31 Aug 2007

They call me…Miss OTPF.

Karen would like to thank her adoring OT fans for their support as she ran for the competitive title of Miss OTPF 2007. She promises to take her role seriously and will spread the power of the OTPF throughout the nation, seeing as how she has not only memorized it, but keeps copies of it in her bag at all times.

UPDATED JANUARY 2014: Click here for a OTPF-3 cheatsheet

I made a one-page Word document OTPF summary sheet for my classmates, which I am copy/pasting here.I hope it is helpful to incoming MOT students, as you will live and breathe this OTPF so you might as well get used to it. (I edited this version slightly, so you may need to do some formatting to fit it on the one page.)

The scoop: All your professors will want you to be familiar with the OTPF (an AOTA official document) and have it serve as a guideline for treatment. Other documents that all OT students should be aware of are listed on AOTA’s website under the Student Section.

The Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF)

Basic Summary: The OT field wanted to make sure there was an official, AOTA-driven document that focused on articulating OT’s “unique” focus on occupation and activities of daily life. It also explains an intervention process used by OTs to facilitate patients, using engagement in occupation as the focus.

How it works: Use a top-down (deductive) approach where you look at the person holistically, then break the issues down using the categories below. The first step (evaluation) includes an “occupational profile”, during which you will learn as much as possible about the meaningful activities of the patient. You then use this information to guide your second step of intervention. Ideally, you will be successful, which will be determined in examining the outcome (third and final step).

Performance in Areas of Occupation (life activities people engage in): Seven areas:

  • Activities of Daily Living (ADL) – (bathing/showering, bowel and bladder management, dressing, eating, feeding, functional mobility, personal device care, personal hygiene and grooming, sexual activity, sleep/rest, and toilet hygiene.)
  • Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) (care of others, pets, child rearing, communication device use, community mobility, financial management, health management and maintenance, home establishment/management, meal preparation/cleanup, safety procedures and emergency responses, and shopping)
  • Education, Work, Play, Leisure, and Social Participation

Performance Skills (focus on what the person does, looking at observable action that has a functional purpose): Three areas:

  • Motor Skills (posture, mobility, coordination, strength/effort, energy)
  • Process Skills (energy, knowledge, temporal organization, adaptation, organizing space)
  • Communication/Interaction Skills (Physicality, Information Exchange, Relations)

Performance patterns (Behaviors related to activities of daily life): Three areas:

  • Habits (Useful habits, impoverished habits, dominating habits)
  • Routines & Roles

Context (environmental conditions that may affect client’s performance) Seven areas:

  • Cultural, physical, social, personal, spiritual, temporal, virtual

Activity Demands (what an activity requires for it to be doable): Seven areas:

  • Objects Used and their Properties, Space Demands, Social Demands, Sequencing and Timing, Required Actions, Required Body Functions and Required Body Structures

Client Factors (body/brain issues that can affect client’s occupational performance)

  • Body Functions (mental functions, sensory functions and pain, neuromusculoskeletal and movement-related functions, cardiovascular/hematological/immunological/respiratory system function, Voice and Speech functions, Digestive, metabolic, endocrine, genitourinary and reproductive functions, skin and related structure functions.)
  • Body Structures (Structures of the nervous system, eye, ear, voice, speech, all body systems noted in body functions above, structures related to movement, skin and related structures.)

Intervention Approaches

  • Create, promote – does not assume disability. Provide experiences 2 enhance performance for all.
  • Establish, restore – establish skill/ability not yet developed, or restore one that was impaired.
  • Maintain – provide supports to allow clients to preserve performance capability
  • Modify (compensation, adaptation) – finding ways to revise current context/activity demands to support performance in natural setting
  • Prevent – for clients with or without disability who are at risk for occupational performance problems.

Reference: American Occupational Therapy Association. (2002). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56, 609-639.

Update: dude who left me a snarky comment – you may be correct from a historical standpoint, but what I put up was paraphrased from the book – so….don’t be mean.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 12

31 Aug 2007

A good but tiring day.

Today was fun. It started with a tour of Youth Villages, which is a residential facility for emotionally disturbed children/adolescents. Several of us in the same project (a community initiative proposal) toured because our project will revolve around trying to get OT into such places, so we needed to have an idea of what to expect.

It was pretty neat. We toured the school area and a lock-down facility, and got to see one of the bedrooms, etc. It was kind of like being in the “Girl, Interrupted” movie at times. Our tour guide recommended the movie “Manic” for a very realistic view of a lock-down facility. Speaking of which, I saw part of “Hillary and Jackie” recently in our lecture on Multiple Sclerosis and it looked really cool, I want to rent that as well.

Then I went shopping with a few OT friends and then hung out with some non-OT friends before going out to a fancy dinner with some other non-OT friends. The dad of the non-OT friend gave me a check tonight for $110 because I lost 11 pounds! And my friend (the son) got $160 because he lost 16 pounds! (He had agreed to sponsor a $10 a pound challenge, ending today.) It was soooo great, I am really happy. I need to keep it up though, the last few days have been a struggle with stress and all.

I am headed out of town tomorrow morning until Saturday evening, so don’t expect a post unless I get bored somehow. Unlikely. On Saturday morning I am going to meet up with Celia, the little girl I did play therapy with for several years. I haven’t seen her in over a year since her family moved away, and I am so excited about it. She calls me by my entire name, including middle initial, and tacks on “my best friend” to the end every time, so it’s an awfully long name. I love it and I miss her. Can’t wait to see her and her family again.

Now for the notorious OTPF post.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none

30 Aug 2007

OT thought of the day and promises of future OTPF-CRAZINESS

My mental health OT thought of the day:

If you had twins, and name one Mariah and one Pariah, there are going to be some serious psychosocial issues down the road.

More later on the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework/OTPF! Stop quivering in excitement, it’s going to be okay! You can last a few more hours until my next stupendously satisfying (hi Google please read this) occupational therapy blog post!

Patience, grasshopper. Patience.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none

30 Aug 2007

Group leading and Leatherworking


My beautiful snailie bookmark I stamped today

Leatherworking tools

Julie learns the hard way that leather stain is PERMANENT and if it’s on your mallet, it might end up on your shirt.

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Today it was my turn to lead group! It was nerve-wracking but it went fine. I had to lead group for an hour (with 5 classmate members and the professor as a member), and then we spent an hour discussing strengths, weaknesses, emotions during session, etc. Mine was done on unconscious biases the therapist can have that can affect patient care. We had to do a group protocol (out of the Group Dynamics book by Cole) as well as find a journal article to support our choice. I was overall proud of how I did, I didn’t make any self-deprecating comments or cry, and those were my two biggest concerns. I did a good job of keeping track of time so we could get in all of Cole’s 7 steps in an hour (introduction activity sharing processing generalizing application summary). I didn’t have to facilitate much because everybody was happy to share their thoughts on the sometimes controversial topic of bias! The KEY thing I need to work on is exuding confidence. I was unsure of myself and it showed. It didn’t help that I ended up getting sick last night and was up almost all night and also had to make an early morning visit to Walgreens as well as knowing I’d be seeing the doctor right after Group finished. You might be saying TOO MUCH INFORMATION but I share because guess what. No therapist is impervious to sickness. It doesn’t matter how carefully you prepare for things, everything can change in a second. Luckily I was able to get through the two hours of Group this morning but at around 5am this morning I was wondering what would happen if I had to cancel it.

I am going to copy/paste two parts of my group protocol that I wrote up, and then if you aren’t interested in that you should just scroll past it because I am also going to talk about part two of today, leatherworking!

Outcome criteria:
Group members will come out of this exercise with a more self-aware, insightful perspective on their own previously conscious and unconscious biases, and how to continuously monitor their biases to ensure that they do not interfere with patient treatment.

Method:
Group leader will hand out list of “problem patients” to group members. Examples could include “27-year old male patient in a bariatric ward who has chronic diarrhea”, “32-year old female inmate at maximum-security prison with a shoulder injury”, “18-year old male patient who is homosexual and drug-addicted”, “and 67-year old male with paranoid schizophrenia in a mental institution”. Group members will then determine which patients they would most be willing to treat as well as which patient they would least like to treat. They will then be asked to journal for 10-12 minutes on why they made these decisions. Group members will then share excerpts from their journal as well as list their choices, explaining the reasons that caused them to make that particular decision. Discussion will include bias in healthcare, trust in other group members, generalization on how bias affects other aspects of life, and how they can become more aware of their own biases and how it will affect their treatment of others, particularly patients. Session will close with a reading of the poem “The Cold Within”.

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Leather working!
We had a two hour session on leather working this afternoon. Believe it or not, this included a distance education component. We had the psychosocial OT from the VA come in and give us a quick and dirty introduction to leather working. Our distance component participated dubiously across the state, I am sure it was horrible for them to try and see little leather tools on a TV screen. They had materials there as well.

We were introduced to wetting the leather and stamping the leather today, with a brief overview of staining and other techniques. We practiced and then got to make bookmarks. We discussed the client populations you would use it with, which client populations you would avoid using it with, and how it could be beneficial. It uses some sharp and potentially dangerous tools but also can promote strength, fine motor skill, creativity, etc. For example. Good client populations: mental health, teens, physical dysfunction. Bad client populations: Arthritic patients, violent patients.

It was a lot of fun. I wasn’t feeling so hot during the activity but I still took some pictures and it was enjoyable. After the day was all over I came home and spent several hours writing up SOAP notes on every group member which I just sent to the professor. I unfortunately can’t share due to confidentiality but I am excited to get feedback on them.

Tomorrow I discuss the OTPF and whatever else floats my boat. By the way, I have decided I am addicted to M&Ms because the other day about 3 of them fell out of my 100 cal packet and onto the concrete and I truly thought it was the most devastating event of my life. And also by the way, I have a new reader named Paula who said she LIKES my randomness and that made me happy.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none

29 Aug 2007

Quick update on leading group in OT

Leading Group went well. Not exhilaratingly on top of the world well, but good enough that I'm not upset/depressed. More details later, just wanted to share!!!!! I know the suspense is suspending….;)

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none

29 Aug 2007

"You could kill your patient…"

I'm tired of hearing all the different ways I could screw up and permanently hurt or kill someone.

While normally we learn about different diagnoses, and it's all lollipop and sunshines, there are days where it seems the moral of the lecture is “If you mess up, your patient could die.”

We had a visiting lecturer on traumatic brain injuries the other day, from a physical therapist who works in the ICU. She gave us a brief overview of all the different leads and machines that might be hooked up, and included at least two stories of how a therapist either almost or did kill a patient due to doing something wrong, like moving a patient's head in relationship to a machine after a ventriculostomy? Or something like that. The point is, we're students, and when you tell us about a bunch of stuff we've never seen and warn us we could kill someone, it mostly just serves to overwhelm us and scare us. I know we need to be aware of the dangers and that we could potentially make fatal mistakes, but seriously now, we probably don't need to hear it a year before our rotations ever start. Tell us what we need to know about NOT killing our patients right before we are put in applicable situations as students. Because I'm not going to remember the specific way we could kill the patient – I'm just going to vaguely remember that therapists have killed patients when working in an ICU, and be frightened to work there.

We have another professor who has ten thousand years of amazing experience who likes to do similar things – not with death, but just lots and lots of reminders of how we could hurt our patients. If we stretch them too much we'll hurt their joints. If we don't stretch them enough we'll give them contractures. If we bend them this way and they have a certain injury they'll never be able to use their hands again. If we are too aggressive with ROM we'll cause heterotrophic ossification. If we do NDT/Neuro-IFRAH/other big treatments, we'll do this/that/something else/nothing/because everything has flaws/everything has evidence proving it/not proving it. I know, again, we need to know there is a specific way of doing things. I just wish there was more focus on doing the right thing, not NOT doing the right thing.

It's confusing. It's overwhelming. I realize we can hurt patients if we aren't careful. I realize this is especially true in acute settings. But for the love of all that is good in this world, stop bringing it up so much when we are still almost a year away from our rotations. It just scares us.

That's my two cents – some therapists/professors/students may have a different view of it, and if so, please share your thoughts.

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Moving on to other news. Today we had a hideous test. I studied hard and still didn't recognize a lot of the questions. I didn't feel like I could have studied the material anymore and known the answers – they were weird things I just don't recall even being in the notes. And if a professor says something only once and it isn't backed up again in the books, the notes, or a verbal repeat, chances are, it's not going to stick. So the test was very frustrating. Especially the day after I posted Study Tips and bragged about how I'm a great test-taker!! In my possibly arrogant opinion however, if the typically highest scoring people in the class all agree the test did not match the study material, then something is wrong….  At least the test on Monday wasn't bad.

TOMORROW I LEAD GROUP!!!!!!!! AUGH AUGH AUGH OMG OMG OMG OMG SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow's post will probably be about Group (I hope exhilarated and not depressed), and then Thursday's post is going to be about the OTPF (Occupational Therapy Practice Framework) …know it, love it, you'll never get away from it.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2

28 Aug 2007

Basic Study Tips for Incoming/Current OT Students


Above: Studying for a big test!

Lately these posts just write themselves, I pretty much always have a topic lined up for the next day. Like tomorrow, I want to discuss how overwhelmed I get when we have lecture after lecture basically telling us if we screw up, we could kill a patient. But I promised study tips today, so here I am….big test tomorrow though augh! Allison, Brooke, and Virginia came over and it was fun studying together. They just left a few minutes ago and I am going to write this post then study a little bit more before going to bed!

Update: Recent male graduate from OT school did a post on studying for the NBCOT exams that I somehow missed even though I thought I was all caught up on blog reading! I think it’s a good match – mine are kind of for basic skills and geared at incoming students, while his is geared at GRADUATION! http://www.aishel.net/

Preface: I have a really strong academic background so I think these are basic study tips that technically everyone should know by middle school. However, what I have learned by studying in groups this past year is that ALOT of people, even at a Master’s level, don’t have these basic study tips down. (I’ve also discovered that a lot of people know the material better than I do, but do worse on the test because they have poor test-taking skills. But that’s a whole other post.)

Preface2: This is geared at studying Powerpoints, which is how most classes are taught these days – you download Powerpoints before class, take notes during the class on the Powerpoints, then study them for the test. (And before I get a bunch of whining from old people who say this makes it easy – it actually doesn’t. You can fit a lot more information into Powerpoints and say a lot more if the students don’t have to write everything down, so the downside of Powerpoints is that they are usually DENSE.)

Okay moving on.

Study Tip 1: QUICKLY GO THROUGH THE ENTIRE POWERPOINT to get a feel for the divisions, the amount of information, and keywords…the layout in general. Then start again and go through it much slower.

Study Tip 2: PAY ATTENTION TO THE OUTLINE SLIDE OFTEN INCLUDED AT THE BEGINNING OF LECTURE! It will help guide you to the important divisions of the Powerpoint and therefore the main points.

Study Tip 3: PAY ATTENTION TO THE HEADERS AT THE TOP OF EACH SLIDE. Don’t just learn the three items on the slide like “apples, oranges, bananas”. Look at the heading and realize that this means all these things are under the category “Fruit”. Ask yourself a question using the header -like “How does these items reflect the intellectual rigor of Fruit?”

Study Tip 4: REWORD WHAT YOU JUST READ OFF THE SLIDE IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
I cannot tell you how often my friends will read the Powerpoint information to me, and then when I ask them to explain it to me in their own words, they can’t. If you can’t rephrase it, you don’t understand it. Read it again or get clarification from the book/others until it actually makes sense.

Study Tip 5: LOOK UP WORDS YOU DON’T KNOW. I’ve been surprised lately at the common words people don’t seem to know. If you don’t know the word, you probably don’t know the concept. A recent example is “Ego Adaptive Milieu”. If you don’t know what a milieu is, that phrase will never make any sense.

Study Tip 6: USE YOUR RESOURCES. Use the book and any other resources (articles, friends, therapists, professors) at your disposal, to clarify the Powerpoints. Often times these resources will fill in the gaps you either didn’t know existed or just didn’t understand.

Study Tip 7: START EARLY- give yourself as many days as possible to start going through the Powerpoints. Plan on doing no more than a few Powerpoint presentations a night, depending on the density/complexity of the material.

Study Tip 8: HAVE FUN – that’s always important when studying for a brutal test. Chocolate makes everything more palatable too.

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By the way, I’ve gotten several requests for my e-mail address lately. It’s on the top of my blog in that paragraph explaining about my blog, but I’ll also post it elsewhere in a more prominent location. It’s karen.dobyns AT gmail.com

Thanks all for the great comments lately!

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1

27 Aug 2007

Day 2: I'm a ghost again

My twisted logic for including a dream on this OT blog is that typically I only dream when under a lot of stress and it is also typically a themed dream, so maybe we can interpret what is going on – and I guarantee you the stress or issue is related to OT school!  I am doing a post on OT Study Tips this evening, so skip this if you want.

So, background. Growing up as an anxious kid, I dreamed of tsunamis swallowing me up and I could not breathe. Then I started having dreams where airplanes either crashed on me or near me, and always had the sense of the dread as I watched it. I occasionally had dreams where for example, there would be a bunch of orange cats, and I'd know only one of them had been my pet along, and it would be devastating to try and figure out which one is mine and making sure I got the right one. (I once told that dream to a friend's psychoanalyst mother and she got a horrified look on her face and said I had serious identity issues). Moving on. I have never dreamed of death, and especially not me being a ghost. But yesterday I had a dream I was wandering around as a ghost, and then last night I had another one, even more disturbing and similarly-themed.

Note to self though: Stop reading “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman right before bed.

In this one, I somehow died – I forget how – and ended up under autopsy, still very much awake from a soul perspective. They would be like “Karen, how much do you weigh?” and I would tell them, so they could figure out the right amount of autopsy stuff to use. So I was dead, but alive. I was also devastated and scared and upset that I was dead. When the autopsy people started to leave, I got even more upset and felt abandoned and began to cry. One of the autopsy ladies came back out and said “Come home with me, honey”. And I remember the (incredibly stupid) words in my head at that second (I've always had a tendency to have bad novel phrases in my head to explain what is going on in dreams): “Brainless and spinecordless, it was hard for Karen to figure out how to move. But after a while, she figured out how to leave the shell, and followed the lady”.

Eventually I managed to get to my CA home and visit my family. They could see me, but I wasn't fully there, I was hovering. I told them I had a day or two at most – my external self was going to age rapidly, like the people with that old-age syndrome, because there was no antioxidants or anything flowing through me anymore.

I went on all sorts of weird trips that I don't remember now, but one of them involved first class on a Southwest flight and an Asian man offering to sell me $500 for my ticket. And I was thrilled to buy Butterfinger balls and realize I could probably eat whatever I felt like for the next few days while I waited for the shell to wear out. Unfortunately the food I would have loved to eaten, no longer tasted good.

The other thing is that my house in California was having serious water issues. My neighbor came over and turned on the water and all of a sudden water started coming in all over the house – through every possible crack and cranny. At first I started to make fun of Mom for waiting so long, but she burst into tears and cried hysterically, so I felt bad and patted her back. I was thinking – first she has to deal with me dying, and then she has to build her house from scratch, this sucks.

In another part, I started to walk up to my Memphis door, and there was a giant spider blocking the way. I turned around and motioned to my adopted fencing family , who happened in this dream to be living in my landlord's house, and they came out and took the spider down for me. My fake sister was chiding her fake mom for using 30 pots to water the plants. When we got inside, they discussed who the place would go to once I finally died in a few days. I began to sob because I could see my cat Nikki hanging out in a car outside and I begged them to take good care of her. It was only until after  I woke up that I remembered Nikki was dead. Overall it was an upsetting dream. It bothers me that this is the second night I've had a room where I've dead, then hung around as a ghost, unable to leave.

So dudes, if I die really soon for some reason, and then you start seeing ghostly apparitions, maybe it really is me! 😉

So I have a few theories on this new theme.
1) This week has been the one-year anniversary of having my cat put down and my grandfather dying, so I've been thinking about it a lot.
2) I should stop reading freaky books before bedtime.
3) I feel like I have unfinished business somewhere?
4) I'm finally really happy with how things are going in my life, and I am scared something will stop my happiness?
5) Your interpretation?

Ok it's 810am, I need to go get ready! First I'm meeting Allison at 9 to help her search for an article, we have a new class 10am to noon in Pediatrics, my friend Doug is coming to the campus for lunch for the first time, then we have a lecture on traumatic brain injuries from 1 to 3, then we have our research project design test, then I'm going to work out, and then study the rest of the day with probably at least 1-2 others. Tonight, STUDY TIPS! Sorry for the tangent, had to get it off my pectoralis majors (chest area, get it, haha, I crack me up)…

Karen

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 4

27 Aug 2007

SENSORY ISSUES UNPLUGGED

I recently sent out an e-mail to a bunch of people asking them to tell me about any sensory issues they seem to have. I wanted to know what people can't stand, because we all constantly hear about occupational therapists can help with sensory integration. It is my opinion that EVERYONE has some sensory issues, and that song lyric “Sounds like…you need some OT” is correct. 😉  If any of you guys have weird sensory issues, comment them for me!! I want to know!

I've read the book “The Out of Sync Child” by Carol Kranowitz(sp) and also have her activity book, and I've worked with a child who had sensory integration issues, so this has always been an interesting topic to me. One new thought I ended up having based on the e-mail responses I got, was wondering when you draw the line between actual sensory issues versus psychological issues. Many people shared things that disturb them, but are really not so much an insult to the senses as to the brain. The most common one seemed to be the stereotypical “fingernails on a chalkboard”. You have to wonder if kids today would never have that answer, since chalkboards basically don't exist anymore.

So first I'll share a few of my own sensory issues and then share some of the ones I got via e-mail.

My main sensory issue: I cannot STAND to have my neck grabbed. I will shriek and hiss and even fall to the floor, depending on how unexpected it is or how tense I am. Also, I am really freaked out by loud noises, and busy visual patterns make me feel sick. Probably the time I feel most sensory-pounded is when I am forced to shower really early in the morning when I am tired. The sound of the water hitting the tub floor, the bright lights, and the overly hot or cold temperature, is like torture to me. Also, again if I am really tired or stressed, I cannot STAND the sound of people chewing if I am not eating too. I truly want to hit people in the face because it sounds so hideous to me.
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And now, voila, the sensory issues of others:

“I cannot stand heat and humidity.  I am taking tamoxifen for the next 5 years and it makes it even worse.  It is horrible horrible awful  no good terrible to get hot.  About once every hour I have about 2 seconds of dizzy/nausea and then the heat comes.  Sweat just pours off of me.  OMG!  It is horrible.  It is hot hot hot and comfortable I am not not not! – Christine

“I can't stand for my hands to be wet after I have washed them.  I hate it when the restroom is out of paper towels.  Also, I absolutely hate to have my nails filed.  Manicures and pedicures will never be relaxing for me.”-  Brooke

“You know how I am about the back of my neck, too. I guess one thing for me would be I can't stand the texture of cantaloupe or mushrooms — it just feels too weird in my mouth. plus, I get really agitated when there is more than one source of sound in a place, like a tv and radio on at the same time.- Suzanne

The only thing that comes to mind is fingernails on chalk boards. Sometimes I think my nose is broken—Ray-ray is always complaining about how Georgie smells, but don’t think he smells bad (unless he’s wet) – he just smells like a dog. – Dad (John)

“I can't stand to look at or to deal with liver .. gives me a gag reflex
fingernails scratching on a blackboard..makes me cringe.. moot point now
that they use dry erase boards.” – Carol

“Bright lights in the morning along with, overly
cheerful people…[edited]…
——
In general, I don't like eating any food(s) that still
has bones and/or skin still attached. …[edited]….
—–
Listening to someone in the office over the cubicle
wall eating anything.  Making those yummy,
lip-smacking noises along with
nose-snarfeling-on-mustasch

-munching noises absolutely
drives me nuts! Makes me want to rip my ears out of my
head and chew them to bits! – Bill

“I don't know that I have any issues.
But I read an interesting article in the LA Times Health section indicating
the people born with anosmia often have sensory integration issues. The
woman described in detail how icky most food feels and what extreme lengths she has
to go to to accommodate her issues.”- Mom (Kathy) (Hey Mom, needing about fifty pounds of blankets on you at night is a sensory issue…;))

“Bodily scratching sounds make me want to barf…
Abnormally large fruit freak me out!” – OT friend
“I am extremely sensitive to TV or radio commercials.  Almost everyone I know can simply ignore them and carry on a conversation or think about something else, but not me..[edited]…It's a visceral experience for me.  On a cognitive level, I deeply resent and reject any attempts to manipulate me or force me into buying some product.  I think this is hard-wired in me.  I would change it if I could.”-Arnie

“I am extremely sensitive to music.  In the early years of my telephone company career, they used to play Muzak through speakers in the office ceilings, which absolutely drove me crazy, since it was crappy music – usually pop tunes played by Montevonti Strings or some crap like that.  I had to plug my ears with both hands when composing correspondence.  I would think of a line to write, then write it down before forgetting it, then cover my ears again to think of the next line.  I'm sure that is not what the “efficiency experts” who designed Muzak had in mind.” – Arnie


“If I am on a ladder and look up, I feel like I am falling backwards.  I have to hold on to something other than the ladder, like the gutter, when cleaning them.” -Burt

“When I was a kid, I could not eat cherry tomatoes because the thought of them exploding into my mouth was too much to bear.” – random friend I won't name 😉

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Hope you enjoyed this episode of SENSORY ISSUES PART 1!!

This weekend has not been as productive as planned. I just finished my dessert of a 100cal pack of oreos, fresh strawberries, and fat-free CoolWhip mixed together…now I am going to go shower and then do a little bit more studying before bed.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2

26 Aug 2007

Boo, this Sunday is no fun

Wooie, you know you are sleep-deprived when you can take a 3 hour nap, then go to bed at 10pm, sleep 10 hours, and you are still tired. But I got up because I HAVE to study Frames of References for a few hours before I meet up with a friend to study it. (Kinda like cleaning the house before the maid comes? AHAHHAA)

I also just had this bad nightmare of watching a plane crash in the canyon of my CA house, I climbed through the canyon to help and then couldn’t find my way back to MY house…I kept wandering around and was lost (after all the victims had been carted so there was no one there anymore). Then the thought occurred to me that maybe I was dead, hurt when trying to help or something, and I was going to wander around forever, trying to find my home and my family.

Wasn’t that cheery? I used to dream of tsunamis and plane crashes all the time, but this is the first dream like that I’ve had in a long time.

Ok, gonna go study for a few hours, then meet Virginia to study more, then meeting a non-OT friend, then possibly studying with Brooke if she heads this way after she gets off work at 8pm, it’s up in the air. I’ve already done most of my Group protocol and studied for Research Project Design – Qualitative Studies – so it’s all Frames of Reference now. And dishes. And cleaning. ::cries:: This is a stupid stupid Sunday.

Now I have to go study since I finished my cereal. Bye everyone, pray for me…keep reading below and tell me what you suggest for geriatric medicine management, Patti and Mamachill have already added in great comments.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none