Jenny Culicerto, OTS
Occupational Therapy Student
West Virginia University School of Occupational Therapy
Jenny Culicerto is a third year occupational therapy graduate student at West Virginia University who recently received her bachelor's degree in Human Performance and Health. She plans to complete her first level two fieldwork at Princeton Community Hospital in the fall and her second level two fieldwork at Pediatric Advanced Therapy in the spring. After receiving her master’s degree in Occupational Therapy she plans to work with pediatric patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The part she enjoyed the most of Parkinson’s Group was not only forming relationships with the clients, but collaborating with the Music Therapy students to plan the weekly sessions.

Presenting at the Nexus Summit:

Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with Parkinson’s Disease, a neurodegenerative disorder affecting mobility, muscle control, and vocal strength and stability. As there were limited opportunities for group programming for Parkinson’s patients in West Virginia, we began to provide free weekly sessions with Music Therapists (MT) and Occupational Therapists (OT). The three aims included maintaining upper extremity range of motion, improve clarity of consonant enunciation, and improve gait pattern. o Design or methodology MT and OT students collaborated to offer hour-long…