augh!

Four more days to get ready. Monday went well. Today, Tuesday so far includes two mini crisises that make me go AUGH!

About to become a real occupational therapist :)

Well…just had my last local weekend in Memphis!

Dum dum dum….IKEA

THE IKEA CATALOG HAS COME IN! ::heavens open and sun shines and angels sing::: LAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Autism Conference – watch sessions online – incl. Temple Grandin.

The National Autism Conference was held at Penn State University last week, and now anyone is able to watch archived sessions online for free here:
http://www.outreach.psu.edu/programs/autism/webcasting.htm#archive
I've watched a lot of them and they're great.  There's great sessions on current sensory integration research and there's even a session by Temple Grandin.  I  thought you might want to know to post on your blog!

Lester or Human Resources?

Well…choices. Deal with a big ol' stack of Human Resources stuff from my new first job…or…..post pictures of Lester? Hmm. Lester wins.

I'm an occupational therapist!!!!!!! Have I mentioned that lately.

Have I mentioned lately how glad I am to be part of a profession that is so awesomely cool and fun? 🙂 In less than a month I'll actually start getting money for something I enjoy doing!! I'm sure when body fluids get involved I'll be grateful for the payment part, but for the most part, it's so much fun!!

Are all OT schools the same in level of awesomeness or suckiness?

So…this sweet girl below definitely knows how to flatter a blogger…my fav sentence being  “praise your OT-greatness”, hahaha.

ANYWAY, this passionate new friend of mine is trying to decide between her in-state “cheap” school in the South versus some other fancy private or out of state tuition college. I Jane Doe'd her of course. I personally think each program is foundationally similar enough that she'll be okay anywhere….although if she has the money to move states I'd say a place like UAB or Wash U would be pretty powerful. So, my readers, anonymously or not, please comment on your belief! I'd really be interested to hear how people view their OT programs and I know she'd appreciate the insight as well. I wrote her back and also told her to check out OT Connections, my new pet cause 😉

Ok Lester is screaming, better go get him some broth before my eardrums explode. Read below! I love we are inheriting a new passionate prospective student to the OT cause!

My name is Jane Doe and I am a pre-OT student at Jane College.  I recently switched my course of study to OT when I learned about the profession last year, and I have been hooked ever since.  I have spent the last year researching every OT related website I could find, and a few weeks ago I discovered your blog.  I am very interested in the creative aspect of Occupational Therapy and I love that it is so multi-dimensional!  I actually found your blog because I was doing a google search on Occupational Therapy and therapeutic cooking and stumbled upon the post where you wrote about cooking with simulated disabilities.  After I read that I was desperate to find out which MOT program you were in so I actually created a blog account to have access to all of your posts.  What started out as a search, turned into a complete obsession.  I am currently reading all of your blogs from start to finish and I am about a third of the way through them.  I think you provide the greatest insight and advice to incoming OT students.  You are more informative than any website I have found so far and I look forward to reading the rest of you blogs.  The reason I am writing to you is not only to praise your OT-greatness and thank you for the awesome information you have provided, but also to seek your advice about OT schools.  I am entering my last year of undergrad, so I have been researching schools like crazy.  The easiest choice for me is Jane Health College because of the cheap in-state tuition, but I am in a long standing battle with myself over cheap tuition versus a possibly better (and more fun) education.  So far I have loved reading about all of the fun and creative labs and group work your school offers.  It seems to me that your school does a lot of hands on learning in addition to the book work that is necessary.  I think your program truly defines the Occupational approach to therapy.  So my question to you is, do you think most school’s take that creative, occupation-based approach or is this something that is unique to your program?  I plan on touring the two Jane area schools, and I am going to try to meet more people that have gone through the program, but so far most of the graduates I have met do not seem to hold the same passion for the creative part of OT that I love so much.  I have read many different websites for schools but have never found anything as informative as your blog.  Any information you could provide me about OT programs would be greatly appreciated.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Clarification on OT Connections :)

Sam @ AOTA has left a new comment on your post “OT Connections, New and improved. 🙂“: 

looking forward to reading your practitioner blog…just wanted to clarify that OTConnections is open to non AOTA members too and they can blog and participate in all parts of the website except for the SIS forums which are a member only area. 
so even if you are not an AOTA member you can join for FREE and participate! 

Quote of the Day

“somehow i feel like before your career is done, there will be a St. Dobyns medical center :P”

OT Connections, New and improved. :)

OTConnections.AOTA.ORG  is now new and improved! They've changed the format/layout some so that it's more intuitive and easier to find things. They have forums, galleries, blogs, news, etc.