CPERL’s 1st Chicago-based Community Partnership

A very exciting development has recently occurred at CPERL; we have partnered with Blue Bird Day School (BBD), a local pediatric therapy school for children with developmental delays and/or diagnoses. The formation of this partnership can largely be credited to our newest CPERL member, Alexa Greif, who took Mary's class and is a practicing OT at BBD. After learning about the PEM in this class, Alexa inquired about connecting CPERL and BBD.

We were able to form a partnership with BBD, primarily focusing on enrolling participants in the usability testing of PEM+. Andrea, Jessica, Heather, Alexa, and Mary all worked together to prepare a seminar to explain both the design and future steps of PEM+. They presented at BBD in late-June and were met with a wave of support amongst  therapists, assistants, and other staff members at the school.

On a personal level, this experience has left me (Heather) completely awestruck and beyond excited to see where this partnership takes us. It has been a pleasure to finally introduce the PEM+ to therapists and parents and to be able to see it come to life with potential real-world impact. Stay tuned for future updates on this project as we await further enrollment into our PEM+ study!