PEDIATRIC, MULTIDISCIPLINARY VIRTUAL CONFERENCE – Beneath the Surface: Advancing Pediatric Insights Through Collaboration

Cari Ebert, MS, CCC-SLP

9:00–10:30 AM

Beyond Developmental Norms: Affirming Early Intervention for Autistic Toddlers

It’s time to move beyond the milestone charts! This course invites Early Intervention providers to rethink what “typical” really means and embrace a neurodiversity-affirming, family-centered approach. Participants will learn how to describe developmental differences in autistic toddlers using affirming, strengths-based language—while still clearly identifying the need for services. We’ll explore ways to build regulation and connection through relationship-based practice and discover how to nurture authentic growth across communication, play, sensory, feeding, and motor domains. By reframing perceived delays as developmental differences, we open the door to more joyful participation and meaningful engagement in everyday routines—for children and their families.

As a result of this training, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the differences in how autistic toddlers develop and learn using neurodiversity-affirming language that fosters caregiver understanding and acceptance.
2. Explain how shifting from the medical model of disability to a neurodiversity-affirming model impacts Early Intervention practices and outcomes.
3. List five neurodiversity-affirming strategies that can be incorporated into daily routines to support participation, regulation, and connection.

Alexis Lawton, MS+30, CCC-SLP

10:30–11:30 AM

More Than Words: Uncovering the Roots of Communication Challenges in Complex Pediatric Cases

Communication delays are often the most visible concern in early development—but what lies beneath the surface? This session explores how speech-language pathologists can work collaboratively across disciplines to uncover the underlying causes of communication challenges in complex pediatric cases. Using real-world case examples, participants will examine how cognitive, motor, sensory, and regulatory factors contribute to language and behavior.

Practical strategies will be provided to support differential diagnosis, timely referrals, and multidisciplinary problem-solving. Emphasis will be placed on family-centered care, collaborative inquiry, and integrating clinical insights into everyday practice. This session builds upon affirming practices in early intervention and provides a bridge to later discussions on power mobility and executive functioning.

Lunch Break

Stretch and refuel – we pick things back up at 12:30pm!

Lisa Kenyon, PT, DPT, PhD, PCS

12:30–2:00 PM

Empowered to Explore: Driving Development Through Mobility Exploration

While all newborns are dependent on others for mobility, the onset of self-initiated mobility experiences, such as crawling and walking, opens a new world of exploration, learning, and independence, triggering a developmental cascade, driving tremendous developmental gains across all domains. In contrast, infants and young children who have mobility delays or limitations often remain dependent on others for their mobility. This continued dependency increases the risk of secondary impairments and delays across developmental domains, and severely restricts opportunities to learn through exploration. ON Time Mobility aims to disrupt this cycle of dependency through the use of mobility technologies, such as power mobility devices, to provide infants and young children who have mobility delays or limitations with self-initiated mobility experiences at the same ages and stages as their typically developing peers. Despite strong evidence supporting powered mobility as a means to enhance development and participation, power mobility device use use in children under five remains extremely limited. In this session, we will critically appraise the growing body of evidence supporting the use of ON Time power mobility to advance global development in infants and young children who have mobility delays or limitations, including a recent randomized controlled clinical trial that found statistically significant mean developmental improvements in cognitive, receptive and expressive communication, fine motor, gross motor, adaptive behavior, and social-emotional behavior following short-term power mobility use. We will discuss existing and emerging evidence-based frameworks to guide and support clinical implementation of power mobility interventions and explore strategies to facilitate power mobility conversations with families, policymakers, and other stakeholders about the use of power mobility.

As a result of this training, participants will be able to:
1. Discuss the 5 interconnected principles of the ON Time Mobility framework.
2. Discuss 3 key research findings to support the evidence-based use of power mobility interventions in infants and young children who have mobility delays or limitations.
3. List 3 strategies to support clinical implementation of ON Time Mobility experiences.
4. Identify two communication domains in the Bayley-4 that showed statistically significant improvement in a recent study involving short term power mobility use in infants and young children with mobility delays.

Vanessa Reynolds, MS, CCC-SLP & Ashlyn Hudson, MOT, M.Ed

2:00–3:00 PM

Brains in Training: Playful Paths to Language and Motor Development with an Executive Function Lens

Many children enter therapy without the foundational cognitive skills needed to benefit fully from intervention. Executive function—skills like working memory, attention, and cognitive flexibility—is essential for learning, communication, play, and daily routines. When these skills are underdeveloped, progress in traditional therapy can be limited.

This presentation explores how therapists can support executive function through play, movement, and sensory-rich experiences to strengthen attention, memory, and self-regulation while targeting communication and motor goals. Presenters from speech-language pathology and occupational therapy will share practical strategies, interdisciplinary insights, and tools for engaging caregivers and teams to enhance outcomes.