Animal Assisted Intervention International is a member driven non-profit organization that offers a community, continuing education, standards of practice, competencies and accreditation for AAI practitioners and animal trainers. The Administrator is responsible for liaising between AAII Members and the Board of Directors, Membership Applications & Renewals, and inquiries regarding AAII. The Coordinator is responsible for social media, email communication, website development, and online meeting, forum, webinar, and conference coordination.

Dogwood Therapy Services is a community-based occupational therapy private practice in Albuquerque, NM that provides OT and animal assisted therapy to people of all abilities aged 3-103. Our mission is for people to live life to its fullest, and participate in what they find meaningful. Dogwood is committed to facilitating positive interactions and relationships with animals as part of people’s daily lives.

Phoebe spent the first weeks of her affiliation attending lectures on the care and treatment of the developmentally disabled individual. Lectures included: Arjo Lift training, Handling, Positioning, Oral Motor Development, Development of UE Skills, UE ROM, UE Muscle Tone, Mobility Equipment, Dev of Independent Eating Skills, ADLs, Normal Motor Development, Adaptive Mealtime Equipment, Sensory Processing, UE Splinting, Transportation, DME, Orthopedics, Respiratory Assessment, and Sensory Motor Development. By the end of three weeks, Phoebe was carrying an active caseload of 6 individual treatments (seen 2-3 times per week). Phoebe compiled data on client progress towards goals; completed 4 intervention plans and 2 progress reports. Phoebe also assisted with a weekly recreational therapy swimming group. She sewed a wheelchair tray decal, sensory strap, weighted lap pads, weighted snake, and 2 co-contraction bands. She assisted with fabricating a pair of modified resting pan splints. She completed 6 client evaluations, attended 2 annual reviews and 6 admission/discharge meetings. Phoebe presented an in-service on “DIR/Floortime Model” to 25 rehab staff and then 2 additional times for a Center Rounds presentation and to record the presentation. Extra activities: attending a botox injection appointment, an OTA intern presentation on “Adaptive Gaming,” an all-day webinar titled “Breathing, Digestion, and Swallowing,” and an in-service on nursing considerations for Rotoprone Therapy; working with a level I OT student during treatment sessions; touring and taste testing in food service; observing a speech therapy cooking group, an OT music and movement group, and in rehab technology; co-treating with speech therapy for eye gaze access; observing respiratory therapy, physical therapy, and wheelchair pressure mapping; observing a client in a work and school setting; and escorting a client on a community outing along with attending center wide special events.

Led 2-hour one-on-one sessions, 2x/week with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder aged 3-12, utilized DIR Floortime Model of Intervention to elicit motivation, problem solving and promote development, produced 8 documents of child's progress each month for medical insurance approval.

Assessed volition in members to determine best activities that elicit motivation using the Volitional Questionnaire and collaborated on a multidisciplinary integrated team of 7 professionals to outreach and house members.

Classroom assistant for incoming first year masters OT students for OT 440 Kinesiology and OT 441 Neuroscience classes. Reviewed and prepared for discussion sections with teaching team, engaged a classroom of 26 students in discussion sections and privately tutored China Initiative students in OT 441.

Led interactive presentations to groups of 30+ adults and children at schools and special events, educated audience on exotic animals and encouraged appreciation and respect for wildlife preservation.

Interacted with 10 clients a day and supervised 8+ clients during a 3-hour community reintegration session, led 15+ minutes of 5 OT sessions for clients diagnosed with stroke, TBI or SCI, wrote 3+documentation notes for clients seen per week.

Led 1-hour therapy sessions for children aged 10 months to 8 years for 11 sessions in 10 weeks, developed a fine motor toolkit for an 8-year-old client to improve in-hand manipulation and bilateral coordination, utilized Bayley Assessment and DAYC-2 Assessment during initial evaluation of two 15-month-old children.

Led 2-hour one-on-one sessions, 2x/week with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder aged 3-12, utilized DIR Floortime Model of Intervention to elicit motivation, problem solving and promote development, produced 8 documents of child's progress each month for medical insurance approval.

Led one-on-one karate classes for children with special needs to transition into group settings, used hands-on facilitation to improve gross motor coordination and following 3-step sequencing tasks and utilized the Zones of Regulation to teach self-regulation skills, emotional management and problem solving.

Prepared 1 hour of gross motor, fine motor and sensory activities for 5 occupational therapy sessions each week, utilized Handwriting Without Tears and Toomey's Sequential Oral Sensory Approach to Feeding program and managed 200+ client schedules with occupational therapists and billed clients before each therapy session.

Organized 6+ undergraduate researcher schedules each quarter and delegated daily duties to each student, trained newly hired students on research methods and duties in the lab and performed inventory checks weekly to ensure all materials in the lab were stocked.