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Welcome to the show notes for Episode 171 of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast.
In this episode Jayson teams up with guests Karen and Heather to get into the transformative world of Psymark—a digital tool designed to revolutionize school-based occupational therapy assessments. Karen’s journey from school psychologist to a tech innovator, alongside Heather’s experience as an occupational therapist, offers listeners a deep dive into how technology is reshaping the way we monitor and support students' visual motor integration.
Discover the magic behind self-scoring iPad assessments that promise to simplify processes, provide teachers and therapists with precise insights, and potentially reduce referrals, all while laying the groundwork for essential interventions. Join us for an exploration of cutting-edge strategies making waves in the field of occupational therapy.
Listen now to learn the following objectives:
Learners will recall the components and purpose of the Psymark tool
Learners will identify the specific visual motor assessment areas that the Psymark tool evaluates
Learners will be able to indicate some of the initial research and data analysis of the psymark tool
Guests Bio
Dr. Karen Silberman leads the team at Psymark after an extensive career in education serving as a teacher, school psychologist and special education director. Karen has presented at numerous conferences including AOTA, NASP, and CASP. As the mother of a child who struggled with visual-motor issues, she has an enhanced understanding of how visual-motor problems can impact families of children with learning differences.
Heather Donovan earned her Master’s in Occupational Therapy from USC in 2012 and spent the first seven years of her career at a private pediatric clinic, gaining valuable experience in early intervention, insurance-based, and school-based practice. In late 2019, she transitioned to her current role as a school district occupational therapist at Mountain View School District in El Monte, CA. Through this position, she collaborated closely with Dr. Karen Silberman, and after Dr. Silberman’s retirement, Heather began beta testing and consulting with Dr. Silberman and the Psymark team.
Quotes
“Our first study was looking at differences between paper, pencil, finger, and stylus. And so, with that, we were kind of surprised at the results, but the results showed that there was no significant difference between paper, pencil, finger, and stylus.”
-Karen Silberman, Ed.D., LEP
“There is an overall accuracy score, and that is made up of scale, rotation, line consistency, and noise. So scale and rotation, everyone understands. Line consistency is how close the line that the person drew is aligned with the given line. Noise are those extraneous lines that are outside. “
-Karen Silberman, Ed.D., LEP
“If they're newer, then maybe I'll do all three. But if it's a student that I know that I'm really focusing more on the letter formation, then I'm gonna use the letters. In motor cases, I tend to use the letters more than the shapes and numbers, mostly because I see the shapes tools are great just looking at underlying visual motor skills.”
-Heather Donovan, MA, OTR/L
“We saw a 48% increase in kids in the proficient range for their visual motor skills.”
-Karen Silberman, Ed.D., LEP/L
Resources
Episode Transcript
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