WELCOME TO UCSHA

Rachel Fisch-Kaplan, Clinical Director and Senior Speech Language Pathologist, and Laura Martucci, Director of Occupational Therapy, at CommuniKids, have been collaborating with one another for over a dozen years. They will share their insights and multi-level strategies that they have developed during their work together. After a brief introduction to the field of pediatric occupational therapy, Ms. Martucci will elaborate on the major therapeutic areas that OTs target with children: fine/gross/visual motor skills and sensory integration/self-regulation. She will then explore developmental milestones, identify red flags, and share strategies that promote attention and self-regulation. Ms. Kaplan will discuss how the lower-level skills targeted in occupational therapy springboard into the issues addressed by speech-language pathologists. These will include the foundational skills of joint, auditory and visual attention; oral motor strength and coordination; planning, sequencing and play; auditory processing; pragmatics/social skills; functional communication and executive functioning. Prepare to learn strategies in synthesizing a dual modality approach to treatment, dissect case studies and ask questions along the way!

Rachel Fisch-Kaplan is a speech-language pathologist and Clinical Director at CommuniKids, a speech, language and occupational therapy center with offices in New York City and Summit, New Jersey. With over 25 years of experience, Rachel is responsible for clinical supervision as well as providing both therapeutic and diagnostic services for children with articulation, oral motor/feeding deficits, receptive/expressive/pragmatic language delays, dysfluency, and autism spectrum disorders.

Laura Martucci is the Director of Occupational Therapy at Communikids and has been practicing OT for over 19 years. She is a certified sensory integration therapist and has worked in numerous settings including hospitals, school systems, home care, and private clinics.  

8:30 am Check-in (breakfast provided)

9:00 am – 2:30 pm Presentation (Lunch provided 12:00-12:30 pm)