Pediatrics Plus hosting POWER OF PLAY WORKSHOP

On September 25th, Pediatrics Plus will host a seminar entitled "The Power of Play".  Our guest speaker will be Cari Ebert, M.S., CCC-SLP.  Cari is a Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist in private practice in the Kansas City, Missouri area.  She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University in 1993 and her Master of Science degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1995.  Cari's area of specialty is in working exclusively with young children ages birth to five and their families.  She strives to be a well-rounded therapist and firmly believes in assessing and treating the whole child.  Cari is a therapist, a consultant and a nationally recognized speaker who gets paid to do what she loves most…TALK! Therapists from all disciplines will benefit from the information provided in Cari’s seminars.

She has a unique perspective that sets her apart from other presenters:  her son has autism and apraxia, which allows her to see things not only as a professional, but also as a parent of a child with special needs. In direct therapy, Cari embraces the coaching model of service delivery and partners with parents to empower them to help their own child develop.  When consulting with professionals, Cari provides individualized recommendations to support instructional programming for specific students/clients. When presenting, Cari delivers evidence-based, clinically relevant information regarding early child development.  The areas of focus for the day will include:

 

• benefits of play
• the connection between neuroscience and play
• active play vs. passive entertainment
• child directed play vs. adult directed play
• structured play vs. free play
• object play vs. social play
• why toys are important
• criterion for choosing a good toy
• toys available in the natural environment
• play based assessment
• play and therapy
• therapy vs. intervention
• the transdisciplinary team
• and much more!

Pediatrics Plus therapists will leave with a better understanding and ability to utilize play to promote development and improved function.