17
Jul
2012
A recent to do list for work, names/schools changed obviously
It was a day I needed to go to all four of my schools as an elementary school OT…this was my 'maybe to do” ie depending on how things went with seeing kids, talking to people, checking in, I would may or may not get to all of it, but some of it was higher priority than other things…so alot of room for last minute changes….Basically I tend to write up my “maybe” schedule when it's going to be a complicated day with a lot of schools and things to do, and email it to myself. I am going through old mails so I found it and decided to share it with changed names….
School 1
Check in on A
See S, R, J, J, R
Get VP the blue signed copy of MAA
Get educational specialist the 5th grade copy for T
Run to school 2
Pick up DTVP-2 pieces for Me and fellow OT
See L and M if time
Go to school 3 by noon max? idelaly 1130?
Meeting 1 to 3
Observe A!!
Pick up A's profile
Check on Educational specialist's two kids
check on M/J/ if time
Go to school four
Meet D's mom 830am – see email
Check on new kid, K For some typing
Check on M, D, T
Observe B
Misc
Answer M's mom
Answer A's mom
Update Excel with new minutes/times/kids******
Update Excel logs
Update red binders
Check on emails
Grade B's DTVP-2, and copy one example of each subtest from the book. ** Give DTVP-2 to fellow OT .
Prep DEM for Monday.
Copy HWT stuff + other resources
Finish up paperwork/filing!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
17
Jul
2012
Tweezers and ice cube trays in OT session
Tweezers and ice cube trays. Good for hand strengthening, especially the muscles used in handwriting…
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none | Tags: hand strengthening, handwriting, ice cube tray, pediatric intervention, tweezers
17
Jul
2012
Connect Four, travel size
I swear I posted this picture before but couldn’t find it. Anyway, he needs to be trying to use his index finger instead of his middle finger. This is definitely commonly seen in OT kids! Trouble aligning their thumb and index and instead using middle.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
17
Jul
2012
OT Blog Blizzard
my goal was NOT to do a blog blizzard but somehow I discovered a ton of the posts I assumed went up the last few months, per schedule, did not go up??? So I published all the old ones. I have like 15 more drafts of things I need to write about that are more serious and/or more data intensive. And about 100 more to go in email box. So enjoy the ones below, I’m working hard on getting completely up to date on the blog this week.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
17
Jul
2012
HandiWriter: Awesome sauce for OT
I have a child who fists his pencil – have tried so many different things – I know he has the ability based on his abilities with other utensils/items – the Handiwriter helped. The charm goes in the last two fingers, the big band goes around the wrist, and the little piece goes around the pencil. More later….
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
17
Jul
2012
pain
losing a loved one can be so hard. People who work in healthcare fields are often with people at some of the hardest times of their lives. When my grandmother was dying, my aunt wrote this to me in an e-mail, and I really like the concept.
There is a way to look at death that I have always liked. Imagine that there are 10 points of pain to be absorbed when someone dies. They are split between the person dying and the loved ones left behind. If someone dies unexpectedly, like in their sleep (how we all want to die), then the survivors take 9 points of pain because it is such a shock. We had a patient once with metastatic disease. She defied the odds for 11 years. In that case, the “dying” person took 9 points of pain. Her death was not unexpected and many thought it was a blessing. It's easier to take some of the points of pain if you have the idea that you are saving your loved one from taking them.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
17
Jul
2012
Blogging
So I got down to ZERO new emails out of 290 old mails, those old mails being abut 95% blog related in some form ie emails from blog readers, comments, things I need (ok, want) to blog about, etc. I started today with about 340 new out of 1,200, so that's a pretty big achievement for the day.
Tomorrow's goal is to get through that 290 mails that require action of some sort, and get caught up on all blogging beyond the few things that have to wait till I am back in CA for. I plan to respond to comments I haven't responded to, for one thing, as well as many of the blogging question emails, and in all honesty, to write up about 40+ blog posts tomorrow, but will mostly schedule them to go out once or twice a day so it's not such a “blogging blizzard”. It ranges from videos on a poker star named Adrienne who is also an OT, to guest posts, to personal posts, to product reviews, to FAQ, pictures, videos, so pretty diverse. I also plan to update my blog roll with all the new OT blogs I've learned about recently, etc etc.
The reason I am doing so much computer work this week is that I am visiting a friend in Alabama who works full-time, she lives somewhere where you can't walk easily to anywhere, and I don't have a car, so I specifically decided I'd use this stranded week to get my computer life back in order. This weekend I go to Memphis to see some babies of my OT friends and some old friends, and then I head home to deal with real world OT stuff including organizing toys, preparing OT documents, etc etc. Plus, of course, lots of beach time, Pilates, seeing friends….
Anyway….it's been summer and vacation time so my blogging has been quite remiss, but barring unforeseen circumstances, starting tomorrow there will be a daily blog for many months to come. 🙂 Remember that although I am slow, I do LOOOOOVE comments as all bloggers are rather narcissistic,
it helps me want to keep blogging! Proud to say I've hit over 300,000 page views now even if it did take me 5 years of blogging and over 1600 posts, lol.
it helps me want to keep blogging! Proud to say I've hit over 300,000 page views now even if it did take me 5 years of blogging and over 1600 posts, lol.
Oh, and I'm officially presenting (I think???) with my same social media crowd as last time, in next year's AOTA conference as well, in San Diego. Where I live. And I am going to hold an OT party at my house at that time. So, you all need to come to AOTA conference and let me know you are coming. 🙂 This includes OT students!!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1
16
Jul
2012
Guest post by Luna: Born for OT
http://lifelessonsfromot.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html
This is the first post written by a first year OT student, whose native language is not English. It's beautifully written and thoughtful. Thanks for sharing, Luna. 🙂 I will be adding her to my blog roll and hope you all will too 🙂
Have you ever experience that feeling that you are in just in the right place. That without knowing it, your personality and past experiences were preparing you for this moment. Well, that's how I felt when I started my first semester as an Occupational Therapy student.
Since I started my baccalaureate, I already had in mind to continue my graduate studies to become an OT, but the truth was, I only knew a little part of what being an OT really meant. I knew that the profession was diverse, but I didn’t imagined how much. I knew it helped people, but not exactly how. I knew I wanted a profession where I could be creative, be near the patient step by step in the recovery process, help change lives. I wanted a profession in which the person wouldn’t be seen as a number or as a disease, but as a human .What a relief was to reaffirm I had entered the right master's program!
Even though I enjoyed and learned a lot from my baccalaureate in biomedical sciences, I always felt as if something was missing. I never heard talking about spirituality, therapeutic use of self, self-awareness and much less about client-centered intervention in any of my classes. All this concepts helped me understand that the profession I had chosen was much more transcendental than I thought. In one of my first assigned readings the quote from Adolf Meyer: “We bring opportunities, not prescriptions” helped me realize that what was missing in biomedical sciences were opportunities beyond those that the medical model alone can offer.
After learning the values and beliefs of the profession, I confirmed that they matched my own. In a couple of days I already felt as a part of OT, or that OT had always been part of me, I'm not sure! That semester I understood what “vocation” really means; to feel that this is what you were created for. Without knowing it, my whole life I had within me the seed to become an OT. Now, all I need to do is work hard to make it grow.
“You know how much your vocation weighs on you. And if you betray it, it is yourself who you deface, but know that your truth will slowly be, because it is birth of tree and not finding of a formula. “
-Antoine De Saint Exupery
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1
5
Jul
2012
Still in Norway
I visited my little host “niece”'s daycare yesterday and gave the staff there a mini informal presentation of a lot of stuff they can be aware of to help their little ones develop fine motor skills…they are actually awesome here in Norway about staying true to children's developmental levels, ie they don't expect FOUR YEAR OLDs to be in our American version of kindergarten or even five year olds. More like six year olds. I have been accumulating TOYS for my OT kids – when I see something new and cool I buy it for next year. I have not gotten ANY presents or ANY souvenirs for ANYONE, including myself, EXCEPT tons of OT toys, because that is all that interests me! I looove my job and my kids! I am having fun playing with lots of “neurotypical” children as A) of course it's fun, but B) it also helps me compare better where MY OT kids are.
I obviously am not so good at blogging when halfway across the world, but one of these days I will catch up!
Karen
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1