TOTA's Start, with More to Come
The Texas Occupational Therapy Association (TOTA) Mountain Central Conference in Austin is well into its first day, with the second round of educational sessions already underway. Right now, exhibitors are setting up in the exhibit hall, awaiting the 12 o'clock opening, and Texas OTs, OTAs, and OT students are gearing up for a day full of networking, learning and fun.
This morning I attended a session on students with emotional disturbances and their behaviors as perceived by themselves, their teachers and their parents/guardians. The discussion not only revealed some interesting findings about how a student's perspective often differs from those of his/her parents and teacher's, but also delved into how best to help students with emotional disturbances cope and/or problem solve while in the school setting and at home. Several OTs had great suggestions for helping students:
One described how students she worked with were given broken hearts where they wrote what, throughout the course of the day, had hurt them as well as band aids where they wrote how to mend the hurt and then taped the band aids atop of the heart.
In terms of goal setting, one of the speakers, Sandra Whisner, MA, OTR, mentioned a colleague working in a psychiatric setting who had created a goal setting coffee shop. Every morning, over baked goods, patients are given a menu of possible goals from which they chose. It allows them to choose not only goals but realistic ones that they can feasibly achieve in the future.
OTs at the session also discussed difficulties sometimes faced with other staff members, particularly at the start of a new school year, when a child transitions to a new room and new teacher - a time when it can be difficult to carry on with what was established the previous spring if the new setting and group of professionals aren't as open to the methods used to help the child.
Overall, the session was a great way to start what should be a great weekend - with problems openly discussed and solutions just as openly shared.
This afternoon holds the Art Dilly Lecture, the TOTA business meeting and a reception following, so stay tuned for more from Austin.