CIREC – an amazing rehab center in Bogota, Colombia

I spent 2 months volunteering at the rehab center CIREC last fall in the OT department in Bogota, Colombia. They treat a lot of land mine victims there. There were tons of amputees wandering around and everyone was so friendly. I loved it. I am in the process of figuring out how to donate to them. I also want to write an OT Practice article about it eventually.

In the meantime, watch this 5 minute video. You'll get to see the gym where I was at and some of the staff and patients I got to see, as it's a pretty recent video. Most of it is in English. A lot of adorable kids!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=UbW9a9HVpJg

oooh

I had a great time at the OTAC conference…California's OT Association. Looking forward to doing LOTS of blogging as I wrote down oh, 15 topics or so I need to write about!! I am definitely back into blogging mode. For right now though, I just need a little time to recuperate!!! Hopefully by tonight I will start writing!

Occupy AOTA?

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-09/news/ct-edit-occupy-20111009_1_protests-occupational-therapy-financial-crisis

I was seeing how to find my blog on Google.com (type in Karen Dobyns, or ot student, or occupational therapy blog), and I typed in just occupational therapy. This news article linked above came up but it had to do with anguish of the Occupy Wall Street peeps. I was thinking on the way home today that AOTA needs to take advantage of this “Occupy” stuff and do a membership drive called “Occupy AOTA” or something, to get people to join! Just a thought.

By the way AOTA sent out a great little 2 page pdf on sensory issues and kids during Halloween. I forwarded it to all the educational specialists at my 4 schools and asked them to send it on to teachers of kids with autism/sensory difficulties.

I love being an AOTA member and I highly recommend it. Rah rah rah. 🙂

So….my clothes are in the dryer, I showered, my cat is sleeping on my leg, the fan is going full blast (Santa Ana here), and it's almost 10pm. I'm going to go to bed now, but get up at 5:45am to do some printing of conference handouts, my flight ticket, etc…..tomorrow I see some kids plus work hard on some billing stuff. Then rush home to shower/finish packing before our flight leaves! I am NOT taking my computer. I'll be back Sunday night. And PS, robbers, I have two other people living here, so don't rob us. Thanks!!! 🙂

Pumpkin vs OT. Pumpkin wins.

My mother had me go out to her car asking me if I felt strong. She opened the car door and I said “Holy Bleep”. Without the Bleep part. Then I carried it inside and it almost killed me. That is our ugly garage, don't judge. By the way, notice my roommate's blind cane glinting in the background?! 🙂 Or is it a white cane. I should know the proper terminology.

OTAC Conference and random OT stuff

1. I was out in the sunshine with a kindergartener so the sun was really showing off my hair tinsel. He asked me “Why does your hair glow up?”

2. My cat IS LITERALLY TRYING TO BITE MY FINGER AND KEEP IT HOSTAGE INSTEAD OF WRITING THIS OW

3. I took back my finger and now he has SWITCHED SIDES TO MY OTHER HAND!!!!

4. You know how I start OW ed a campaign to get my kids to call me Miss Awesome? (obviously a joke). Today I walked into a room with a 2nd grader who likes me a lot and his eyes lit up. He was working with an aide and the aide said “oh Miss Karen is here”. He replied “No, it's Miss Awesome.”  AHAHAAHAHAHA

5. I should be doing laundry, showering, and packing for OTAC and yet I am sitting here blogging?!! I had an IEP meeting first thing, then an initial OT evaluation meeting, then training in billing, plus some observation of a few kids in between, then I went to Office Depot, Staples, TJ Maxx, Halloween Store, Target, Big Lots, Michaels, and Dollar Store to try and find this specific bulletin board I love, and the Target employee suggested I try wal-mart. and she is right, I think it's where I got it!! (I couldn't remember where I got it but I wanted more so I've been searching). I forgot about Wal-Mart since I only go there like once a year. Guess I have to go again. Heavy sigh. Barf. 🙂 Much prefer me some Target action. Especially those dollah bins.

6. I am excited about OTAC! Should be fun! If you are going to OTAC leave me a comment or email or say hi if you recognize me! If you see a girl with black glasses and glittery hair, that's me!!

7. I really should stop now.

Going to the CA OT Association Conference this weekend!

I am going to the California OT Association conference this weekend along with a fellow co-worker! My company, School Steps Inc, is based out of Sacramento, so I finally get to see homebase! I just got handouts I need to download as no hard copies will be available. I am going to bring address labels so I can quickly stick them on things at various booths instead of having to rewrite my address constantly. I also plan to bring business cards of course….and comfortable shoes! And a couple of fidgets like Tangle Jr's to mess with while I sit in course after course! I'm scheduled for all morning and afternoon Saturday and Sunday so it will be a lot of learning. Hope to network with a lot of other OTs!

I'm also compiling some tiny OT gifts to give to my awesome awesome mentor Tricia. 🙂

I got some more hair tinsel put in today again as it was mostly all gone. I got the most I've ever had – like 16 pieces! Purple and gold. I'm telling myself it's an October extravaganza for Halloween lol. I think it's still reasonably subtle so hopefully no claims of unprofessionalism will head my way! The kids (and I) love the sparkle. 🙂

I have been brainstorming a lot lately on things to get in dollar bins that can be used in different ways (a la the recycling therapist although I'm not quite so hardcore). I also got some of those popsicle molds and realized if I take off the tops, it's basically 4 containers attached together, so kids could sort 4 different things into the little bins. I also found some tiny tongs that LIGHT UP when you squeeze them closed, they came with a bag of gummi worms I got a long time ago. So of course I pulled that out.

I also added a toy car to my arsenal as I have a lot of young boys and Tonya once again of TherapyFunZone gave me some ideas on how to use the car with writing/drawing shapes/letters!

I had one triennial evaluation today (every three years a child gets fully re-evaluated to determine eligibility for special ed) at one school, then went to another to work on eval write-ups I should have done some make-ups but I am so swamped with paperwork that I knew I needed to finish the eval, and Wednesday afternoons are reserved for meetings/paperwork anyway really. Tommorrow I have an IEP, an initial OT evaluation IEP, and training in billing software, so I don't get to see ANY of my Thursday kids. That's a lot of make-ups as Thursday is typically my busiest day!

I haven't finished up my paperwork due tomorrow so I guess I better stop writing on here. I've gotten into a blogging mode lately. All the sweet comments and e-mails certainly contribute to my new burst of blogging energy. Thank you so much. As always, I assure you, you will eventually get a response if you emailed me. It will just be slow in coming. Thanks for your patience.

Can strainer and pipe cleaners – OT tip

I recently posted about using a colander with pipe cleaners which I still think is awesome and fun! But I was browsing the dollar section at CVS the other day and found can strainers for $1 that basically can do the same thing on a much smaller scale…..since space can be a premium for traveling therapists,  it may be more feasible to carry around a can strainer than a colander.

OT Tip- mechanical pencils

For some kids with serious issues re-sharpening pencils or kids who need to learn to use less pressure, and/or kids who just like mechanical pencils, these are my favorites by Papermate. I've used them since I was a child and I have a student in a younger grade who uses them religiously now too. They are sturdier than most mechanical pencils.

Mini Connect 4 – OT Tip

I stole this idea from TherapyFunZone's Tonya Cooley. She talked about the awesomeness of using a tiny Connect 4 because it really encourages a pinch grip etc. I found this – keychain sized – and can't wait to try it out….

Monsters individualize fingers – OT tip

Monsters are great for individualizing fingers! “Blue monster, take a bow!” They are also great on thumbs for thumb wars etc as it encourages the thumb-up position so important in cutting and general neutral positioning!