20
Nov
2012
Weighted sea urchin :)
So I’m a weirdo.
I put a bunch of fishing weights into a weird shell thing my mom saved for me (clickety clack). Then I wrapped a modern art rubber band around it to keep it in intact. Then I put it into a piece of pantyhose to make it more itact. Then I wrapped a PlayVisions hyperflex toy around it to make a nice weighted sea urchin, lol. In hindsight putting it on a weighted ball would have been easier, but weighted balls are expensive and this was all stuff I had literally within arms reach at that moment (I was organizing toys this weekend).
I think kids will like my weighted sea urchin. It’s probably something I’ll hand them when I pick them up in their classroom, to hold while we walk back to my room, if I am doing pull-out service. Today I didn’t have any good fidgets for a kid with weak hands who has kind of a long walk, but I had a piece of reject Theratubing (ie like a 6 inch scrap piece from when I miscalculated) that he was happy to tug on while we walked and chatted.
And PS: yes, I know push-in service is best, and I do it as often as I can, but scheduling is a HUGE factor.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
20
Nov
2012
Mr Frost: Melting Snowman: Great OT toy
My OT helper Kelly (getting observation hours for OT school) found this at Nordstrom Rack for like ten dollars, which is expensive but frankly worth it yo! It’s essentially white theraputty and some accessories. You have to copy the picture and add in the accessories as shown at the beginning of the session (as a very quick eye/hand warm-up and fun activity) then put it aside and show the kid at the end how it melted! 🙂 I think for our California kiddos who never see snow, it’s especially cool!
I think I need to do this with my green theraputty, but alien style 🙂
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2
18
Nov
2012
SPED Acronym Halloween costume :)
One of my schools special ed team team dressed up as SPED-based acronyms for Halloween..
DRA = some reading assessment
FAPE = free and appropriate public education
PT = physical therapist
SLP – speech language pathologist
IEP – individualized educational plan/program
ESY =extended school year
In hindsight…WHERE IS OT?!!!! OMG…
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
16
Nov
2012
love
I'm too tired right now to want to write a long post about my day, which is unfortunate because i know the details will slip away quickly if I don't. But basically I wanted to say today that pretty much every day, there are magical moments and/or moments where my OT children enchant me. 🙂 They'll say something, or do something, or show me something, or surprise me, or who knows what – all I know is, even though I have plenty of stressful moments and overwhelming moments, my OT kids are all gifts with a lot to teach us. And I don't mean that in the Lifetime movie way so stop gagging. They just rock, that's all. 🙂
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
15
Nov
2012
Dragon Dictation or other voice dictation software?
I work with elementary school kids as a school based OT and sometimes I have sixth graders with some significant challenges that lead me to think voice dictation software would be the best bet. EXCEPT, that as far as I can tell, pretty much all the voice dictation software out there is bad, especially when talking about for like, 10-12 year olds who don't necessarily have crisp voices.
I just saw a link
That looked interesting, but even though for example it would say 93% accuracy on a paragraph, the paragraph may have such crazy errors that a kid would never be able to “recover” from it in terms of fixing the mistakes.
Anybody have GOOD success for dictation software with kids?
Thanks 🙂
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1
15
Nov
2012
this broke my heart
This is a story about a baby elephant raised by a human mom. The quote I show below just made me want to cry and cry even though it wasn't directly about the death – just trying to “identify”. I think OTs and those of us in helping professions in general are often exposed to those struggling to find their identity either due to challenges physically or mentally – here it is laid out so starkly.
“One night Moses started exploring Jenny’s face. “He’d touch my eyes with his trunk, and then his eyes. Touch my ears, then his ears. Then my mouth, then his mouth. But then he circled my nose again and again and again.”
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
12
Nov
2012
Perception Affects Reality: Focus on Progress
“Perception is reality” is quite true. If you perceive there are flying unicorns out your window, then you are going to act like it, because that’s your reality. Now of course, everybody around you realizes your perception isn’t reality, but that doesn’t help you when that’s how YOU see it.
I often write parents, praising their children’s improving skills. Only if it’s true, of course, but probably more often than necessary. But I think it’s so important because parents (and the rest of us) need to change our perceptions. Of course we work with children who struggle for a variety of reasons, but when we focus on skill deficits and their challenges, we sometimes forget to let them grow/learn because we always want to help. I think one of the most valuable skills OTs have to learn (and teach others in helping roles) is HOW TO SIT ON THEIR HANDS. Patience. Such a virtue.
Do you all remember those studies showing that if you told teachers that some of their students who were performing poorly were actually quite brilliant (regardless of whether it was true), then came back later to check in, that those kids were actually doing much better?? Because the teachers perceived them differently and treated them accordingly. The teacher’s perceptions influenced reality and it made it happen.
When you work with children in OT, obviously they need supports and you are there to help, but try to remember to influence parental and team participation in a positive way. Support a perceptual shift that always focuses on PROGRESS, not deficits.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 4
10
Nov
2012
Such a good point
I thought this was a great point. I know someone close to me in life spent a very rough weekeend in a mental institution and showed me something he had made there. It was a “squirrel, because we were nuts”. It made me laugh because he had a sense of humor about what he decided to make, but I agree that having a TANGIBLE item to take home when in a mental institution is likely not that um…necessary. It's the process. More cool perhaps to donate the items? I guess it depends on the person. Anyway, I liked this person's assessment of being in a mental hospital from an OT perspective in terms of occupational deprivation, etc. Just randomly stumbled upon this blog on Facebook a few minutes ago.
“In fact, thinking about the bead art I made reminds me of many of the products of my OT interventions. I made many items, some were things that had I produced them today I would be quite proud of, however due to the associations the items have with a time in my life of distress, despair, restraint and lack of control, they are all items I would find very difficult to keep/display. Part of my academic programme has involved mock facilitation of groups and some of the facilitations I observed seemed keen to have a tangible product that the client can take home with them on discharge. While I don’t question the importance of there being a concrete outcome to interventions, I think it is important that OTs remember that for some (not all), items produced in OT sessions are actually very painful reminders of a difficult time of life. The value of OT sessions is often the skills learned (both surrounding the task but also concepts of occupational balance/using structure), the self-understanding gained and an appreciation and awareness of meaningful occupation for the person, not the random nik-nak produced in the session.”
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
10
Nov
2012
A great post on disability
So much to a few of my friends dismay, I'm really not so great about focusing on disability as a political or linguistic construct, but this was an absolutely fabulous post on disability.
Even as an OT of several years, it articulated some things I had never really thought about before, and I LOVED her analogy of “disabling wireless”… Check it out, tell me what you think. Thanks Helen for posting on Facebook. 🙂
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2
10
Nov
2012
I'm channeling the Recycling OT…
Check this out, Recycling Occupational Therapist!! (She has her own website…) I did it!! I used a box cutter or something and for some reason I had it in my mind that cutting this milk carton would be a traumatizing, difficult experience, but it was sooo easy! I did it to turn the handle parts into ball-catching thingies. I saw that on Pinterest, homemade ball catching thingies, I forget the real term, and it was so cool. I haven’t tried them yet though. But now that I realize it’s easy to cut things out in that plastic (I always thought Recycling OT was super cool but super hardcore and that I could never do it), I’m going to have to do it more often. 🙂
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none