The National Birth Defects Prevention Network (NBDPN) claims January as National Birth Defects Prevention Month. This organization is a "volunteer-based organization that addresses the issues of birth defects surveillance, research and prevention under one umbrella by maintaining a national network of state and population-based birth defects programs." (NBDPN website) It is made up of a team of members from various backgrounds, including public health officials, epidemiologists, academics, parents, and others who work hard to understand, identify, educate, and find ways to prevent birth defects.

"Birth defects are serious conditions that are changes to the structure of one or more parts of the body. Birth defects affect 1 in every 33 babies born in the United States each year."(http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/facts.html) They range from physical conditions to internal heart conditions. Whatever the case is for a child, these situations add a lot of stress on parents and families. With today's technology and prevention screenings, many of these situations can be identified prior to birth, but that is not always the case.

Children who are born with birth defects tend to need a great deal of extra medical attention. From the costly hospital stay due to surgeries, longer stays, and extra medical equipment and staff to the ongoing follow-up needs including Early Intervention services, these situations put a lot of extra emotional and financial burden on families. From early on, these children will have an extensive medical team including occupational, speech and physical therapists.

Occupational therapists often assist in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with feeding concerns. Early on, occupational therapists play a role in helping families understand the sensory system and help with overall self-regulation if it is needed. In addition, they work with parents and families on positioning, interacting with people and things, and calming techniques. As a child develops, OTs remain part of the team, as needed to assist with motor development, fine motor and play skills, sensory processing, and coordination skills. They are also the key players who address concerns such as feeding and self-care needs.

Physical therapists and speech therapists become part of these children's treatment teams to help facilitate motor and social growth. Physical therapists focus on helping families know how to encourage proper developmental movement patterns, encourage skills such as rolling, sitting, crawling and walking at the right times. Speech therapists play a role in assessing and addressing cognitive needs prior to verbalization beginning. In addition, they also assist with feeding skills and proper mouth development. Based on specific birth defects, therapists work to help families learn and find adaptive equipment if needed. Proper facilitation is important for overall growth for all children regardless of any birth defects.

As individuals who have some knowledge of child development and a connection with various families and parents, we need to play a role in helping to prevent birth defects. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, ways to help prevent birth defects are:

ˇ Get 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid every day.   

ˇ Avoid alcohol at any time during pregnancy.   

ˇ Avoid smoking cigarettes or using "street" drugs.   

ˇ Prevent infections.

ˇ Talk to a health care provider about taking any medications.   

ˇ Talk to your doctor about vaccinations (shots).   

ˇ Reach and maintain a healthy weight.   

ˇ Keep diabetes under control.   

ˇ See a health care professional regularly.

Southpaw Sponsors AAMSE Certified MSE Training

Southpaw MSE has created a new state-of-the-art showroom highlighting their equipment and is sponsoring a MSE Basic Training course at their facility in Dayton, OH. The training course has been designed by the American Association of Multi Sensory Environments and participants will receive AAMSE certification upon completion of all course requirements.  

Training is designed to give the participant "Core Concepts", leading to the understanding and practice of a Multi-Sensory Dynamic Systems Approach. The courses and requirements will be geared to giving the student the knowledge and experience necessary to have a solid foundation in the Multi-Sensory Dynamic Systems Technique.  

Linda Messbauer, MA, OTR/L or an Experienced Certified Trainer from AAMSE will conduct the training courses. Linda Messbauer is one of the world's leading experts on Multi-Sensory Environments. She has over 30 years experience and was the first person to create a Snoezelen/MSE room in the United States. Her mission is to assist organizations, groups and individuals who wish to utilize Multi-Sensory Environments to provide treatment and quality care to the people they serve. Linda is a recognized International Trainer and Founding member of the American Association of Multi-Sensory Environments.     

Objectives:

1.     Understand basic complex neural networks of the brain and their impact on the use of MSE with people with special needs

2.     To understand interfering stress, its detrimental effects on the human being, in relation to age, stage and quality of life as it impacts our memory ability to focus, and attend

3.     Understanding the Relaxation Process and how the MSE can reverse and prevent the detrimental effects of stress by using the joy / pleasure response

4.     To understand the use of changing arousal to facilitate attention and focus

5.     To understand and be able to demonstrate setting up MSE Equipment protocols and basic Sensory Diets

6.     To develop, understand and write specific individualized outcome measurement strategies.

A Certificate of Attendance upon Completion of Basic Training course will be awarded with contact hours.     

Choose from one of the two scheduled sessions:

April 12-13, 2015

June 12-13, 2015

Training will be held at the Southpaw MSE Showroom:

617 N Irwin Street

Dayton, OH 45403

Contact: Tom Marshall - 844-632-2191

Cost for the 2-day training session is $395 + membership in AAMSE. Registration can be made through the www.aamse.us website or contacting Linda Messbauer at lmessbauer@aol.com or Tom Marshall at tom@southpaw.com.  

If you need to fly to Dayton for the training you will use the James A. Cox International Airport. There are a number of hotels near the airport. The Fairfield Inn by Marriott and the Hampton Inn and Suites have a shuttle from the airport to the hotel. Southpaw will provide transportation from the hotel to the training site.