The document summarizes the author's internship experience at Kidnetics, a pediatric physical, occupational, and speech therapy clinic. The author's responsibilities included observing and assisting with patient treatments, cleaning equipment and treatment spaces, and completing a case study on a patient with a rare genetic disorder. The author gained exposure to a variety of pediatric diagnoses and treatments approaches, including for conditions like torticollis and cerebral palsy. They also learned about assessing infant development through their work in the clinic's Developmental Pediatrics department. The author found the experience reinforced their interest in specializing in pediatric physical therapy.

1. Internship PowerPoint
KIDNETICS
SARAH PARKS

2. Introduction
As part of the coursework in Health Science at Clemson University, Health
Science students complete a semester-long internship at a location of our
choice.
Through the course of the semester, I completed a total of 95 hours of work at
Kidnetics completing a variety of duties and filling a number of different roles.
This presentation contains an overview of my time at Kidnetics, including
information about the organization, descriptions of my responsibilities, and
examples of projects and treatments I was involved with on site.

3. The Site
Kidnetics is located in Greenville, SC and is one
of several groups that are all housed in the
Center for Developmental Services (CDS)
Building on North Academy Street.
Kidnetics is a pediatric therapy group that
boasts the trifecta of therapy:
 Physical Therapy
 Occupational Therapy
 Speech Therapy
Kidnetics also has a Developmental Pediatric
Clinic, and the Wonder Center, a “daycare” for
genetically fragile children.

4. Roles and Responsibilities
As an intern at Kidnetics, and due to certain restrictions, I had a unique level of
involvement in the treatment and care of patients.
I had the opportunity to observe and participate in the treatment of a wide
variety of diagnoses, ages, and both genders while at Kidnetics.
I cleaned and organized the treatment gym and rooms as needed, and re-
organized the equipment closets in order to make every item accessible.
Additionally, I learned about the appropriate developmental milestones in
children under 2 years old through involvement in the Developmental Peds Clinic.
 This was an aspect of physical therapy that I was otherwise unexposed to.

5. Roles and Responsibilities
Kidnetics has a large treatment gym
equipped with mats, mirrors, stairs, a
climbing wall, a therapeutic pool, and
several different areas housing
treatment equipment. Most
treatments occur on the hour and will
end about 5-10 minutes before the
hour is concluded.

6. Roles and Responsibilities
Between appointments I
walked around the gym
cleaning toys, thera-balls,
and treatment spaces that
had been used in
preparation of the next
appointments, as well as
putting away equipment
that was left out.

7. Roles and Responsibilities
In addition to ensuring that the treatment
spaces are clean and ready for the
following patients, I also re-organized the
closets that house a lot of the treatment
equipment that the physical and
occupational therapists use.
Kidnetics, being a pediatric therapy
group, is movement geared. The
equipment that the therapists use can be
used to do various exercises and make the
therapy process more fun and
entertaining for children of all attention
spans.

8. Roles and Responsibilities
I had the opportunity to observe and
participate in many different treatments. Due
to the fact that the patients are exclusively
children, each treatment session is different,
even if the diagnosis or issue is the same.
One patient I was able to follow from the
beginning of the semester is pictured right.
She is almost 2 years old, and at the beginning
of August was not walking at all, and had
severe torticollis. She is now walking, standing,
and rotating unassisted.
The patient’s torticollis, a diagnosis I had
never heard of before, is slowly beginning to
improve with more movement. Torticollis is
discussed more on the following slide.

9. Torticollis
Torticollis is a condition where the neck muscles
contract resulting in a head tilt to one side or the
other. According to the literature, it is a rare
condition, but at Kidnetics, it is incredibly
common.
Torticollis can be treated by neck massage (seen
right) of the contracted muscles, stretching of the
contracted muscles, and in some children is
corrected after learning to walk.
Walking is a symmetrical activity, and often can
help to correct torticollis because it encourages
the head back into midline as the muscle must
loosen to accommodate the symmetrical
movement.
In severe cases a Tot-collar (seen right on the
top) may be used to help stretch the neck
muscles.

10. Roles and Responsibilities
Another child I was able to follow for the
duration of my time at Kidnetics is a 9 year
old female with Cerebral Palsy, more
specifically spastic quadriplegia.
Cerebral Palsy is a congenital disorder of
movement, joints, or posture. Spastic
Quadriplegia essentially means that all 4
appendages are impacted and that the
patient experiences jerky movements that
are difficult to control. The spine x-ray to
the right is of a spastic quadriplegic
cerebral palsy patient and displays one
type of spinal abnormality.

11. Roles and Responsibilities
This patient has been at Kidnetics for 2
years getting therapy. Over that time
span her therapist reports that there
have definitely been improvements,
however, Cerebral Palsy as of right now
is a chronic condition and cannot be
cured.
This patient gets exercise for her legs
and arms while in therapy to help
maintain tone and range of motion.

12. Roles and Responsibilities
As a written project at Kidnetics I completed a case study on a patient who
comes to the Wonder Center.
The case study discusses a year and a half old female patient named Mia.
Mia has been diagnosed with Jarcho-Levin Syndrome, a rare genetic
disorder.
The skeletal abnormalities were known in utero, and Mia has a fairly
unique, although sad, story. After birth Mia was not properly cared for due
to parental neglect, and is now in custody of her grandfather.
Mia is a mystery. All of the skeletal abnormalities for the disorder fit: the
scoliosis, fused ribs, missing ribs, abdominal hernia, and single kidney.
Additionally Mia has a short trunk and short neck, as well as congenital hip
dysplasia, a condition that impacts the stability of the hip joint.
Mia has a long list of associated diagnoses, but therapists are not entirely
sure if the Jarcho-Levin syndrome diagnosis truly fits her condition.

13. Roles and Responsibilities
While in the Developmental Peds Clinic I
had the opportunity to really be exposed
to an entire different role of physical
therapy.
I learned about how physical therapists
examine things like muscle tone, range of
motion, head shape, and other
movements that early on must develop
properly or could potentially cause
problems later on in development.

14. Roles and Responsibilities
While in the Developmental Peds I learned
about the different tests that are used to
assess development, and assisted in scoring
these tests.
The DAYC-2 (Developmental Assessment of
Young Children- Second Edition) is used to
identify developmental delays in cognition,
communication, social-emotional
development, physical development, and
adaptive behavior.
The PDMS-2 (Peabody Developmental Motor
Scales- Second Edition) is composed of six
subtests that measure interrelated motor
abilities that develop early in life.

15. Roles and Responsibilities
In the Developmental Peds Clinic I was given
the opportunity to give “homework” to
parents on a few occasions and explain how
their child was doing according to the skills
that they should be displaying according to
their adjusted age.
Adjusted age is used to correct for premature
birth in assessing developmental skills. By
counting their adjusted age from the due date
instead of actual birth date (called
chronological age) this ensures that the child is
developmentally on track and is not suffering
any repercussions due to premature birth.

16. Conclusion
My internship this semester at Kidnetics has been incredible. I have thoroughly enjoyed being
able to further be involved in the career that I am pursuing after graduation, and being able to
play a role in a pediatric clinic was the icing on the cake.
Pediatrics has always been something that I have thought I would enjoy specializing in after
getting my PT degree. The variety of diagnoses, personalities, and the involvement of the family
that I was able to experience while at Kidnetics not only corroborated my thoughts about the
specialization, but encouraged them.
Kidnetics was unique from my other physical therapy experiences not only due to the
specialization, but also because of the therapists themselves, the facility, and the opportunity to
learn so many new things. There are diagnoses that I learned about while at Kidnetics that I had
never heard of prior to my experience there, in addition to being exposed to the Wonder Center.
I was also introduced to an entirely new delivery of physical therapy through the Development
Peds Clinic. That aspect of therapy is something I would love to further investigate and learn
more about.