Presented by Tracy Murnan Stackhouse, MA, OTR/L

Individuals with FXS often present with a strong visual aptitude for learning. They do best when visual information is available to guide and scaffold daily routines for familiar and new skills. We can take advantage of this strength and implement visual supports that serve to create predictability and consistency throughout the day, thus providing for improved ease of performance as well as improved learning.

Visual strategies are helpful in school and therapeutic situations but are also pivotal for daily life at home. Visual supports are suggested in many of the NFXF treatment recommendations on best practices. This session builds on these suggestions and makes the concept of visual supports tangible and applicable across ages and stages of life for those with FXS. In this presentation, participants learn why visual supports are an essential facet of home, school, and therapy.

Specific examples of visual strategies are given and range from simple paper & pencil versions to tech-based options. The audience is asked to participate in active problem-solving scenarios regarding more typical behaviors seen in FXS and what role visual supports might have in alleviating the difficulty. Participants are ideally prepared to implement visuals into daily life support engagement, learning, and participation.

Runtime: 1:05:25

Additional resources and controls for this video are accessible just below the video: Play/pause, volume, subtitles, view transcript, watch as picture-in-picture, or in fullscreen mode.

About the Speaker

Tracy Murnan Stackhouse, MA, OTR

Executive Director, Co-Founder, and Occupational Therapist, Developmental FX

Tracy Murnan Stackhouse is a leading pediatric occupational therapist involved in clinical treatment, research, mentoring, and training regarding OT intervention for persons with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially Fragile X syndrome and autism.

Tracy has a master’s degree in developmental psychology/neuroscience. She received her NDT (neurodevelopmental treatment) training with Lois Bly. She is SIPT (Sensory Integration and Praxis Test) certified and was the clinical specialist in sensory integration at the Children’s Hospital Colorado as well as the OT for the Fragile X Research and Treatment Center. Tracy continued her clinical and research work with Dr. Randi Hagerman at the UC Davis MIND Institute during its start-up year prior to starting Developmental FX.

Tracy has written several book chapters on sensory integration and neurodevelopmental disorders and teaches nationally and internationally on sensory integration, autism, Fragile X, and related topics. She is the lead author for the SpIRiT and STEPSI clinical reasoning tools, which are leading-edge evidence-based models in pediatric OT. Tracy is a member of the National Fragile X Foundation Clinical Research Consortium and the NFXF Scientific & Clinical Advisory Committee.