Occupational Therapy
13
Aug
2013
OT Life Hack: Adding texting shortcuts to your iPhone
This is the best occupational therapy life hack in the entire world. You’re welcome. If you text at all, I bet you tend to text the same things a lot. Whether it’s your home address, or directions, or certain words, or an e-mail address, or things you spell in shorthand that can be confusing to older generations, etc…
You go to the “Settings” (looks like gears) icon, click on the listed choice “General”, scroll down to the choice “Keyboard”, then scroll down to “Shortcuts”, and then start changing your life.
You press the “+” (plus) button on the upper right hand corner, and it will say “Phrase” with a blank, and “Shortcut” with a blank. You will type in a phrase, abbreviation, or whatever you say a lot, such as “Talk to you later” into the phrase box, and in the “Shortcut”box you would write TTYL, then hit Save.
The next time you use TTYL in a text, it will write it out for you. I get frustrated when I use a common abbreviation that someone older doesn’t know, so now I’ve set my shortcuts to spell them all out for me. I also typically write “bc” or “cuz” for because, so I have that shortcut to make it correct. Here are the ones I end up using all the time. Every person will be different. (Just think of what you say constantly and come up with at least a 2-character shortcut you can use for it. Maybe “have a good day” would end up hagd. But if you only do a few characters, make sure it’s not something you constantly type. If you put “ha” as a shortcut, to mean Happy Anniversary, then every time you type “ha” such as have, hallow, whatever, it will try to do the shortcut help. So “xha” could work, or “hh”, or any combination that is not normally done in writing. )
I use the following all the time:
addie = address
brb= be right back
btw – by the way
cuz, bc = because
dyac – damn you autocorrect
fyi – for your information
hru – how are you?
idk – I don’t know
kdg – this is my karen.dobyns gmail account – my most used one. I hate typing out my email address every time I go to a site, so I love that when I hit kdg, it fills it out for me. I don’t think it works for passwords though.
kde – this is my other account that starts with KD, for my work. Helpful.
lmk – let me know
nvm – never mind
omw – on my way
pls = please
tmrw= tomorrow
ttyl – talk to you later
ty – thank you
tysm – thank you so much
vm – voice mail
ygm = you’ve got mail
5555= So I often text my home address to people coming over. I have the four digits of my house as the shortcut, so that then it finishes up the address. I just made up 5555 but fill in 2381, or whatever.
hdir = I haven’t done this one, but it’s probably what I would call my house directions, ie “From this freeway do X”
It can take a little while to get used to if you’ve never used it before, but shortcuts/macros are amazingly helpful and efficient. Essentially any abbreviation, word, phrase, or sentence I use regularly I have turned into some sort of shortcut so I don’t waste my time. You will have trial and error in figuring out what shortcuts work best for you, you can always go back in and edit them as necessary. Try and be intuitive with your choices in the sense that it should be an acronym of some sort, ideally, versus completely random names.
I promise you this is a life changer if you text a lot, or even a little, if it is painstaking for you. And for people with fine motor difficulties, or super slow motorically for whatever reason, these shortcuts will cut down on a lot of time once the person gets the hang of it.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1
13
Aug
2013
Hula hooping gone wild….aka beginner dance.
Sooooooooo I’ve gone insane and I’m sharing this. The description is on the Youtube video. My new passion, along with slacklining. And of course OT as always! 😉
Seriously though, well actually that was serious. But okay, anyway, it gives me a lot of appreciation for kids who struggle with dyspraxia and motor coordination difficulties, because I totally feel their pain. I practice a LOT but I am a very slow learner when it’s complicated in terms of hand placement, etc…I am mostly self taught through Youtube tutorials and then I think a total of four classes now? Once things speed up, I panic and lose it…and I don’t do well if I have to think hard….etc. When you get frustrated with kids who can’t seem to get it together, think about doing something you find super hard/complicated/frustrating, and there you go. The key, though, is lots and lots and lots of practice, and failures, and trial and error, until it’s automatic enough that it doesn’t have to be thought about. That’s especially key for dyspraxia.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
12
Aug
2013
OT life hack: Adding descriptions as last name on phone contacts
I have a ton of contacts because I don’t know how to delete a bunch easily.But I often forget who is who or what. So instead of writing in first/last names, I almost always write their first/last or just first name into the “first name” area, and in the “last name” I give them a description of some sort that helps me remember how I know them. All my coworkers end in EUSD, all my hula hoop friends end in Hoop, etc etc etc. Almost all my new contacts added get a description. I had to take a screenshot for you guys of a part that was A) appropriately named (not all are nice) and B) didn’t give last names. For people struggling with memory issues, it can be really helpful to do it this way, as when their name pops up it can include the description. Perhaps part of an OT session could be showing them how to do this on their phone. Who knows. But it helps me a lot.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
11
Aug
2013
Ikea: Rehab worthy item?
I just got an Ikea catalog and this was in the kid’s section – grippy plate with high sides. Probably reasonably cheap and perhaps a good way to get a rehab-worthy plate without it coming from an expensive physical dysfunction catalog? I haven’t tried it though. Let me know if you have. 🙂
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
10
Aug
2013
Lester inspires me…
This really isn’t an OT blogpost at all, but since I AM THE MASTER OF MY OWN BLOG, I chose to use my power for evil, and show you my phone wallpaper…my baby booboo Lester the Lion Kitty. He’s gonna give Grumpy Cat, Princess Monster Truck, Chase No Face, etc, a run for their money. So hideous he’s cute!! Sorry, had to share. Run along, nothing OT to see here….although his fine motor skills aren’t great. It takes him like twenty minutes to send me a text….so maybe I should get him some occupational therapy after all… ::ponders::
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
10
Aug
2013
Inflatable Unicorn Horn: Not an OT life hack. But certainly amusing…
Just for all y’all’s information, when it says “Cats Love It!” on the box, they are lying. I show you “Stray Cat”, who is no longer truly stray but that is still his name, showing signs that he does not love it. I was in fact pretty sure “Cats Love It” was a total lie, but still had to find out for myself. Now I know. This concludes “deep thoughts by a curious OT” or “How to Learn From My Mistakes”
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
9
Aug
2013
Slacklining: great for attention, focus, impulse control
I’ve been slacklining 3 hours every Saturday for the last month. I first learned about it in Venice Beach. It is so amazing for posture and strength and most of all focus and also frustration tolerance. It is low to the ground so not too dangerous but it can still cause injury so be very very careful!!! I looove it though. 🙂 I just got to about 30 seconds of balance as my record….need to start more walking and even longer balance.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
8
Aug
2013
Supine shark?
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/us/new-york-subway-shark/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
“The shark quickly drew a crowd, as entering subway riders began to photograph and pose with the shark, even adding a subway fare card, soft drink can and a cigarette to the supine shark as props.”
SUPINE??? The picture shown of the shark in the link above shows him prone….or am I crazy? I always remember supination as holding a bowl of soup and I even googled it to see if I was missing a definition. What do y’all think? It cracked me up either way. How often do you see the phrase “supine shark” or hear about sharks in subways?
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1
8
Aug
2013
OT Life Hack: Use car cup holders for not just drinks
So today I needed to bring a wrap and blueberries in the car with me. Yes I ate it when stopped, etc, not driving on a freeway with a big ol’ wrap in my hands. But the point is, cups don’t have to be just for drinking. Cupholders can be beneficial to hold cups full of food too. I put my wrap in one big glass, and I put a bunch of blueberries in the smaller glass. Yes, this is somewhat of a commonsense idea, but common sense isn’t common.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
8
Aug
2013
Key caps: An OT's best friend, no matter what age!
My OT kids love them. And it helps me know what key is which. Monster is for work and monkey is my home. Also it can be great for visual impairments if you get very different shapes. Every teacher I have given one to loves them! It makes ordinary things fun. Kids see keys with a new eye. 🙂 Key caps. My favorites are my monsters, but they wear out over time and when traumatically amputated I feel kinda sad. Seriously.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none