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LET'S MOVE MOUNTAINS LLC
TREATMENT TECHNIQUES
WHAT IS INTENSIVE THERAPY?
Intensive therapy is a block of time where your child would receive a burst of increased frequency of therapy services. As a solo practitioner at this time, I would provide your child with traditional PT and CME based sessions. Sessions can be 1-3 hours in length and 1-3 weeks in length. I am able to tailor the intensive to the needs of your family and child.
WHAT IS CME AND DMI
CME:
C.M.E. is a neuroplasticity approach created by Ramon Cuevas in Chile. The ultimate goal of the approach is the achievement of gross motor milestones. The philosophy entails placing children in novel positions to allow for an automatic/reflexive response to be elicited and thus allowing for generation of new motor pathways to the brain. Typically it is recommended for children who are not yet walking independently. It can be performed by a certified practitioner who is either a physical therapist or an occupational therapist.
DMI:
DMI is based off of similar philosophy of CME. Dynamic Movement Intervention (DMI) is a therapeutic technique used in physical and occupational therapy to treat children with motor delay by improving automatic postural responses and promoting progress towards developmental milestones. The goal of DMI is to provoke a specified active motor response from the child in response to defined dynamic exercises prescribed by the therapist. This comprehensive intervention incorporates current research on neurorehabilitation, technologies, and methodologies. DMI stimulates neuroplasticity to facilitate new neuronal connections and development of motor milestones.
Diagnoses Treated
*Cerebral Palsy
*Genetic disorders
*Congenital Hypotonia
*Developmental Delay
Why offer both??
Dana is CME trained and Jordan is DMI trained. Our particular background in trainings have more to do with the availability of training at the times we were trained versus believing one is better than the other. At Let's Move Mountains we strive to continue to learn from one another to be able to produce the best treatment approach for your child.
WHAT IS ELECTRICAL STIMULATION
Electrical stimulation is a targeted input to a specific muscle that provides sensory input and awareness to the client. Allowing for increased muscle awareness and contraction resulting in improvement of motor patterning and functions. It can be used to help decrease tone, improve range of motion, and increase strength and alignment within the body,
WHAT IS WHOLE BODY VIBRATION
This intervention tool targets signals being sent through the spinal cord to either enhance or inhibit certain messages. There are specific protocols to target specific messages. Through use of the protocols benefits seen are increase in strength, decrease in muscle tone, and improvement of proprioception.
MEET THE TEAM
Occupational Therapy coming to the team January 2025!
DANA THOMSEN PT, DPT, PCS
Dana is the founder/owner of Let's Move Mountains. She attended Lebanon Valley College where she earned a Doctorate in Physical Therapy in 2012. She has always had a passion for working with children and throughout the over 11 years of practice has worked in a variety of settings; outpatient pediatric clinic, early intervention, pediatric acute rehabilitation center, and a pediatric intensive therapy outpatient center. In 2018, she became a Board Certified Pediatric Clinical Specialist via the American Physical Therapy Association. She was introduced to C.M.E. by one of my former patients, where immediate benefits of C.M.E. over traditional physical therapy interventions had been seen. This led her on a journey to leave her native state of NJ and move to MA where she was fortunate enough to be trained in C.M.E. In 2019 she became certified in CME (Cuevas Medek Exercises). Another journey has led her to the Northern VA area where she looks forward to moving mountains to help your child reach their fullest potential!
JORDAN BACK PT, DPT
I attended Bridgewater College where I swam for 4 years and gained my undergraduate degree in exercise science with a minor in psychology before attending Emory and Henry College for my doctorate degree in physical therapy. I have always loved working with children and prior to becoming a physical therapist taught adaptive swim lessons to children of all ages. Prior to coming to Let's Move Mountains, I worked in a pediatric outpatient setting. I currently hold a certification in DMI (Dynamic Movement Intervention) and am excited to continue to gain more knowledge and training in this field. Along with this I have experience treating children with AMPS (Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome) and previously was treated for this condition as a teen in an intensive program where I gained extensive knowledge on treatment methods for AMPS.
MORGAN MICHAUD, MS, OTR/L
Morgan is a Georgia native who relocated to Northern Virginia after graduating from Brenau University in 2021, where she earned her Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy. She has spent her time as an occupational therapist primarily working with pediatric patients of varying ages, backgrounds, and complexities. In addition to her pediatrics experience, she has worked with adults in the acute and inpatient rehabilitation settings, where she experienced first hand how impactful the intensive model of therapy can be on the lives of her patients. Through these experiences, she found herself pursuing her desire to bring the intensive model of therapy to her clinical practice in the pediatric setting, with the ultimate goal to continue to bring this same positive impact to the lives of even her littlest patients. Morgan has continued to expand her knowledge and treatment approaches by obtaining further training in methods such as DMI, TASES, sensory processing, feeding therapy, and vision based disorders with specific training in cortical visual impairments (CVI). Morgan's guiding mission as an occupational therapist is to support and encourage her patients to reach their highest potential using creative, engaging, and fun approaches to OT!
