Halloween, eye hand coordination idea

birthday flowers :)

Empowerment via Education

I’d like to share a recent experience I had at Kohl’s and how it applies to our OT world.

Checking out at Kohl’s:

Me: Oooh, can I have some of these scratch off coupons? I’m an occupational therapist and I work with kids who need to work on fine motor skills and this would be great for them.

Cashier: Sure! Hey, my brother is in high school and he gets OT for fine motor stuff! That’s such a cool idea, I should bring some home for him.

Me: Look at these hangers with clips on them, those would also be great. And the stapler and the tape in front of you. Just look all around you and you can use almost anything!

Cashier: That’s really cool. I never thought of all that.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the power of client/patient/consumer/caregiver education. We need to remember the fish parable – if we give a person a fish they eat once. If we teach a person to fish, they eat forever. I know us occupational therapists pride ourselves on education and helping others, especially with things like “If X happens, try Y”. And we do try to teach our clients how to fish, but sometimes we teach them very specifically and it doesn’t generalize to other fishing poles, fishing locations, etc.

We need to look at education as an evolution of empowerment. We do need to teach our clients specific strategies but we MOST IMPORTANTLY need to teach our clients how to do their own problem solving by teaching them more global strategies they can use when encountering challenges. We want to help our clients develop self-efficacy, a sense of control of their environment, a sense of the importance of self-advocacy and taking responsibility. This is all done through education, but with the very important goal of empowerment. This is an evolving process, progress in empowerment can take time, but it requires encouraging creativity, flexibility, innovation, solution-oriented activities, and the “common” sense that we all know is actually quite uncommon!

When I was in Georgia, I worked with a woman who needed help with energy conservation and joint protection techniques. I gave her a ton of specific ideas and strategies, but a lot of our time was spent looking at how SHE could do the problem-solving and use her own understanding and knowledge of herself to see her world differently, even if the solution was not spelled out in front of her. It may even just be that she acknowledges the great things she was ALREADY doing and not even realizing how great they were (the self-advocacy, asking for help for certain strenuous tasks, taking breaks…).

For my slightly older kids who are cognitively intact (I’m only talking like 4th grade here), I’m doing more work with them on self-advocacy (a HUGE part of empowerment) as well as more work on problem solving things they encounter in their school day that are challenging. When they ask me a question, I often work with them to help THEM figure it out rather than me just answer “Oh, X happened? Do Y.”. Instead it’s more like “Well, that’s a great question. So X happened? Hmm, let’s figure out some of the ways we can solve that problem. What have you already tried? What do you think we could try?” Etc etc. We work as a team, and I’m modeling the problem solving strategies they can be using themselves.

All of this is often easier said than done, and it of course depends on context, environment, amount of time, cognition level, etc. But from a very global viewpoint, I think one of the most important things we can do as occupational therapists (or again, in almost any role) is see ourselves as agents of empowerment. Here’s a fish, now let’s have you fish, now let’s figure out how we can fish any time, any place, and share our fish with others too. 🙂

How to remember to write a number

I found this on a whiteboard at one of my schools. If anyone knows where this came from so I can give credit, I’d be happy to – it’s some very cool number stories 🙂 

OT Related Gift Ideas at Costco… Ideas at Costco

So lately I take pictures of everything under the sun that captures my fancy so that I can remember it later and decide if I care. I’m also using it as a strategy to stop buying so much stuff. Sometimes I think I buy a toy for my kids because I don’t want to forget about it as an option. Pictures are better since I have enough toys to fill a freaking warehouse by now. ANYWAY, this is kind of a random post since most of these things I haven’t tried, but I took pictures of things that seemed interesting to me for whatever reason. Mostly stuff for kids, but a thing or two for older people.

These were called Superstructs and I know the picture sucks but that was actually a video that Picasa turned into a picture. Whoopsiedoodles. Anyway, I have not tried these so I recommend you read some reviews as they are relatively expensive, but they looked like really great toys in terms of fine motor, problem solving, etc.

I actually do NOT recommend this wooden responsibility chart in that I think it’s easier to do very simple dry erase ones or plain ones and not have a million elaborate little magnets. With that said, if your kid sees this and likes it, and doesn’t mind a lot of visual clutter, then go for it. Many kids do MUCH better when the expectations are laid out. (I was intrigued by the fact that “worship” with a picture of candles was included in responsibilities!)

I thought this counting elephant looked super cute although I have no experience with it. 🙂 Same for Lalaloopsy – I like that she is colorful, bright, large, silly, imaginative…

For the Tummy Play Pad…some kids are not huge fans of tummy time and this can help make it a little easier. Tummy time is REALLY REALLY REALLY important so if your kids don’t like it, you need to find ways to make it more acceptable (that may include a visit to the pediatrician and perhaps a referral to an OT, cough) and this is one way it may work by making it slightly less horizontal… Anne Zachry has some great tips on tummy time on one her posts on her OT blog. [Insert link here if I was not so lazy about searching]
 

These building blocks seemed like sturdy, high quality blocks that allow for a lot of imaginative play. You may need to role model this kind of play. Don’t get these if your kids like to throw things, lol.

Those alphabet puzzles look awesome, nice and huge. But interlocking is not that easy so be prepared to teach puzzle strategies!

I liked these monster art tubs. Good stuff in there. And wow, that’s a LOT of play doh. I actually prefer making it by hand (tons of recipes on Pinterest) or using theraputty, but playdoh has a lot of great components to it and if you DO use it already, Costco has a large quantity of it available.
   

So I took a picture of this kitchen set box because it made me laugh that the girl was cooking and the boy was on the phone….will the gender role stereotypes ever stop?!! 😉  Then Tana making herself some pretend coffee with a perfectly straight face using that kitchen set…that’s exactly the kind of stuff you need to do to make your kids (or friends) laugh. 🙂
 
I like all these little pod things…squinkies, zinkies, pods….I don’t really care about the actual circle thigns or maybe what it’s truly intended for, but I do love the tiny toys inside as they are great for fine motor skills. I like using them with tweezers or tongs and putting them into ice cube trays but the possibilities are endless. Choking hazards of course though so be careful.

I want that pillow chum rainbow unicorn super bad. It’s nice and heavy and very soft. Nice for kids who like a lot of weight as you could put it on top of them WITH SUPERVISION (not covering their faces of course)…they also had giant plush angry birds that I am sure will be very popular with many kids. You could play ball with them. 🙂
 

I liked these large print word searches…great for elderly people who love them but need bigger print, but also great to use as Hart charts or word charts with kids to do things like have them scan for certain letters, work on left-right top-bottom scanning, etc etc. So I wouldn’t use them as word searches necessarily but use the charts in other ways.

These number flash cards looked better than some of the other ones I’ve seen that are way too complicated. Didn’t get to see this in depth, but the cover looked promising.

Same for those alphabet, counting, and silly sentences boxes! Nice, sturdy, big, bright, simplistic….

So for much everything I just talked about….choose at your own risk…just my THOUGHTS as I was strolling through…you are still responsible for safety etc!! I just wanted to share that if you are a Costco member, they have some very nice high quality products at a relatively low cost, that would not only be a nice gift but a way to work on OT skills!

"Early Therapy Can Change Brains…"

I am very curious about this article http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/31/health/autism-therapy-brain/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Marie Curie: On the Spectrum?

Sorry for the glare, but I was enjoying reading an article about Marie Curie in Smithsonian at the airport so I snapped a photo to remind me. She was fabulously brilliant and has changed our world, with the added challenge of doing it all in a time when women were not welcome in science.

It sounded like she was most comfortable in her laboratory and had a hard time with crowds, attention, etc. My guess is that if she had been alive today she would have ended up diagnosed on the “spectrum”, high-functioning of course, but nevertheless demonstrating difficulty with social skills. I imagine many of our current scientists and a disporportionate number of those with PhDs would, in today’s diagnosis-happy climate, be diagnosed with Asperger’s… brilliant, hyper-focused, amazing people, that prefer their work and labs over social situations.

One of the comments in the magazine is that Marie and her husband “renounced” pleasure for science, but I think their pleasure WAS science.

We all have our gifts. The key is recognizing these gifts as strengths and working with them. 🙂 It doesn’t make any of us any better or worse than others. Just different, and that’s okay! Remember, we are all unique, just like everybody else, to paraphrase Steven Wright…

More Off-Topic from Birmingham….

   
You all have to deal with me a little longer with off-topic Birmingham posts because I am trying to show off my balance of occupations which is super important, okay? I’m an OT and I blog about OT but I like occasionally blogging about non-OT. 🙂
The first picture is just such crazy texture. It was my rainbow hair sparkles in a Sephora black and white plastic bag, with my new vintage amberish necklace on top with one of Orli’s sweater therapy clips and it was just a riot of texture! The second picture is the stuff I am bringing back with me from Orli’s SweaterTherapy collection, for my aunt Teresa to sell at her hair salon in Carlsbad, CA. 🙂

This is Laura’s (my friend Tana’s sister) cat Bennie, a Maine coon. He didn’t mind the sweater too much. Sorry for the mess, we were going through products and he tried to help.

Check out the CHOCOLATE FETTUCINE we made. It’s chocolate crepes cut into thick noodles, with a drunken chocolate sauce of basically chocolate and gran marnier and a few other things, and then heavy whipped cream. Amazing. Decadent.

The next picture is Orli and Tana having some fun with the mannequins, or shall we say womannequins. 🙂

   
We went to a cool store called Charm in Birmingham, and I think a knitting mafia or whatever they are called, must have done this tree. 🙂

Orli and I doing creative idea thinking at a coffee shop…
LOVE LOVE LOVE Laura Stacey bags that she hand batiks. I use mine all the time. This was at the Birmingham’s Farmer Market. Expensive but hardy, beautiful, unique, and worth it.
     

Tana the physical therapist aka Miss Sweetness as she has deemed her Miss Awesomeness offshot title to be, with her sunflowers, Orli sweater, and Laura batik bag….

Tana and I being silly in our new SweaterTherapy sweaters, posing for Orli late at night! 🙂 Hers was called “Pink Palace” and mine was “Lollipop”….They are nice and heavy and warm and sooo cute. We look like elves!

At Charm the store they had this praying mantis holding earrings which I really liked but I felt sorry for him, having to hold those all day, I bet his poor little praying hands got tired. Do you guys remember me writing (maybe I only put it on Facebook?) that I had a praying mantis in my bed recently?!

Finally, a picture of the baklava Tana made me for my (belated) birthday. I don’t like baklava you get in 99% of restaurants or stores, but I loooove homemade baklava that is drenched and wet with honey! Yum!!!! I ate ten thousand pieces.

Okay. I am CLOSE to done with utterly off-topic posts. I’m sitting on the airline writing these up so I can get them put away and move on!

Over-time (OT) and Off-topic (OT)

   
Bear with me, I get to be a little off-topic since I’m on break. 🙂 While I was in Alabama my friend’s mom made me a shirt based on one that my friend Orli originally made. We hit up a fabric store and I selected this lace, then basically you cut out a neck, reinforce sides, and add a seam near the body to make the bat wings….The other day one of my little girls I work with asked me out of the blue “Is sewing OT?” I was like…yes and no. It doesn’t HAVE to be OT, but it can be used as OT in that it works on a lot of great skills. I want to learn how to sew basic things. One of my goals as a thirty year old is “30/30/30” in that I want at least thirty minute basic lessons in at least thirty different things while I am thirty. Things that are pretty straight forward and used to be taught in home ec, but we don’t have home ec anymore… what I learned from this experience is that sewing is not rocket science but it’s not easy either. 🙂 Or maybe it is if you know how to fix things that go wrong…when I get home I want to go look at our old sewing machine and see if it’s useable.
   
I performed rocket surgery aka battery surgery on this endangered tiger on this old stuffed animal at my friend’s house. It was hit or miss, he flat-lined a few times, but ultimately pulled through. His eyes glowed with pleasure and he purred loudly after he woke up from his anesthetic. It was a little scary as you can see.

   
In case you all were wondering, LESTER IS THE CUTEST CAT IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. But his one and only goal for 2013 (besides improving his ability to make us alcoholic drinks) is to end up in the 2014 “Bad Cats” Calendar. I skimmed the 2013 which I got for his mommy, and I have no doubt he can make it. Just need to do the legwork of submission. By the way, that Santa on his back has been the one toy he has had for at least like four years? And he loves it. He plays with it all the time.

Lastly, I have to tell you all, I love Trader Joe’s with a passion and I want to marry Trader Joe, but whoever invented their “sea gummies” was likely a dolphin in disguise or at least at heart, because I can’t imagine any human accepting that taste. It was soooo fishy that I had to spit it out and rinse my mouth out, gagging. BLEH!!

Sharks and ducks, OT game

Working on a shark game…trying to find tiny things that float that the shark can eat! No luck so far….may have to go to a fishing store. I found some larger ducks that float…the shark could bite them but couldn’t fit it entirely in the mouth. Guess that’s okay. Oddly enough these ducks float head-down, butt up….may make for some good laughs? I am thinking good for a quick choice time activity on a hot day 🙂 A large container to hold some water, a few ducks, and a shark, and you’re set….