Addicted to Pinterest

Pinterest is a pinboard-style social photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies, and more. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, 're-pin' images to their own collections or 'like' photos. Pinterest's mission is to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting"^[2] via a global platform of inspiration and idea sharing. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

WARNING. This can become a completely addictive hobbie and can cause you to become the best housewife, mom, wife, have the best wedding, give you lovely crafty ideas and more.

Here is the link to my board entitled "OT Ideas" which involves pins with great ideas for therapists and parents to use.It has helped many times when I have needed to plan a therapy session. 
http://pinterest.com/kayleewills/ot-ideas/

Here are some of my pins to give you a idea of the things you would find on my boards and also pins by others:

Card Holder made with an egg tray

Ball placed on pen for easier and better grip

OT friendly toys/activties for kids

I did one of my elective blocks  at Golden Hours School which is for kids with special needs. While I was there I observed the OT using a number of activities and resources so I have documented some of them that can be used by anyone and are really helpful in development of different performance components in children. 

Pinchy Pegs from iCraft- http://www.icrafteducation.co.za

Pegging is an excellent fine motor exercise. A great preparation for intricate fine motor activities as it builds muscle tone in the hand. This activity includes a variety of different size and shape wooden beads(500g)  as well as 4 colourful pegs designed to help strengthen the “pinchy fingers”. 2 small pinchy pegs and 2big pinchy pegs. This activity can be extented to Numeracy.

Tactile Path- http://www.toyfun.co.za

This curve walking path set can be arranged into many different patterns and stimulate the feet while providing a balancing grip.

Creative links- http://www.toyfun.co.za

With interlocks at both sides, these brightly coloured plastic tubes form circles and curves. Clips are applied to connect the tubes at different places.

Move it- http://www.shuters.com/catalogue/details/1976/455/shuters-kids/move-it.html?keyword=move+it

Play is a child's work. It provides the means for motor, perceptual and concept development, which lay the foundation for higher academic learning.

Giraffe Number Puzzle- http://www.shuters.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=1997&category_id=455&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=71

Play is a child's work. It provides the means for motor, perceptual and concept development, which lay the foundation for higher academic learning.

Smile Education- http://www.smile-education.com/online/

Other Activities:

·        Pin cushion made with foam and a picture stuck on it

·        Puzzles which are bound by a wooden frame

·        Tangram with wooden board to place it in

·        Pegboard

·        Cuptower builder

·        Shoe lace threading board

·        Clothes pegs and a box

·        Velcro board

·        Bean bags

·        Velcro hand mits

·        Floor puzzles

·        Sequencing cards

·        Gym blocks and tunnel

Disabled Dancing

I was blown away last night while watching the "So you think you can dance" finale when a dancer with a below the knee amputation danced his heart out. He made use of crutches to help stabalise himself but also used them as if they were extensions to his arms and truely made the movements look beautiful. Having grown up dancing you have a great respect for the practice and learning that goes into it. He was doing some moves that abled body people would not even be able to do.

We had also been shown a video in a lecture last year of two Chinese dancers that each have disabilities but you don't even see their disabilities because they compensate for each other and the dance they perform is so beautiful it will bring you to tears. I have included the video so that you can watch and be amazed at what you can do without limbs.

I would like to encourage those of you who have disabilities or know someone that does that enjoys dancing, to carry on experiencing the thrill of moving to the music. Here is one example of a dancing school aimed at those with disabilities:

Circle of Dance: http://www.circleofdance.net/page.php?id=9

What is your "Love Language"?

We had a very interesting lecture the other day done by our new pediatric lecturer on adolescent disorders. What stood out for me though was the part when she did a test on us to find out our different love languages. She only had the test for adolescents on her but I have searched for adult tests so that you can figure yours out too. Here are 2 options:
http://bethelchurchquesnel.com/5%20love%20languages.htm
http://www.5lovelanguages.com/assessments/30-second-quizzes/love/

I have always wondered why some relationships don't work or why there seems to be a miscommunication between two people in a relationship. It is often because everyone expressed their love differently and the person receiving it might not respond to that way of showing love.

When I did the test I figured out the my strongest love language was that of "quality time" which makes so much sense now that I think about it because I love it when people take time out of their day to surprise me with a visit or just invite me out to have a good time with them. I am definitely not one for communication over BBM, SMS, Facebook etc because it really is meaningless conversations and people read you wrong. Face-to-face time with another person can not be replaced in my eyes. My second most important love language is "acts of service" which I didn't realise mattered to me so much until I did the test. I live quite a busy life especially because I study Occupational Therapy and therefore I don't have a lot of time on my hands. When my mom goes out of her way to help get me the supplies I need for the next prac day or goes and makes me tea while I am studying, I feel such love from her and I know she doesn't expect anything in return (yes I do have THEE best mom).

It also helps to figure out those love languages that you don't respond to. I scored a one for "words of affirmation" and therefore it is the lowest ranked on my list. My most recent relationship was tough because that was the way that he expressed his love and I just don't respond to it because I am an "actions speak louder than words" type of girl. This made it really hard because you need to communicate and show your love in a way the other person will feel the love you are trying to put across. You do however need to step out of your comfort zone and put that other person's love needs first too.

I really encourage all of you that read this blog to go take the test and figure out what your love language is because it really can change the way your relationships work. To those of you who have kids I would encourage you to figure out their love language because it might not be the same as yours and you could then learn how to communicate your love effectively to them. I really hope this specific blog post is read by all of you because I know it has helped so much with my way of expressing love and knowing how I respond to others doing the same.

Casual Day- "ALL ABOARD"

Every year the OT3s organize the Casual Day at whatever practical venue they are at. This year the theme was "ALL ABOARD". As soon as we heard the theme our ideas started flowing.

The dining room done up like a ship.

We decided that we should all dress up as either pirates or people on a ship and also get the service users to dress up too. Unfortunately because of ethical reasons I am not allowed to put up any pictures of my patients but you can see from the pictures of the students that everyone got dressed up and was very excited for the day to start. We decorated their Dining Hall as if it was a ship with the theme colours being red, blue and white. We hung up balloons and stuck up pictures of ships and pirates around the room. The service users were then seated in rows as if they were on a ship and we started off by playing "Captain Says" which is just like "Simon Says" except we used navy actions to make it more applicable to the theme. The service users really enjoyed this game and we were shocked when some of the service users that aren't normally responsive joined in and played the game.

"pin the hat on the sailor game"

We then moved onto a game of pass the parcel which is an all time favourite at any party. We had wrapped each layer with newspaper and at every layer there was a badge as a prize in order to increase motivation to carry on the game and also to include everyone in the fun. Some of the service users loved their badges so much that they put them on straight away and they continue to wear them. There was still the main prize which was a set of vanilla body washes and creams which was won by the sweetest lady who was so thankful and very happy with herself. The next game was "pin the hat on the sailor" which is the same as "pin the tail on the donkey" just once again with the theme we adapted the game. This was lots of fun because we spun them around and some of them stuck the hat in the weirdest of places and it caused a few giggles. We decided to give prizes to the two winners and while we were working out who won, one of the service users who writes poems recited two for us. This was a big step in her treatment process because she suffers from an anxiety disorder and she doesn't enjoy speaking to big groups of people so this was a step outside her comfort zone and everyone throughly enjoyed her poems.

The drinks and eats tables.

By this time it was 10 o'clock which is tea time at the facility so we had arranged some juice, eats and an activity for the service users to do. It is always hard to organize food for our group sessions because we have diabetics and therefore need to provide sugar free foods and refreshments. We had freshly squeezed orange juice and bran muffins for the diabetics, and cupcakes and mix a drink for the others.There was also an activity of making fish out of marie biscuits, icing and smarties which went very well because it was an easy activity for all of them to do. At this stage we attracted some of the other service users at the facility who don't normally get involved in our groups but were drawn in by our yummy eats.There is one particular service user who would eat all the eats if we let her and have to tell her that she is only allowed to enjoy the food if she gets involved in our activities in order to encourage appropriate behaviour.

Our students with the student and supervisor from the other venue.

We had other activities planned for after tea like painting and a candy floss machine but the machine wasn't working and we decided the service users had already had enough stimulation for the day. We then set up a photo booth with a bunch of different hats and dress up items for them to put on and take photos either by themselves or with a group of people. At this stage the students and supervisor from another venue came and tried to take over but they just saw how well ours was running so stepped aside. They did however enjoy our photo booth and took some crazy photos. The service users enjoyed dressing up and taking funny photos.

Two of the students showing everyone how it's done.

 When everyone had taken their photos we turned up the music because all the service users love to dance. We even had one of the service users who is in a wheelchair asking one of the students to dance. We played music from ABBA and some old school hits which everyone sung along to and did their own little dance in the middle of the circle. One of our plans was to do the macarena but unfortunately we forgot to get the music so we tried to do it to another song but it didn't work out very well. At this stage the service users were tired and some were getting very irritated with having to be in a group setting so we decided to end the day with one more song and dance. We then asked them to reflect on the day and tell us which part of it they most enjoyed, most said the photo booth or the dancing.


We had been told about the previous years and what they did for casual day and we had quite big shoes to fill. I really have been blessed with a great group of fellow students that really work well together and we always remember to have fun. It was really nice having a day which took a lot of preparation but we enjoyed it just as much as the service users and it gave us the opportunity to get to know a different side of each of them. All in all I think we achieved our goal of pulling off the best Casual Day yet. :)