Red ribbon week + Mental Regurgitation
It's Red Ribbon week so lots of wearing red and how to be healthy stuff being posted on doors. I liked this pledge. I also liked reading the pledges of a bunch of our kiddos, I think my favorite was “I will not pretend to smoke…” ahahahahaa.
Monster Cheese Wins OT Battles
Of all the toys I bring in for quick fine motor breaks, “Monster Cheese” is the one I get asked about the most. Each time I see a kid, especially ones I don’t see often, they request monster cheese. Now of course monster cheese is actually this benign cutesy Stretchy Cheese toy you can buy on Amazon that has these little mice with it where youc an stick the mice in the holes. However, Monster Cheese is way more fun. I provide them with tons of small objects and then they have Monster Cheese eat as much as they can then throw it all up. In a recent case I had a little girl with a marvelous imagination. As she pulled out each item, she explained why he had eaten it. I loved it.
“…He ate the panda and the dragon because he went to China…”
“…He went to the future and ate the Transformer…”
“…He went to Bert and Ernie’s house and ate their rubber duckie…”
“…He went to a poor person’s house and ate their baby…”
“…He went to the ocean and ate the poor baby sea turtle…”
“….He went out on a date with a lady shark…” (the shark has a bright pink mouth for some reason, guess that made it a lady shark)
Etc etc. I had to struggle not to laugh too hard at a few of her choice stories. As you can see Monster Cheese is looking a little rough, but he cleans up well. For only a few dollars I think Monster Cheese is a great toy to have in your OT toolbox. It’s kind of expensive on Amazon, you may be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.
The concept of time – Visual Timers to help understanding + Experimentation
Most OTs, including me, use timers ALL THE TIME with our kiddos. For example, “first we do X for 5 minutes, Y for 3 minutes” or “We have 10 minutes before you go back to class” or whatever. We verbally explain time to them as well as set timers so they see an ending. For kids working on non-preferred tasks, having an end in sight is super important. Or for kids with slow processing and/or difficulty with transitions, the timers can be super important to avoid melt-downs, ie if a child is playing with free choice and we walk in and say “Time to go back to class”, it can cause a meltdown instantly. I have watched parents with neurotypical kids do this and the kids (frequently) obey and it always amazes me. For our kids, there’s always the timer as well as usually a preview or two, ie “Okay, first you have 5 minutes of free choice, then you go back to class.” “I’m setting the timer for 5 minuts, here it is next to you” and then usually “The timer says you have about 45 seconds left…” or whatever the amount is if I walk past.
OTs as Healers of the Heart…
I just got home from the store and almost cried (don’t laugh) when I find out the one thing I wanted, lemon pepper tuna, was all out. So then I realized with my BRILLIANT mind that probably lemon pepper tuna was tuna with lemon and pepper. So I set out to make the salad I had wanted. Spring mix, then a layer of albacore tuna, then a bunch of squeezed lemon and a ton of pepper, then some white balsamic vinegar (white balsamic is my fav), then half an avocado, and finally, the part that made it all worth it….salt and vinegar potato chips on top. Yes, not the most healthy choice of croutons, but I’m eating pretty healthy these days….things like nonfat greek yogurt with fruit, nuts, salads, protein shakes….trying to get back on track. I also went to Pilates tonight, but a higher power loves me, because it was cancelled. 🙂 I was so tired, I was very grateful.
PS2 – super is my new favorite word. I am super sorry about that and will be super careful in the future to not use it so often…..
OT Moments of the Day…
The Cool (and Mobile) Factor: iPad Use in the OT Clinic [Article contributed by WebPT.com]
Let your kids make mistakes!
My 30th Birthday Wish List of Awesomeness Which Includes Lots of OT Stuff.
I have been stressed and working super hard lately and then had a busy weekend with a lovely wedding and baby shower (both wonderful, but tiring!) and this morning I did nothing but play online and get inspiration, therapeutic relaxation, and excitement as I added like a thousand things to my Amazon wish list for my 30th birthday coming up in a few weeks. It’s a combination of OT stuff for my kids, unicorns, sparkles, glitter, etc etc. Miss Awesomeness is sparkly, I can’t help it. I was made that way. I’m not sharing as a hint for gifts since 99% of you who read this don’t really know me (but if you have like a million dollars lying around, feel free) but because I do have a ton of OT stuff on there I want that may jog your own memories or ideas for OT stuff (kind of near the end of wish list) that I just haven’t gotten around to sharing on the blog. And it gives you valuable insight into my insane personality. I blame my mother. Just sayin’. 🙂
I also just took a lot of image captures on my computer as I got ideas for new crafts and projects. Some for my own “occupational balance” that just make me happy, and others for my OT kiddos…
PS: I typically write up a few posts at a time and schedule them throughout the week. So I have a few going up that were pre-scheduled, but I haven’t forgotten about all the things I have left to do. I guess I can’t say “I didn’t have the time” since I just admitted I spent like 3 hours staring at unicorns and rainbows. But how about “I didn’t make the time right now because I’ve been working so much that I desperately needed to do something solely for my own enjoyment and while I do love blogging and OT so much, sometimes it still doesn’t count as “me” time”, and I like run on sentences, and the end”
Blast from the past…
I was reading some old emails from 2009 and found some personal e-mails with a good friend/mentor of mine…from my first few months as an OT. Wow, I had a lot to review/learn about on a daily basis back then. Gotta pull up more from those archives to share for all you peeps who don't care about school based or peds OT 🙂
Days of our OT Lives are Spinning Rapidly…
I've been working quite literally about 12-15 hours a day at least five days a week if not more, so um, to say it in an understated way, I AM SUPER SUPER STRESSED and EXHAUSTED…