Sandra Saavedra, MS, PT, PhD

Sandra Saavedra, MS, PT, PhD is a pediatric researcher and Associate Professor at the University of Hartford. She has more than 25 years of clinical experience as a pediatric PT, and is a national leader in researching, teaching and applying segmental principles to treatment of posture impairments in infants all the way to older children, from those with mild to severe disabilities. She played a major role in the refinement and validation of the Segmental Assessment of Trunk Control (SATCo). She works with various clinical and school-based settings to apply SATCo principles to assessment, interventions, selection of adaptive equipment and measuring outcomes.

• Segmental Assessment of Trunk Control
• Motor Learning for Children with Complex Disabilities

• “Visual biofeedback improves balance control: until it doesn’t”. Poster presentation at American Congress of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA May 26-30, 2020 by A. Goodworth, S. Fitzhugh, A. Kratzer, M. Lommori, M. Rowley, J. Robertson, S. Saavedra,
• “Trunk control in children with neuromotor deficits: assessment and intervention”.  2-hour educational session at American Physical Therapy Association CSM Conference, Denver, CO, February 13-15, 2020. Co-taught by S. Saavedra, L. Argetsinger and A. Behrman.
• “Effect of trunk support or postural contexts on upright control and function in water.” poster presentation at the Connecticut Physical Therapy Fall Conference, Bridgeport, CT, November 9, 2019.  Physical Therapy research students Joshua Breighner, SPT with supervision from S. Saavedra and D. Snowdon.
• “Effect of optimal trunk support on academic engagement in children with moderate to severe disability” poster presentation at the Connecticut Physical Therapy Fall Conference, Bridgeport, CT, November 9, 2019.  Physical Therapy research students Kelly Blochlinger SPT, Alyssa Desanti SPT, Katie Hancock SPT, Ashley Klein SPT, and Toni Penta SPT with supervision from S. Saavedra and T. Jagaiah.
• “Outcome measures to monitor movement patterns in children with severe cerebral palsy.” poster presentation at the Combined Sections Meeting, Washington DC, January 23-26, 2019.  Neuroscience Masters and physical therapy student Linda Tran SPT faculty advisors: S. Saavedra and K. Pratt.
• “Monitoring movement patterns in children with severe cerebral palsy” poster presentation at the Connecticut Physical Therapy Fall Conference, Waterbury, CT, November 3, 2018.  Neuroscience Masters and physical therapy student Linda Tran SPT with supervision from S. Saavedra and K. Pratt.
• “Development of Sensory Function, Motor Function, and Postural control in infants with Sensorineural Hearing Loss” poster presentation at the Connecticut Physical Therapy Fall Conference, Waterbury, CT, November 3, 2018.  Physical Therapy research students Anna LeBlanc SPT, Nick Pisanelli SPT, Bill Russo SPT with supervision from S. Saavedra and D. Snowdon.
• “Maximizing function in children with cerebral palsy using the segmental approach for trunk control”  3-hour educational session at the Connecticut Physical Therapy Fall Conference, Waterbury, CT, November 3, 2018.  Physical Therapy research students Timothy Geier SPT, Lauren Shortell SPT, Joe Mickelson SPT with supervision from S. Saavedra.
• “Posture control and motor learning in infants and children with cerebral palsy during development of sitting”. Podium presentation at American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, October 11-13, 2018.

• Goodworth AD, Kratzer A, Saavedra S. (2020) Influence of visual biofeedback and inherent stability on trunk postural control. Gait & Posture (80):308-314
• Goodworth AD, Tetreault K, Lanman J, Klidonas T, Kim S, Saavedra S. (2018) Sensorimotor control of the trunk in sitting sway referencing. J Neurophys 120(1):37-52.
• Duncan K, Goodworth A, Da Costa C, Wininger M, Saavedra S. (2018) Parent handling of typical infants varies segmentally across development of postural control. Exp Brain Res,236(3), 645-654.
• Santamaria V, Rachwani J, Saavedra S, Mansell W, Woollacott MH. (2017). The impact of segmental trunk support on posture and reaching while sitting in healthy adults. J Motor Behav pp 1-14.
• daCosta CSN, Saavedra SL, Rocha ACF, Woollacott M. (2016) The effect of biomechanical constraints on neural control of head stability in children with moderate-to-severe cerebral palsy. Physical Therapy Journal 97(3):374-385.
• Curtis DJ, Woollacott M², Bencke J, Lauridsen LB, Saavedra S, Bandholm T, Sonne-Holm S. (2016). The functional effect of segmental trunk and head control training in moderate to severe cerebral palsy: a randomized controlled trial. Dev Neurorehabil Dec 26, pp 1-10.
• Wu Y, Duncan K, Saavedra S, Goodworth AD (2016). Segmental trunk and head dynamics during frontal plane tilt stimuli in healthy sitting adults. J Biomech 49(13):2831-2837.
• Goodworth AD, Wu Y-H, Felmlee D, Dunklebarger E, Saavedra S. (2016). A trunk support system to identify posture control mechanisms in populations lacking independent sitting. IEEE 25(1):19-27.