MOVE ing Forward
| January 2013An update on the MOVE Curriculum
As many of you will know, we at Rifton have worked with MOVE International over many years. For those who don’t know, the MOVE program is an activity-based curriculum designed to teach students with disabilities basic functional motor skills of sitting, standing, walking and transitions needed for life within the home and community environments. The last fifteen years have seen MOVE grow and flourish, expanding to help many more people, including adults. Recently Rifton had the pleasure of hosting a two-day conference of the MOVE model site administrators. Model sites are schools or other facilities that are recognized for their excellence and commitment in implementing the MOVE Program. We had a great turnout with 23 of the 26 U.S. sites represented (most of them sent 2 representatives) in addition to staff from the MOVE office in Bakersfield California. It was a good chance to connect and to consider the future directions for MOVE International. The group was also welcoming several staff taking on new assignments for MOVE. The topics we discussed included:
- A great presentation on data collection and progress with MOVE-related research, presented by Drs. Keith and Stacie Whinnery from the University of West Florida.
- New developments with MOVE Toileting Care, presented by Lori Potts, a staff therapist with Rifton who had just returned from six months in Bakersfield helping create the MOVE toileting program, which is designed to expand the benefits of MOVE to other adult populations, in sub-acute rehabilitation, nursing homes and adult DD facilities.
- Demonstration of the new Rifton TRAM, and discussion of other current design projects at Rifton.
- Upcoming trainings, which can be found on the continuously updated list on the MOVE website.
In addition, and probably most importantly, there were plenty of opportunities for networking, as well as a chance to see the Rifton factory and meet the community. All agreed that this type of gathering needs to be repeated so we can all benefit from the experiences and insights of other model sites.
