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 Dean’s Message Feature Stories Meet a Professor From the Departments HHS News and Events |
Newsletter for Friends of HHS Vol. 6, 2008  Seacoast Child Development Clinic provides answers and trainingStanding on one foot in a room full of toys, Jamie Jones is working through one of the most challenging practical situations of her occupational therapy graduate work at UNH.“Hey, Maya*, can you do this? Can you stand on one foot?” Jones asks of three-year-old Maya, who buzzes happily around the graduate student, seemingly unaware of Jones’s request. Jones attempts to measure Maya’s motor abilities on the Peabody Developmental Motor Scale, but the preschooler’s lagging communication skills interfere with her ability to follow Jones’s directions. Shelley Mulligan, associate professor of occupational therapy, and Jones’s faculty mentor, slips into the room from behind the one-way mirror where she’s been observing. As Maya jumps on a trampoline, Mulligan claps, urging Maya to do the same, to no avail. “That was rough,” says Jones when the evaluation ends. Jones and Mulligan are evaluators for the Seacoast Child Development Clinic, the service component of the University’s Institute on Disability. Families like Maya’s come to the twice-monthly clinic in Hewitt Hall for its in-depth, interdisciplinary evaluation of children with disabilities. Put simply, families like Maya’s come to the Seacoast clinic for answers. Does she have a particular diagnosis? What is the best way to enhance Maya’s communication skills? Previously, on separate occasions, Maya has been evaluated by a neurologist, an audiologist, and educators in her special education preschool. Her family hopes the Seacoast clinic, with its collaborative team of specialists, can shed new light on their daughter’s development. “We see the kids with the most perplexing questions,” says Rae Sonnenmeier, clinical assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders. “When kids have multiple areas of concern, it’s incredibly helpful to bring together all of this different expertise.” In Maya’s case, that expertise comprises Sonnenmeier and Mulligan; plus John Moeschler, a developmental pediatrician from Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth, a Seacoast clinic partner; Mary Banach, associate professor of social work; Andrew Nathan, psychologist; Michelle Sullivan, psychology fellow; Leslie Couse, assistant professor of education; and Pat McLean, clinic coordinator. Maya’s team also includes three SHHS graduate students—Jones and two others. Called “trainees” in the clinical setting, their role is far from passive. “Our trainees are active members of the team. It’s not a shadowing experience,” says Sonnenmeier. In addition to the clinic visit, trainees make home and school visits with their faculty mentors to learn about the child’s development in multiple environments. Indeed, that morning, Jones—a second-year graduate student—took the lead in assessing Maya’s physical development. Before meeting with Maya, the team discussed the tools and strategies they would use to answer the family’s concerns. Jones suggested the Peabody scale, by which Maya’s motor skills were measured earlier in the year. “It could give us an idea of how her gross motor skills and fine motors skills have progressed,” she said. And so, while Nathan and Sullivan meet with Maya to assess her with an autism diagnostic tool, Jones prepares the occupational therapy room, selecting tools—toys, to the lay person—that she can use to observe Maya’s motor skills. The trampoline stays, as does a TheraBall, which can help Jones assess her balance. Mulligan notes that as the semester comes to a close, Jones acts as the primary OT—not just with the child, but in presenting information and evaluation to the Seacoast clinic’s team. “I feel like the experience I’m getting at the clinic is invaluable. When you get out of school, it’s not just you, it’s a whole array of people,” says Jones. Mulligan concurs. “Most positions that OTs end up in require them to work as part of a team,” she says. “Here, you get a real global perspective.” As Maya’s morning of observation and evaluation ends, Jones and Mulligan rejoin the team around a conference table to discuss their findings. Maya’s case is far from clear-cut: Although Maya shows some characteristics that fall on the autism spectrum, her developmental delays confound an obvious diagnosis. The team cautiously recommends a diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Though broader and less severe than autism, it helps Maya’s family understand what it means to their daughter’s learning and to her future. While Maya’s case is her most challenging by far, Jones remains grateful for the learning opportunities provided by the Seacoast Child Development Clinic. “It’s really broadening my perspective on children with disabilities. I’m seeing such a wide variety of disabilities. I think it will help me be a better therapist when I get out there,” she says. And, reflecting on her morning with Maya, Jones adds, “I’m stepping out of my comfort zone, totally.” * Name has been changed. Beth Potier, Media Relations
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