue to refine this work, the content gets tighter and more precise. My tone is now "this is what you should do" vs "I think you should think about doing this". I feel that strongly about changing the supports and intensity of the youth with disabilities that we serve. The new version includes an entire chapter dedicated to Population Health including a very digestable model that utilizes RTI and health promotion terminology, power strength training protocols, more explicit exercise protocols and documents to support leadership development and community engagement. There is original content but this version is far more robust. Additionally, I am able to offer it to you paper or eBook/ePub version; I was able to download the ePub version to my phone and open in iBooks. This is an incredible feature as it means you can use those test tools on the go.
The eBook version here
The Paper version here
I'm planning on creating some other digital products that you can use to support practice in schools this fall, and will let you know when I'e got them ready.
I wont be offering my online Fit4Work course this fall, I think many of us are focused on other things. The course will be offered in the Fall and I am taking registration here. Registrants will receive copies of the new book as well! If you are signing up now, I will send you the new book now!
I've had a website update and a few new documents to help support back to schools especially this one. While I think that we need to continue to support youth with physical activity and chores, we really need to be opening ourselves up to supporting health promotion and wellness for the youth we work with, our colleagues, and ourselves. In this environment we may have to advocate for PPE, required equipment to support physical activity, and supporting those all important sleep and physical activity routines that are critical for health.
This Spring, I found myself dropping off diapers from a student that passed to another family, delivering a piece of equipment, as well as holding the space for parents to process how they could move forward given the challenges of working, caring for their families, their children with disabilities and themselves...Zoom fatigue is real and the even greater difficulty for me was not being able to "do"; to physically do what needed to get done. We need to advocate for health in schools and to truly understand this model I'm presenting you'll need to read the newest book or come to a course. I'll be sharing a lecture soon on this.
If anyone is interested in hearing about Fit4Work in Schools during school closure or wearables, I will be presenting in September for APTA Pediatrics and also for School OTs and PTs in Virginia will be running a return to school virtual conference, details are attached. Registration is free.
Take care, be well and be safe.