Hi, again!  I'm afraid you caught me in another "I wonder how people can BE that way" mood!  I'll try to keep the frustration from weasling its way into my "voice" today; but it will be difficult.  So, let me tell you my story and get it over with.

As an occupational therapist, I have had the distinct pleasure of working in both the adult and pediatric populations.  It has been ...

I wanted to thank everyone for their encouraging comments and posts to my latest entry. It always helps to know that I'm not alone in this, and to hear some reassurance from others who have their own history of experience to pull from. I imagine all parents need validation at certain points in their life, and I'm grateful I have such a strong resource to pull from in the readers of this blog. I appreciate always your ...

One of the challenges of working with toddlers and their independent self-feeding skills is that you are sometimes challenged to work with a toddler who doesn't have the skills to be independent but is at that age where they are striving to do it all themselves anyway.  They want to do everything themselves and are not always welcoming when it comes to hand over hand assistance or, for that matter, any ...

Happy Fall, fellow bloggers!  Brrrr...I have finally switched the summer clothes (oh, how I love them!) for the warm, cozy fall and winter ones (oh, how I NEED them!).  Actually, to be more accurate, my husband did the switching since our clothes are stored in the attic.  There was a time when I could have done this myself; however, the shoulder is healing rather slowly and I cannot get myself ...

Are you on Twitter? ADVANCE for OTs is! Our Twitter updates can keep you current on the newest features on our website, the latest news and stories about occupational therapy in the popular media, and issues in health care that affect you and your colleagues. Find us here: http://twitter.com/advanceforot ...

It's often difficult to write about the bad days.

This past week has been one struggle after the other. Aisling has been honestly feeling extremely under-the-weather due in large part to sinus drainage and allergies, but I finally discovered on Wednesday morning that she had been using her illness as an excuse to get out of going to class and to avoid school. She had a full-fledged emotional meltdown on ...

Good day, everyone!  I hope you are all keeping warm (no comment from you all in the perpetually warm climates!).  Keeping warm...now there's a challenge!  I have lived in cold climates for the majority of my life, which began in Rome, New York.  I remember the snow blizzard of '62 (that's 1962 for all of you born after 1970!).  The snow banks were so high that we could not see the ...

Hi All!  Sorry I did not post on Friday - I was a bit under the weather with a stomach bug.  Thankfully it didn't last more than 48 hours but that is one of the "hazards" of working with children for a living - you are bound to catch something every now ...

Early Monday morning, Aisling's school nurse called me to let me know she was complaining that her ears were hurting really badly. I tied up a few loose ends at work, made a doctor's appointment for later in the day, and rushed to the school to pick her up. She was sleeping soundly on the cot in the clinic, which was my first clue that she actually was feeling just as bad as she claimed.

A little backstory ...

There's a ton of great content on our website -- so where do you start? Each week, we'll blog the five most popular content items on OT Advance online. See what your fellow OTs are reading on www.advanceweb.com/OT!

Tops this week is our webcast ...

This question was posed by an OT student in her comments on my assertion that advocacy groups such as the Icarus ...

And we meet again here in blog land, my friends!  I trust that you and yours are finding this fall season to be calming and peaceful after those busy, hectic days of summer!  (Remember when they used to be called the "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer"?)  I am using this season to re-connect with family and friends.  Our summer gatherings were wonderful; but they were often squeezed in ...

Several of the companies in Knoxville sponsor a Halloween-themed event each year called Boo at the Zoo, where kids can go trick-or-treating along a "treat trail" set up along the zoo's main routes. There are many other activities available as well, including dancing, party games, and various characters you can have your ...

Healthcare reform, the economic depression, reduced insurance reimbursements, Medicare and Medicaid cutbacks, how will this affect the future of the COTA?

            Some people are quite nervous right now, thinking that Obama's healthcare reform will eliminate the COTA position. Others are worried that the reduced reimbursement rates will decrease ...

When you're raising an autistic child, even the simplest activities and milestones are severely complicated. Imagine, then, dealing with something as inherently complicated as puberty! I've spent several months trying to help Aisling understand that her body is preparing to go through some pretty intense changes, and I haven't had much luck in "getting through" to my daughter. "I don't want to grow up!" she'll screech. ...

When it comes to picky eaters one of the biggest challenges we have as therapists is getting the child to even taste something.  There is, of course, an entire protocol to getting a sensory defensive child to allow food to be 1) in the room, 2) on the table, 3) on their plate, 4) on their spoon/fork, 5) near their mouth, 6) in their mouth.  In a later blog I will list some helpful seminars that will go ...

Are you on Twitter? ADVANCE for OTs is! Our Twitter updates can keep you current on the newest features on our website, the latest news and stories about occupational therapy in the popular media, and issues in health care that affect you and your colleagues. Find us here: http://twitter.com/advanceforot ...

One of the things I believe helped my daughter's development more than anything else was how young she was when we discovered there were issues, and how early in her development we were able to get her treatment. I've had many conversations with parents over the years, and it always seems as if the younger the children were when they began receiving services, the stronger and more dramatic the benefits they received. ...

It's been raining here for the past couple of days.  Yesterday was a cold rain but today it was warmer and more of a drizzle.  I have been off on vacation in the Lancaster, PA area with my sister and mom.  We've been exploring, shopping and just having a fun time enjoying each other's company.  It's been a pleasant change but has also opened my eyes to how much the world has changed since my sister ...

There's a ton of great content on our website -- so where do you start? Each week, we'll blog the five most popular content items on OT Advance online. See what your fellow OTs are reading on www.advanceweb.com/OT!

Our new blog, From Inside the Puzzle: Raising a Child with ...

Welcome!  I want to take a moment to thank all of you returning bloggers, as well as those of you who are visiting my blog for the first time!  I enjoy your comments and your questions.  Keep them coming!  It is exciting to connect with people in New Zealand, New York, Pennsylvania...and never have to leave my living room!  The sky's the limitJ

Speaking of ...

I am always amazed at how the majority of kids just love bubbles.  All you have to do is pull out a bottle of bubbles and kids seem to appear out of the wood work... waiting in anticipation for that first wave of round colorful bubbles to appear so they can chase after them and pop them.  I have found, though, that bubbles have many uses when it comes to therapy:

Encouaging vocalization/communciation ...

This blog is ostensibly about emerging OT practices, of which case management is but one example. But there are also existing OT practices that can become "re-emergent" if more OT practitioners consider them in the context of new information. In the U.S., few OTs work in programs specifically for people with mental illness - when formal programs even exist in the current reimbursement system.

But one ...

Are you on Twitter? ADVANCE for OTs is! Our Twitter updates can keep you current on the newest features on our website, the latest news and stories about occupational therapy in the popular media, and issues in health care that affect you and your colleagues. Find us here: http://twitter.com/advanceforot ...