USAID's Program Brings Together Experts on Children with Disabilities
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Patricia Burtner speaks on children rehabilitation
therapy.
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On April 7, Patricia Burtner, Ph. D., spoke with her Russian counterparts
about Occupational and Physical Therapy and the tremendous impact
professionals in those fields can have on youngsters with disabilities.
Dr. Burtner is in Vladivostok as part of the "Firefly"
program funded by USAID. She described the movement in the United
States to bring all children, including those with disabilities,
into the mainstream classrooms and the role therapists provide in
improving the quality of life for disabled children. Early intervention
by professionals results in better health, fewer emergencies, higher
test scores and stronger families and more secure homes with fewer
occurrences of abuse. Dr. Burtner acknowledged that many Russian
children with disabilities like Down Syndrome or Cerebal Palsy are
not integrated into mainstream schools. To change that, therapists
and other health professionals have a key role to play in ensuring
that the first disabled child introduced into a traditional school
is well received by teachers and students. CG Armbruster welcomed
health professionals to the Firefly seminar and thanked the City
of Vladivostok and Primorskiy Kray Administration for their support
of this important USAID health project.
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