China

Home  /  BLOG  /  China

Olivia’s Place Hosts Augmentative & Alternative Communication Advocate

2015-05-15 Olivia's Place Comments Off , , , , ,

Diane Slonim, a qualified speech-language pathologist, Ph.D., and special educator, from the United States is an advocate of Chinese assistive technology and hopes to bring more awareness to the need and use of assistive technology equipment in China.

Diane has a wealth of experience in the field of speech-language pathology. She is currently in private practice in Tarrytown, New York, US, serving children and adults with varying abilities and is a Westchester County Advisory Council, Council on Autism member. She has provided evaluations for Westchester Institute for Human Development in Valhalla, New York and has supervised graduate students and been an adjunct professor at New York Medical College and Manhattan College of Social Education.

During her 8th May visit to Olivia’s Place, she provided professional training in the areas of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and reading acquisition and dyslexia. In attendance were Olivia’s Place staff and local doctors and therapists who serve Mandarin-speaking individuals.

Dr. Slonim introduced various types of high-tech assistive technology that successfully serve people with learning and communication difficulties according to her working experience, specifically focused on writing, reading, and speech generating devices. Dr. Slonim also shared several clinical techniques that she feels are successful in helping people learn to read. During the training, local doctors and therapists discussed the differences between English and Chinese language systems and how they could apply the techniques Dr. Slonim introduced when working with people who speak Mandarin.


Olivia’s Place Speaks at Xinhua Hospital Conference

2014-10-07 Olivia's Place Comments Off , , , , , ,

 

Lis Ringrose, Physiotherapist and Olivia's Place Clinical Director, speaks on 24 Hour Postural Care at Xinhua Hospital.

Lis Ringrose, Physiotherapist and Olivia’s Place Clinical Director, speaks on 24 Hour Postural Care at Xinhua Hospital.

 

Anna Tan Pascual, Lead Occupational Therapist, provides a demonstration for participants.

Anna Tan Pascual, Lead Occupational Therapist, provides a demonstration for participants.

Olivia’s Place has been honored to receive a number of invitations of late to speak at academic conferences and training events around China. In September, Dr. Du Qing, the Chief Physician of Shanghai’s renowned Xinhua Hospital, invited Lis Ringrose, Clinical Director/Physiotherapist, and Anna Tan Pascual, Lead Occupational Therapist (Shanghai), and Nelson Chow, Founder/President to speak at a conference on rehabilitation medicine at Xinhua. Nelson shared with experts from all over China about the mission of Olivia’s Place and work we have been doing to help build up the fields of pediatric therapy in China. Lis spoke about 24 hour postural management and Anna spoke about evaluation and treatment of upper limbs for children.  We are delighted to have these opportunities to fulfill our mission of bringing high quality pediatric therapy to China.


Speech-Language Team Visits Shanghai Healing Home

2014-08-31 Olivia's Place, Speech-Language Comments Off , , ,

In August, several of our speech-language pathologists visited Shanghai Healing Home together. Assisting local Chinese Children’s Welfare Institutes by providing pre and post-surgical care to abandoned Chinese orphan babies born with surgically correctable deformities, Shanghai Healing Home provides a home-like environment that meets not only the babies’ physical needs but also their emotional and developmental needs. In this post, they share their thoughts in their own words on the opportunity to volunteer their time together.2014_0826_Kid on hands & feet

Marifloyd Wright:

“The Healing Home was a great experience for me.  I enjoyed playing with the children; they were adorable.  It was also a learning experience for me.  I was able to see several different children with cleft lips and palates; some have had surgery to repair them and others haven’t yet.  I was at the Healing Home during meal time so was able to observe the caregivers feeding the children.  I was able to observe and mentally take note of the feeding practices they used.  I read a book about feeding over the summer so was able to notice techniques that could be changed; it was a way of mentally applying what I had learned this summer.  When we arrived at the orphanage, there were volunteers interacting with the kids.  They were singing songs, practicing the alphabet, and making various animals sounds corresponding to targeted animals.  It was really fun to see the kids participating and dancing around.  While in China, I have heard a lot about orphanages; I  am glad I was able to go to one and experience it.”

Holly Chen with a child at Shanghai Healing Home

Holly Chen with a child at Shanghai Healing Home

Holly Chen:

“Shanghai Healing Home was an eye-opening experience! The home exudes comfort and warmth. The children were precious and undeniably curious and social. It was a magical experience to hold, rock, sing, chat, and laugh with the children. I can’t wait to go back!”

Yi Lien:

“I loved this trip to the healing home. I had fun spending time with all of you and the kids! It was my first time holding babies younger than 1-year-old. When the babies were laughing in my arms, I felt that the trip was worth it. Even though it was the first visit to the healing home and I did nothing special but entertained the kids. It was a great experience to play with them, to observe during their feeding time, and to think what I can do more for them. I would love to go there again.”

Angela Gong:

“It was great going to the Shanghai Healing Home with other speech-language pathologists. We observed the children during play time and at lunch. We had a blast playing with them, holding them, and loving on them. It was a great team bonding experience and I look forward to regular team trips to the Healing Home.”


Top