OT cleaning

Every night I come home with about 3 bags of toys which I promptly dump all over the floor so that I can repackage for the next day.  The last few days I've been bad about repacking and so things have gotten mixed together. You could barely walk in my bedroom because of all the toys. Now I've separated the golf tees from marbles from pipe cleaners from glittery poms from cotton balls from clothespins from fat pencils, skinny pencils, triangular pencils, fat short, fat long, skinny short, skinny long, pencil grips, fake bugs, yarn, straws, etc. So you can walk in here now. The bad news is, I stepped on a bamboo skewer and it really freaking hurt!

I've started taking pictures of my kids' hands while they are writing, during their evaluations, to copy/paste into the report as a visual. I literally only take the picture of the hand so it's otherwise not recognizable/a privacy issue. It helps explain their grip better. (I still am confused as to why some people say grip and other say grasp interchangeably yet I've joined the bandwagon).

My favorite new activities that I've been using constantly lately:
1) Corkboard alphabet game using push pins and dice, practicing the letter they land on. Home-made. And/or just sticking a pushpin in each square, kids are fascinated by pushpins.
2) Sticking pipe cleaners into colorful colander turned upside down, in any pattern/method they choose.
3) Sticking bamboo skewers into styrofoam and having the kids find beads in their theraputty then string them on the skewer.
4) Sticking golf tees into styrofoam and then having them balance marbles on top.
5) Using clothespins and/or tongs to sort fake bugs.

I think that's it for now. I want to start using paper clips and staples more often too. I am really getting great ideas on Pinterest (pinterest.com/funkist/ot-ideas) should take you to my area. I have like 10 more I want to add but Pinterest was having a temper tantrum earlier so I could not.

I feel a lot less stressed out this year so far, I think a lot of it is that I now know more what to expect and how to navigate the system, who people are, etc. I've enjoyed more kids learning my name. A few of them even come up to hug me. Including strangers. One little girl I've never met came up to me while I was sitting down and gave me a big squeeze hug and I was like um, hi? AHAHAHAHA

I had this conversation recently with a 5 year old:
Boy: This table is dynamite!
Me: So we are going to explode?
Boy: I am a parrot,  I will fly away!
Me: What about me?
Boy: :::looks at me sadly:: You're going to die.

LOVE working in an elementary school setting! (Okay, four elementary settings) lol

Sep 22, 2011 | Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none