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The seminar is about explosive, inflexible and easily frustrated children. The children often exhibit non compliance, volatility and mood instability that have the potential to make life extraordinarily challenging and frustrating for themselves, their parents, siblings, teachers and others who interact with them.

The seminar aims to provide a more up-to-date conceptualization of these behaviors, and to describe a new, practical, comprehensive approach aimed at decreasing adversarial interactions between explosive children and the adults who strive to ensure their well-being at home and school; reducing family hostility; and improving their capacities for flexibility, frustration tolerance, communication, problem solving, conflict resolution and self-regulation.

About the Speaker
FELIPE S. BALINGIT, Jr., PhD, BCETS is a Counselling Psychologist and an Associate Professor in Psychology, Philosophy and Special Education. He teaches courses in philosophy of education, creative therapies for children with special needs, and marriage and family therapy. Aside from teaching, Dr. Balingit maintains an active clinical practice and are often consulted as expert witness in court cases. He is Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress as well as in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy. Dr. Balingit holds a Diplomate from the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress in New York and from the American Association of Psychotherapists. He is also a lecturer, consultant and seminar-leader for parents, professionals and institutions including professional societies, universities and government agencies.Dr. Balingit is an active member of ASP.

When & Where
Date: March, 29 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 1:00 - 5:00 PM
Venue: Asian Social Institute (ASI)
1518 Leon Guinto cor. Escoda Sts., Malate, Manila

Fees
Seminar fee is inclusive of certificate, handouts and snack ASP Members Non-Members.

Pre-Registration (up to March 26, 2008) - P350.00 for members; P500.00 for non-members
On-Site Registration - P500.00 for members; P600.00 for non-members

On-site registrants will be accepted depending on the availability of slots. There will only be 150 slots available. No refund will be given to participants who did not show up on the date of the seminar.

For more details, please call the Autism Society of the Philippines at (63) 929-8447 and 926-6941.

Attending the church service every Sunday morning has become part of my family's life. It wouldn't be a Sunday if we find ourselves not listening to God's words on that day.It's been a few weeks since our Pastor announced that we have only until the end of this month (March) to stay in our current "church". It's actually a classroom leased to our church every Sunday by a college school in

Patient education is an important aspect of our profession.  Every now and then, we will feature lifestyle tips for our clients (and for us as well). Some people may resort to weight loss pills to combat wieght gain, but we all know that living a healthier lifestyle is the best way to go.

Here are some of the valuable tips from the Australian Physiotherapy Association.

Tips for Gardening Safely

1. Begin your gardening session with a few stretches and exercises to warm up the muscles and joints you will be using. This helps prevent injury and reduces soreness at the end of the day.
2. Make sure the area in which you are working is free of obstacles such as gardening tools, bags and seedling trays. This helps prevent slips and falls.
3. Vary your activities so that you are not in the one position for more than 30 minutes at a time.
4. When doing tasks at ground level, like weeding or planting, kneel rather than bend from the waist. Where possible, keep one hand on the ground for support as you lean forward.
5. If your garden beds are wired up, step into the bed to work rather than lean in from the edge.

Read more »

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Association of Occupational Therapists of Ireland

Annual Conference 2008

Wednesday 16th to Friday 18th April 2008

Lyrath Estate Hotel, Kilkenny, Ireland

The theme for this conference will be “Skills for the Job of Living”. The venue for 2008 in the south east of the country has been chosen because of the option of having as large an exhibition space as possible. This is a key consideration because, in addition to being an important element of conference, the exhibition brings in much needed funding and helps to keep the overall price of attending conference to a minimum.

For further information please contact Jaime Bennett of Happening on aoti@happen.co.uk  or Tel - 01 635 1524.

Click here to download 2008 AOTI Conference Programme.

Source: AOTI

Ever wondered what Basic Body Awareness Therapy is all about? Daloni Carlisle talks about it in an article for the CSP’s Frontline.

What is Basic Body Awareness Therapy?

BBAT is an evidence-based physiotherapy method aiming to mobilise a person’s resources for health. It does this by guiding them to be present in the here-and-now, while experiencing simple everyday movements in lying, sitting, standing and walking. Touch, massage, relational exercises and use of the voice are also included, while integrating balance, free breathing and awareness is central to this process.

By increasing body awareness and improving quality of movement it is possible to use one’s body more efficiently, have more contact with oneself and one’s feelings, set boundaries, have more confidence relating to others and cope more easily with the demands of everyday life.

Who is it for?

This approach is not only suitable for people with physical and/or psychological problems, but also for stress management, health promotion and personal development. It can be used in individual or group therapy. The perspective is holistic, considering physical, physiological, psychological and existential aspects of human existence.

Read more about BBAT here.

When & Where 

13-14 June, 2008

NTUC Business Centre,
One Marina Boulevard , Singapore.

Theme: “Occupational Therapy: Beyond Boundaries”

Keynote Speaker

Ms Suchada Sakornsatian
Deputy Director, Mental Health Technical Development Bureau Department of Mental Health (Thailand) 

13th June:

• Half-day workshop on Mental Health by Ms Suchada Sakornsatian 
• This workshop will be on using the Appreciation Influence Control (AIC) techniques for gaining community participation to care for ex-psychiatric patients living in the community. This approach will share how to involve the community participants in the planning, implementation and evaluation stages. The ultimate aim is to empower the community to care when OT leave the community.  
• Limited to 30 participants only (inclusive of students) 

14th June:

• Full day conference
• Poster presentations
• Closed door students’ program
• Exhibition by vendors
• Closing ceremony dinner

Click here for more information.

Source: Singapore Association of Occupational Therapists

I have no idea that one will find the end of the rainbow in the paradise island of Panglao in Bohol. If you don't believe me, here is my proof...

When & Where

May 23 - 24, 2008

Perth, Australia

Pre-Congress Workshops

Workshop 1 - Educators Group

A physiotherapy education revolution – imagining the possibilities

This workshop is the inaugural national workshop of the APA educators group. The sessions will bring together leading educationalists and physiotherapy educators to develop canvas the emerging issues in physiotherapy education.

Full program details to follow.

Date: Thursday 22nd May
Time: 9:00am – 2:00pm
Venue: Burswood Convention Centre
Cost: $98.00
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As therapists, we witness the immense challenges experienced by persons with disabilities (PWDs). Gawad Kalinga, by building homes for them, demonstrates that their plight is not forgotten.  This is featured in the news by Patricia Esteves of Philstar.com.   

Sunday, March 9, 2008.

Alex Elinon and Beth de Guzman travel two kilometers daily on their wheelchairs to work in Bahay Pangarap, a rehab center for the disabled cum factory workshop run by the Immaculate Concepcion Sisters in Barangay San Agustin in Novaliches.

They and other disabled people work eight hours a day making woodcrafts and novelty items that are sold to students, earning a daily wage of P165.

Alex and Beth have an even bigger reason to smile these days. At the end of the day, they look forward to going home to their brand new homes in GK Bagong Pag-asa Village in Novaliches built for them by Gawad Kalinga (GK).
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Effective 17 March 2008, there will be changes implemented on the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy website. Here is a rundown of these changes:

Effective the week of March 17th, a new Candidate and Licensee Services section of our website will be launched. From this exciting new interface, candidates and licensees can register for any of our exams, purchase additional services such as Score Transfers or PEAT, see the status of their requested services, or update their profiles. Other highlights include:

• Additional services, including Performance Feedback Reports and Individual Score Reports, will now be available for purchase online.
• Requested online services will be available for download from the “Status of My Request” section.
• Authorization to Test (ATT) letters will also be available for download from the “Status of My Request” section once a candidate has been made eligible by the jurisdiction.
• Candidates and licensees will now be able to add a payment by credit card online to an existing service request.

Source: FSBPT

If you're a journalist and you haven't added the Eye on Ethics blog, then I strongly suggest you do. Now.

The Eye on Ethics: Asia Media Forum blog, is a joint project of the Asia Media Forum and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) to generate discussion on the unique ethical issues that confront journalism in Asia. The blog, the first to focus on journalism ethics in the region, reports and comments on developments in journalism in Asia that touch on those ethical issues and questions that often arise in the course of reporting, interpretation, and comment.

The blog, launched only this January, is edited by CMFR deputy director and PJR Reports editor Luis Teodoro. CMFR staffwriter and PJR Reports reporter, Don Gil K. Carreon, is the coordinator of the site. Comments and suggestions are welcome at staff@cmfr-phil.org. Already, there was one who wrote to CMFR asking to put the code of ethics of an advertising body in the site.

Recent posts included the problem of Malaysian journalists in working in an enviroment pressured by the government to toe the official line, the issue concerning a government-initiated code of ethics in Bangladesh, and questions regarding professional relationship with sources, following police insinuations that a soldier involved in the Manila Peninsula incident escaped with the help of a reporter, with whom the former has a romantic relationship.

By the way, former CMFR intern Tat created a beautiful web advertisement for the Eye on Ethics. Here's her web ad:



Click here to see the full ad. She also made a web teaser:



Since the teaser is a GIF image, I suggest you come to Tat's blog to see it fully.

Speaking of Don, our resident Mr. Love is also the project coordinator for CMFR's latest publication, Libel as Politics. The book, launched during the international conference on press freedom and impunity two weeks ago, examines libel from the perspective of law, history, politics, and press practice. The volume provides an insight why defamation remains a crime in the Philippines despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing press freedom and expression.

Libel as Politics
Source: CMFR



The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) has released Libel as Politics, a publication that examines libel from the perspective of law, history, politics, and press practice. The volume provides an insight why defamation remains a crime in the Philippines despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing press freedom and expression.

Efforts to decriminalize libel have not prospered as politicians often use it as an effective harassment tool against journalists who subject them to unflattering reports. In 2007, broadcaster Alex Adonis was imprisoned for libel filed by Davao Rep. Prospero Nograles. Ironically, Nograles filed a bill for the decriminalization of libel last November.

Read more here.

If you're a speaker, participant, or somebody who's interested in the discussions and presentations made during the international conference on press freedom and impunity organized by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), copies of available speeches and presentations as well as the conference program and photos are now available at the CMFR site.

Legal experts, journalists, press freedom and human rights advocates attend international conference on press freedom and impunity in Manila
Source: CMFR

Just three months after scores of journalists and media practitioners were arrested after covering the Manila Peninsula siege, over a hundred legal experts, judges, journalists, press freedom and human rights advocates from all over the world along with some local government officials gathered at the same site, this time to address a problem that has besieged the Philippines: journalist killings.

The "Impunity and Press Freedom" conference, held on Feb. 27 to 29, was organized by the Southeast Asian Press and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility with support from the Open Society Institute and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Click here for more.

Below are some photos we took during the international conference on press freedom and impunity in Makati City. Actually, photos we took of ourselves. Haha. Sorry. We're saving the rest of the photos of the conference and participants for the March 2008 issue of the PJR Reports.

CMFR staff



Taking a peek



With Indonesian lawyer Anggara and Cambodian human rights advocate Virak



With Anggara



With 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts Atmakasumah Astraatmadja, JB (who's planning to move to another blog), Atty. Nena Santos and another lawyer



The staff at Ilustrados in Manila



Since the conference ended on Feb. 29, the staff decided to attend and cover the Makati rally that day.



Forgive our tired looks below. Actually after the conference, I didn't eat lunch because I rushed back to my room to fix some documents needed that day and scrambled my way back to the office. And off I went to the rally. My dinner that day was actually a lunch and dinner plus midnight snack.

When & Where

April 14 – 16, 2008

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

111 Lake Louise Drive
Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

Why the need for the World Summit 2008:  Learning Disabilities Fact or Fiction?

It is estimated that 10 - 15% of the population has a learning disability and / or ADHD.  Many who are undiagnosed live marginal lives, underutilizing their skills and abilities.  This has a cost to business, society and to personal lives.

“The purpose of this important summit is to transition learning disabilities from an invisible disability into a visible ability,” explained 2008 Chair, Brenda Martin. The World Summit 2008 will bring together 250 top world experts in the field of Learning Disabilities and ADHD, including:  psychology, medicine, government, research, education, justice, corporate, and consumers. The World Summit 2008 has been purposefully designed to allow for intimate interaction, debate, and most importantly, development of concrete future plans by way of a government white paper and a two-part television series.

The World Summit 2008 will create awareness within regional and international communities to affect change.  The Summit will enhance research, awareness and the quality of life for those with learning disabilities through:

• A government white paper to influence policy and legislation;
• A CD and Internet resources for employers, medical professionals and families affected by learning disabilities;
• A Summary Book for conference participants
• An article that summarizes World Summit 2008 will be submitted to a respected scientific journal
• Community-based programs that inform the public about recent developments in the field of LD
• A documentary about learning disabilities that will appear on ACCESS TV

For more information, please visit the World Summit 2008 website.

YAY! My first photohunt entry for March. I know I said I'll remember NOT to forget posting entries for the scavenger hunt, but I keep forgetting!! Anyway, this week's photohunt theme is Different. This is a photo of my (partially seen) wallet and monnies(!!) which are of a different country. (I was in HK, but I had US dollars with me too.)

What's the connection between the NBN-ZTE deal and the international dispute over Spratlys? Why is the NBN-ZTE scandal connected with previous controversial deals such as the North Rail and South Rail projects?

Watch Ricky Carandang's report on the issue below. Hats off to him and The Correspondents for explaining the larger picture. Clips courtesy of Youtube user malfoyprincess.









In his blog, Carandang explains his report further. Treason, he writes.

Malaya columnist Ellen Tordesillas discusses why the joint seismic study agreement between the Philippines and China covers an area that laps the western shores of Philippines. "Sold: 24,000 sq. km. of Philippine territory," she writes. Here's another report on the issue from ABS-CBNNews.com and Newsbreak.

How much more can the Filipinos take?

This administration must not get away with this issue this time. If it does--the way it was able to do so in the past scandals since the "Hello, Garci" scandal--not only do erring officials get away again with their acts of wrongdoing. Worse, as a long-term damage, we allow the growing brazenness of the political class to commit corruption, undermine public and private institutions, escape prosecution, and continue to reign in this sorry land of ours.

Not in our name. Not in the name of our ancestors and heroes. Not in the name of our children and the future Filipinos to come.

Summit Health Care Institute is inviting everyone to a seminar workshop on March 29, 2008 at 1-4 PM. Venue is at the Good Shepherd Convent, Aurora Blvd, Quezon City, Philippines.

Topics
Recognition and Management of Alzheimer’s Disease Music Therapy
Remininscence Therapy for the Elderly.

Fees
Early registration fee (until March 17) - Php 550
On-site registration fee - Php 750

For more information on this event, please contact Ms. Glo Mercado at (63) 9067173653 or (632) 4128694.

The 2008 Apolinario Mabini Awards was recently launched by the Philippine Foundation for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, Inc. (PFRD Inc).

This accolade is being conferred to individuals with disabilities who have contributed in helping their fellow Filipinos with disabilities improve their quality of life. Other groups who made significant contributions in their particular fields of endeavor and have rendered outstanding services to the sector of persons with disabilities are also included.

The Mabini Awards is a biennial undertaking in honor of Apolinario Mabini, the Sublime Paralytic, whose bravery and heroic acts during the Philippine revolution of 1896 has greatly influenced his compatriots in fighting against the tyrants who ruled the country despite his severe disability. It consists of different categories, such as Disabled Filipino of the Year, Disabled Group of the Year, Employer of the Year, Disabled-Friendly Establishment, Local Government Unit, Rehabilitation Volunteer and Mabini Presidential Award.

Any individual and/or recognized institution in the public or private sector can nominate in any of the categories above-mentioned. For institutional nomination, however, it has to be endorsed by a high official of that institution.

Deadline for submission of nominations has been extended to 30 April 2008. Awarding will be held in July 2008 during the annual celebration of the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week.

Nomination Forms are available at the PFRD with office address at the Quezon City Memorial Circle, Elliptical Road, Quezon City or you can download it at http://www.ncwdp.gov.ph/files/Mabini_Awards_Nomination_Form.doc. For further details and information, please contact Ms. Veronica Orbita at the above-mentioned address and/or thru Telephone Number (632) 924-34-07.

Source: NCWDP

We are having a big problem in our country due to corrupt government officials and employees resulting to political unrest, chaos and stirred minds of different government and private sectors... As a concerned Filipino citizen, all I wanted is peace for everyone in our beloved country...I would like to share this letter forwarded to me by a friend amidst the political and economic unrest in our

When & Where
Sunday, April 6, 2008 from 11 am to 4 pm
Westchester County Center
198 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY, USA

Navigating the Spectrum and the Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health are proud once again to sponsor a day of encouragement, empowerment and education. Parents, therapists, educators, health care professionals, school administrators and anyone who cares about a child on the spectrum are invited to attend this free event. Connect with families affected by ASDs and network with knowledgeable, caring and encouraging professionals. There will also be fun and attractions for children, with special appearances by the Big Apple Circus Clowns.

Visit over 40 scheduled information stations including Applied Behavior Analysis, TEACCH, DIR and Floortime, Relationship Development Intervention, Medical Interventions, Occupational Therapy & Sensory Integration, Speech & Language Pathology, Nutritional & Biomedical Interventions, Auditory Therapies, Vision Therapy, Special Education Law & Advocacy, Assessments & Evaluations, Family Management, Self-Injurious Behavior Management, Family Services, Early Intervention Services, Recreational Programs, Respite Services, Social Skills Programs, Transitional Services, Vocational Training, Residential Options, Complementary & Alternative Treatments, and Many More. Specially scheduled breakout lectures will address issues important to parents of children across all ages and developmental levels.

Breakout Lecture Schedule
Toddlers & Preschoolers: 11:30 - 12:30
· Getting a Diagnosis
· Multidisciplinary Approaches
· Securing Services
· Therapeutic Options

School Age Children: 1:00 - 2:00
· It’s Never Too Late to Try Something Different
· Friends and Fitting In
· Peer Pressure and Bullies
· Student Advocacy

Adolescents & Young Adults: 2:30 - 3:30
· Puberty and Sexuality
· Transitional Services
· Vocational Training
· Residential Options

Source: Navigating the Spectrum