AEPS Participants' Photos

AEPS Participants from my school

PHYSIOTHERAPISTS RULE!!!

This blog is dedicated to all physiotherapists, no matter who you are or where you come from.. Yeay!!!

The AEPS Experts

Dr. JoAnn (JJ) Johnson, Ms. Sarah Jackson and Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak

These three ladies were our trainers for our AEPS course.

Dr. Kristie Pretti Frontzak, PhD., is the co-author of the AEPS and an Associate Professor in Early Childhood Intervention in the Department of Educational Foundations and Special Services at Kent State University.

Dr. JJ Johnson, PhD., is also one of the co-authors of the AEPS. She is currently the Director of the Research and Educational Planning Center and the Nevada University Centre for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the University of Nevada-Reno, Nevada.

Ms. Sarah Jackson is the Early Childhood Coordinator at the Mid-Eastern Ohio-Special Educational Regional Resource Centre in which she supports preschool programs in three counties. She is also currently a doctoral student at Kent State University.

So What Is AEPS?

AEPS is an approach that 'links assessment, goal development, intervention and evaluation '. Well, if I got it right after the five days, AEPS gives you an overall picture of the child, from birth to six years, in all aspects including fine motor, gross motor, adaptive, cognitive, social-communication as well as social skills.

Yup, they didn't leave much out.

*guess who?->

First you have to assess, then you really have to look across these skill sets and prioritize on what seems to be the main problems/concerns (target behaviours to address multiple needs) till you get your 'triple I' needs (Triple I stands for Individualised, Intensive and Intentional) and these are the ones you work on..

And you work on them in different settings, not only during snack time, but it could also be during play or even just before nap time.

AEPS for Infants and Children

Finally..

THE day has come for me and Ong Ing (my colleague and a PT as well) to go for that AEPS Course. For the unitiated, AEPS stands for Assessment, Evaluation and Programming System for Infants and Children (AEPS). Its a mouthful but you can call it 'APES' if you want.. *chuckle*

Why are we attending this course?? (Because we have to? Hahaha!!!)

Well, it seems that at the special school I'm in, they may be adopting this as an overall assessment tool so to be able to familiarise ourselves, me and Ong Ing got sent to River View Hotel on the 30th May 2007. Its a 5-day course consisting of Introduction and Intermediate. They say they've also got the Advanced Course but that's like 8 days so Ong Ing and me juz thank God that we only signed up for 5 days... 8 days is a bit too long, dude..!

Yup, me and Ong Ing together with OT Grace trudged along on a Wednesday morning and got introduced to the world of AEPS and wow, what a world it is! It kinda opened our eyes that we we PTs aren't the only important people in a child's life.. heheh.. I mean AEPS is actually a tool that gives an overall view of where the child's at. I mean, in terms of different areas, not just in gross motor.

About Me!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my blog! I'm Rafizah, a physiotherapist working in Singapore! Been working the last 8 over years at a Special School here!

Lots of things are a-changin' in this part of the world and so I hope this blog can be a place I share my experiences in terms of therapy for kids and hopefully get some posts on how I can improve my skills!

So, if you're interested, follow me on my journey to discuss and discover new things about physiotherapy (paeds only!) and life in general...

PS - By the way, the above picture's model is my niece, Yasmynn..

(Sorry, proud aunt!)