Sammy's Physical Therapy Adventure Coloring & Activity Book (Paperback)

Join Sammy the bear and Buddy the raccoon as they discover the exciting world of physical therapy! This coloring & activity book is a companion to Sammy’s Physical Therapy Adventure story book and strives to prepare children for a positive physical therapy experience through fun, engaging, and educational activities. In addition to coloring, there are word searches, mazes, color by number, connect the dots, decode a message, word unscramble, crossword puzzle, and more. Dr. Fink is a Physical Therapy professor at Lebanon Valley College and this work was created with the help of students in the Art & Art History, Digital Communications, Education, and Physical Therapy departments.

The concept for this book occurred by happenstance. Dr. Fink found his then three year old daughter coloring the draft black and white illustrations for the companion story book. When he asked her why she was doing it, she answered "To make it look pretty!" Dr. Fink then asked his daughter if there was anything else that she would like to do in addition to coloring and she quickly added "Games! Here I'll show you." She proceeded to get one of her activity & coloring books from the shelf and handed it to him. Upon reflecting about this event and finding that no such coloring and activity book for physical therapy existed, Dr. Fink knew that he needed to create a book to engage kids going through physical therapy. Again with the help of students in the Art & Art History, Digital Communications, Education, and Physical Therapy departments at Lebanon Valley College this project came to completion. While doing this project, Dr. Fink was blessed with his third child who was born with a congenital condition affecting the muscles and joints of all four limbs. His son is treated by a physical therapist on a weekly basis and this book has proven to be a great, fun educational resource for his two other children. This book is created for all the children who are undergoing physical therapy as well as their young siblings who struggle to understand 'physical therapy'. Dr. Fink's hope is that these educational activities will allow children to have fun passing time while learning about road ahead of them, while in the hospital or clinic waiting rooms. He also envisions that this book will be a therapy tool used to improve fine motor skills, cognition, and visual tracking not only in children, but other patient populations who may require therapy using pediatric level tasks such as individuals with a traumatic brain injury, stroke, etc. Dr. Michael Fink is a Physical Therapy professor at Lebanon Valley College in central Pennsylvania. Prior to teaching, Dr. (Major) Fink was a U.S. Air Force physical therapist and combat veteran last stationed at the United States Air Force Academy. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Physical Therapy from Thomas Jefferson University and earned his Doctor of Science in Physical Therapy from Baylor University. Dr. Fink completed a Post-Professional Sports Medicine Residency at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and is board certified in both Sports and Orthopaedic physical therapy.