How to get an OT response plus some typical treatment…OT in schools

Today I rushed to school #1 (for the day) for a 7am parent/teacher conference that involved special ed; then rushed to school #2 where I normally am on Thursdays to do as many normal scheduled treatments as I could; then ran to school #3 for a 20 minute conference with special ed involvement; then ran back to school #2 for meeting with parent….busy day of running around.

The good news is I am getting slightly more organized with my car and toys…..

Thursday mornings always involve one of my favorite little groups (maybe like 7 years old??) where they rush me saying “Miss Awesomeness!!”…to be fair they're usually ready for a distraction from like, fractions. Because their special ed teacher is amazing but fractions will never beat silly games. 😉 We started with a little warm-up where I scattered puzzle pieces to the alphabet puzzle on one side of the room and put the puzzle frame on the other. The first time around they had to do tiny quick steps to gather 2 pieces to place into the puzzle….second time around they had to do a “jello” walk (really wiggly and floppy) which turned into more of a zombie jello walk, lol. Third time around they had to chomp their arms big like alligators….etc until all 26 pieces were in. Then we used Bendaroos to work on b/d/p/q and then to write out all of our names… augh 8% battery left working quick to finish before it dies…..then I got out big grid paper and my stamps and they had to carefully position their stamps in certain grid areas such as the upper left corner (we are working on lefts, rights, directionality etc)….finally we used “Story Cubes” and took turns coming up with a single sentence at a time which we all wrote using the images for inspiration…my favorite one was something like “The bee is swimming in the Earth and the fire is in the scales” or something ridiculously long like that, haha. That was from a kid who normally doesn't like writing…he wanted to write out that entire thing!  I think their favorite image was of the debit card…(we're actually not sure what it is supposed to be so we're going with debit card). While working on our best handwriting of course. 🙂 Fun times. Love my little guys.

7% I am getting nervous augh

okay off to get my charger this is too anxiety provoking lolol….okay phew

A few more sessions working with story cubes, handwriting, directionality/following instructions, etc…..plus meetings with parents….I don't go to all parent/teacher conferences of my kids or it would be insane, but I go to ones that could use a quick OT update or something. I really dislike the phone, I get kind of stumbly, plus I think parents in general do better face to face, so I do try to drive to a school rather than do a phone call, when I can…

Tonight I need to finish some paperwork. And I have so many more pictures to share, but I am trying to space them out instead of doing blogging blizzards so that things are more stable/consistent on the blog.

Tomorrow I need to hit at least 2 schools and possibly up to all four…depends on how things go I guess…last day before spring break so things may be a little chaotic in the classrooms. Guess we'll find out.

This weekend goals: Finish up my part of the presentation for conference, plus taxes….goals for spring break include catching up on paperwork!!!!

Hey, on e-mails….still over 200 new mails and many hundreds of blog emails to respond to….I've started trying to respond ASAP to incoming blog question emails instead of postponing (thinking I'll actually write a succinct thoughtful answer if I take my time later) because I never do get the time for it. (Or to be more fair: I don't end up CHOOSING the time for it when I'm resting). So I'm writing quick immediate answers. But here's the thing. If you ask me a question about something semi personal, ie “Do you think I can work while in OT school,” or “I'm nervous about working with population X, do you think it will get better”, then I can help you out, because you may not be able to find your answer as it's more of an advice kind of thing. But if you write me a very factual question such as “What is the difference between PT and OT…” the chances are high you will not get an answer, because that kind of question frustrates me a little bit, because basic google sleuthery will get you that kind of answer.

So please….contact me if you'd like (I do love hearing from people), but if you are going to ask me a question, the chances are highest you will get a response if A) you include something personal about yourself that gives me at least a basic feel of who you are/where you are coming from (not in the literal sense of location) B) you don't ask fifty million questions or at least prioritize a few above all the rest (ie here are ten million questions but if you could at least answer question X that would be awesome) and C) you ask questions that a google search won't easily answer…ie advice, not basic facts. Oh. And if you write me a single sentence that says “lets discuss OT”…um yeah. You need to write more than that. AHAHAHAHA

If you HAVE done what I have asked and have not gotten an answer and still want/need one, your options are to A) wait…I do EVENTUALLY answer the vast majority of questions that fit criteria above) or B) resend it but note its a re-send.

Finally….if you want to be my friend on Facebook, please make it clear you are an OT blog reader with a few details about yourself so that I'm not randomly friending robbers or something…if you have asked before and it didn't go through feel free to try again with an explanation, maybe I messed up or who knows.

Hope my clarifications above don't offend anyone. I LOOOOVE bringing new people into the profession and helping out, but I can only help so much so I'm starting to learn it's better to prioritize…..good night!!