Services

Treatment

Locus currently provides skilled occupational therapy assessment and treatment.  Sessions are scheduled at the family’s home, daycare or community setting and typically last one hour. Scheduling is intentionally flexible so that therapy sessions can occur during different times of the day when specific activities or routines are naturally occurring. During those sessions the therapist works collaboratively with the child’s parents and caregivers by demonstrating techniques and weaving those strategies throughout valued family routines and activities.  Rather than giving families yet one more thing to fit into their busy schedules it is the intent of the therapist to model and coach caregivers on how to include learning and growth in already existing daily activities.

Provider Training and Mentoring

Despite evidence that shows using a family centered approach to early intervention results in the best possible outcomes for families and children, providers of services continue to have difficulty shifting their clinical habits towards adopting a different approach to care.  Locus hopes to fill that gap between realizing and implementing best practice standards through a series of workshops and 1:1 mentoring opportunities.

• Training opportunities include modules that focus on the importance of using a family centered care approach, how to use a coaching model, embedding strategies throughout established family routines and activities, and using materials commonly found in the child’s home, daycare or community settings. All training opportunities include interactive classroom activities intended for participants to apply learned concepts to their current clinical practices. NC Infant Toddler Credits will be awarded to each participant.
• Providers may also participate in 1:1 mentoring with Beth Hathaway which focuses on any number of topics including implementing family centered practices in their current caseloads or building occupational therapy skills for newer graduates. Mentoring programs all include access to social media strategies including Twitter and blog sites, direct session observations, and discussions with Beth Hathaway regarding areas of strength and need.

Family Education

It is the family with the most at stake as they try to navigate including their child in family traditions and routines as well as receive the most benefit from their early intervention services.  Therefore, direct consultation with early intervention families is also available where families are informed on what early intervention should look like , why it is provided in their home or other naturally occurring environments, their role on the team, and how to facilitate family centered care with their treating therapists. Beth Hathaway is also available to join a scheduled therapy session in order to help facilitate a family centered process for the early intervention team.