Usage of the Wii drops off rapidly when it is placed in the homes of people with intellectual disability as part of a physiotherapy program. Implications for Rehabilitation Usage of the Nintendo Wii drops off rapidly when it is placed in the homes of people with intellectual disability and they are instructed to use it as part of a home physiotherapy program. Games commonly played include bowling and boxing in Wii Sport, and penguin slide, ski jump and tight rope walk in Wii Fit Plus. Physiotherapists should use person and family centred practice to ensure that Nintendo Wii is a suitable intervention for the person with an intellectual disability and provide support to encourage ongoing usage.

OBJECTIVE: Many infants with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) from prenatal exposure to opioids require transfer to a pediatric inpatient unit for medication weaning. The purpose of this study is to assess the difference in the duration of medication weaning between infants transferred by day of life (DOL) 14 versus later (DOL 15 and after) to a tertiary care setting for pharmacological and nonpharmacological management of NOWS. METHODS: This single-site retrospective cohort study uses medical chart data from infants with NOWS transferred to specialized care between May 2016 and June 2021 (n = 87). The primary outcome is length of medication weaning, calculated as the number of days between transfer from the NICU to a tertiary care setting and the cessation of pharmacotherapy. RESULTS: The majority of the infants in this sample are transferred from acute to tertiary care after DOL 15 (62% versus 38% by DOL 14). The predicted number of days to wean is 14.2 among those infants transferred by DOL 14, whereas the duration of weaning is 6.6 days longer among the later transfer group (20.8 days), adjusting for key covariates. The duration of weaning is also prolonged among infants with greater NOWS symptom severity and with prenatal exposure to psychotropic medications. CONCLUSIONS: Delayed treatment prolongs NOWS symptoms and increases the burden on the health care system. Earlier referral from NICUs to pediatric inpatient units with environmental supports could reduce prolonged medication exposure and length of hospitalization for infants diagnosed with NOWS.

Research on the relevance of placements to the development of allied health student skills to work with people with disability, is an underexplored area. This knowledge is important for several reasons: to prepare students for disability placements, develop their work readiness skills to work with people with disability upon graduation, inform placement curriculum development, and ensure placement educators are supported to provide effective and efficient supervision of students on disability placements. The study discussed in this article, explores placement educators' perceptions of powerful learning experiences during disability placements that shape students' attitudes and perceptions of working with people with disability. Allied health placement educators from three Australian disability organisations, were invited to attend focus groups on this topic. Two focus groups, with a total of seven participants, were conducted in February and May 2016. The allied health disciplines represented in the focus groups were Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy, and Physiotherapy. Thematic analysis technique was used to analyse focus group data. Findings related to the following four key topic areas, are discussed in this article: a. Reasons for placement educators entering and staying in the disability sector; b. Placement educator perceptions of changes in student attitudes and skills post disability placements and how their experiences shape their approaches to student placement education; c. Recommendations for universities to better prepare students to work with people with disability; and d. Preparation of students for job-seeking in the disability sector.

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