After over 35 years of practice in pediatric occupational therapy, 15 years presenting to therapists and teachers, and over 10 years of writing my book is finally coming out within the next month! #FABStrategiesBook The interior designer completed the cover for my new book FAB “Functionally Alert Behavior” Strategies and the book is coming out in the […]
FAB "Functionally Alert Behavior" Strategies Book is Coming Soon Read More »
For over 15 years I have been giving workshops nationally for teachers and teacher trainers on improving the behavior of students in the regular classroom. I’ve compiled my responses to the most frequently asked questions and hope they will be useful. While I have greatly enjoyed all my teacher presentations, I have to admit my
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My recent keynote presentation for the Quinnipiac University Student Conference “New Visions for Occupational Therapy” enabled me to reflect on the new directions I’ve taken in my occupational therapy practice. I’ve discovered that behavior is a major goal area for occupational therapy that dramatically effects our functioning. To successfully participate in learning and home life
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Adding a brief behavioral function assessment enables pediatric occupational therapists to better help youth with complex behavioral challenges. Integrating the QABF and Sensory Profile 2 (Dunn, 2014) assessment can improve pediatric occupational therapy behavioral outcomes (McCall et al., 2016; Lydon et al., 2017). Sensory Integration Intervention is helpful for children and adolescents with complex behavioral challenges
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Students with complex behavioral problems including cognitive limitations need to be taught to behave appropriately so they can learn in school. An individualized understanding of the student’s developmental level, trauma history, sensory modulation, and effective coping strategies are helpful in developing a behavior plan. It is helpful to develop a trauma informed behavior plan that
Special Needs Behavior Plans Read More »
School occupational therapists apply sensory-based interventions (SBIs) providing specific sensory input for improved classroom behavior. SBIs can include school occupational therapy teacher consultation, environmental adaptations, adaptive equipment, and the use of specific sensory activities Basic SBI Efficacy Post. It is important to differentiate occupational therapy SBIs using individualized goal-directed SBIs to objectively improve behavior (FAB
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Note from John Pagano FAB Strategies: I received this guest blog story from Constance Ray. She tells Shawn’s story of how he is courageously living each day to overcome childhood trauma and addiction, and prevent it’s legacy in his own family. May of the teens I work with show the same courage in facing family
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Over half of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders have sensory over-responsivity to tactile and auditory stimulation with reduced sensory limbic habituation (Green et al., 2015). Their lack of habituation makes it physiologically more likely they will become distracted and have difficulty learning. Significant sensory modulation difficulties were related to attention and academic achievement challenges in
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Many children with behavioral, developmental and sensory challenges have difficulty maintaining a quiet alert state for learning. These children tend to be low registration (miss important sensory input) and/or sensory sensitive (overly responsive to functionally irrelevant sensory input) the majority of the time. The Sensory Profile is a reliable, valid assessment that can be used
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Sensory-based intervention (SBI) groups can be useful in schools and clinical settings to improve sensory skills, behavior and learning. SBIs are the guided use of sensory strategies to improve behavior by addressing specific sensory modulation or sensory discrimination challenges. SBIs are commonly implemented in early intervention, school, and mental health settings through individual, group and consultative interventions.
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