Occupational Therapy
17
Dec
2013
Being seen – ICU
Sometimes people who are lonely, or feel ignored, or sad, talk about being "seen". They want to hear from someone "I see you." They want to hear they are being recognized, existing, real.
I thought about the ICU, Intensive Care Unit. This is where the sickest of the sickest are, the nurses and caregivers tending to them carefully day and night. "I see you." "I.C.U"….
10
Dec
2013
My New Website Is Coming Soon!
Miss Awesomeness is having an overhaul and moving to wordpress. I am so excited to share my new website with you!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
2
Dec
2013
Life hack for OT: Key ring help
Occupational therapy life hack and nail saver. Use a stapler remover to hold your key ring open when adding thick new keys or onto thick ring.
2
Dec
2013
Verizon Wireless gives educators a discount on monthly plan
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/support/employee-discount-email?cmp=KNC-58700000042501792
This is the link to Verizon Wireless’s employee discount page. Educators typically get a discount, I guess I can’t promise 100% but so far people have had good luck. You enter in your SCHOOL/WORK email address and it sends you an email where you confirm it and that’s about it. Very simple, saves you some money.
Certain other companies may get discounts too. And perhaps other carriers have this as well. Enjoy!
Thanks,
Karen
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
28
Nov
2013
I am thankful for ….
(I need to do one specifically for OT, maybe later tonight! Gotta go get ready to go to my aunt’s!!) HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
I am thankful for…my ability to be concise and the people who crack up laughing at that statement. For love, light, bliss, berries, serotonin, and glitter. Peacock feathers, classy emeralds, gaudy purples, darkly turquoised blues. Angels shooting stars, Grandma’s love and ice cream.
The platypus and pangolin, artichokes and armadillos. Sauteed mushrooms, slowly moving sloths and slithering snails. Roly polys, caterpillars, dogerpillars. Burrito babies, irridescence and feathers. Tinsel and trees. Resting and rolicking. Artistic license. Word invention. That my mother only threatens to kill me when in situations involving poor punctuation. Like now. Energy and healing. Heroes of all types. Sacred circles and hula hoop dance. The kindness of strangers, the kindness of acquaintances, friends, family, being loved and loving. Shampoo and unconditional love. Rocks and shells, minerals and gems.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
27
Nov
2013
Fwd: Expected Typing Speed (WPM) for Children, Common Core Standards
Hi all,
SHORT VERSION
Typing Speed Standards are PROBABLY 5 words per minute (WPM) x grade level, so a 4th grader should be at roughly 20 WPM.
LONG VERSION
I know this is not coming from a formal Common Core Standard page, and I didn’t research it enough to find an origin although I tried briefly. However, it sounds reasonable to me – 5 WPM per grade level. Thoughts?
Most relevant paragraph although page was great for many pieces of information:
How fast should kids type?
As a general rule, keyboarding speeds should be measured as “5 words per minute (wpm) x grade level”. Therefore, a student in fifth grade should have a goal of at least 25 words per minute and a sixth grade student should have a goal of 30 wpm.
—
Remember this is meant for general education, so if the children we work with in occupational therapy (OT) are not as fast, that’s okay and we can work on it with many different approaches. Hoping I can write up typing teaching strategies soon!
Also, sorry about that test taking strategies PDF. Need to shorten it and make it not explode when the site is opened. Soon! I’m at work right now.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2
24
Nov
2013
Retro Baby :)
http://www.pediastaff.com/blog/retro-baby-a-book-review-16564
An awesome book review of Retro Baby written by our very own OT blogger/awesome clinician/writer, Anne Zachry….can’t wait to get a copy soon. 🙂 I 100% agree with her…retro is the way to go, yo 😉
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
23
Nov
2013
Holding babies in NICU – video – OTs can work here too
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/23/health/preemie-baby-viral-video/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
I will come back to clarify more later, but this video has gone viral and it shows some of the NICU pieces…which is where i am headed right now, to go hold sick babies.
OTs can work in NICUs too, although it’s advanced/skilled so nothing you can jump into. MORE LATER
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
20
Nov
2013
Multiple Choice Test Strategies and Problem-Solving
Many of my children with IEPs, as well as some prospective OT students who are taking the GREs, or even graduate school students, struggle with multiple choice tests. This is confusing to me as multiple choice tests are a GIFT – the answers are in front of you. I can do well on a multiple choice test when knowing almost NOTHING about the subject because it’s just problem-solving and strategy.
Hope these strategies help. It’s a lot of words, four pages, and I will try to go back and make it just short phrases, but for now, this is what you get. Suggestions welcome on other ways to help people approach tests!
HAVE CONFIDENCE! THE ANSWERS ARE IN FRONT OF YOU!
*I have no idea how to make this not just explode in front of you. I will try to figure it out soon so it’s a nice tidy PDF download and not crazy.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
18
Nov
2013
OT and Doctors agree – SCREEN TIME IS BAD FOR TYPICALLY DEVELOPING CHILDREN!
**I should clarify that I mean “typically developing” children as I know the iPad and other similar devices can be miracles for children who struggle in various areas!
I completely agree. I don’t care how educational the game or show is – SCREEN TIME IS HORRIBLE FOR CHILDREN!!!!!!! They should not be interacting with screens! They need to develop via real life activities and play, lots of running around, spinning, jumping, crawling, carrying things, experimenting with textures and abstract objects, using their eyes to focus on near and far distance, learning the world around them…
Screen time is not great for any kid, but especially the youngest ones – I truly believe one of the reasons the kids heading into school today are SO much more delayed in basic motor skills than in the past (visual motor, ocular motor,gross motor, fine motor, sensory motor, etc) is partially due to such extensive screen time. Lots of other reasons too.
And yes, I’m hypocritical as I know screen time is super motivating and easy to use and I sometimes use it too. Just don’t be fooled that it’s good for kids for more than a few minutes at a time a day. Ideally none.
*As I mentioned at top – certain cases and situations, especially for children with difficulties, are exceptions to the rule – but overall, for typically developing children, it is not ideal. And I realize the article linked is not exactly a high-level evidence article, but I do see that more and more professionals are realizing the harm it is doing.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2