Seeing the Ability in Disability

In this webinar, Dr Blanchard will share the theoretical frameworks that have influenced her understanding of how children, with or without disabilities, develop new skills. It will also highlight how observation and a strength-based approach can expand our capacity to observe beyond the obvious. To see the ability in the disability. But to see the ability, we have to first know what to look for. Dr Blanchard will discuss how observations guided by principles of the Dynamic Systems Theory and Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development can help practitioners provide strength-based support to the families with children with developmental delays they serve in their practice.

Dr Yvette Blanchard is a pediatric physical therapist and a co-author of the Newborn Behavioral Observation (NBO) system handbook. She earned her BS in Physical Therapy and MS in Clinical Sciences from the Université de Montréal and subsequently her ScD in Therapeutic Studies from Boston University in residence at the Child Development Unit at Boston Children’s Hospital. She has worked extensively with high-risk infants and children with disabilities in different clinical settings and has published numerous article and book chapters relating to the field of pediatric physical therapy, neurobehavioral functioning of the young infant and early intervention with high-risk infants. Prior to her retirement from academia, Dr Blanchard was a Professor of Physical Therapy at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield CT. She is currently the Director of NBAS (Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale) Training Program and a Master NBAS and NBO trainer at the Brazelton Institute, Boston Children Hospital. She now resides in Montreal