OTNotes Greatest Hits Volume I: 2008-2012

As part of my blogiversary, I wanted to celebrate entries that have gotten lots of views, lots of comments, or that I felt were particularly good writing. I've tried to group these thematically to make for best reading. If there is an entry that you remember and isn't listed, or something you wanted to say about one of the pieces listed, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Entries for Students - I started this blog originally to help people in OT school, so it should be no surprise that I have lots of popular entries for students.

How to get into OT school

Writing goals -I need to update this since my approach has changed somewhat since I wrote it

Writing Sensory Goals 

Case example with goals - This is an acute care joint replacement case

NBCOT study tips -please take note: this was written several years ago, has no info on simulation questions, and I cannot legally update it until 2014.
giving an inservice - should help you pick a topic and some basic presenting tips
searching for an OT job - short plug here, I have gotten 3 jobs from AOTA's OTJoblink. Consider it.
interviewing tips 

the importance of asking questions

Acute Care - How many hours have I spent in the hospital? A lot. Sometimes people in this area are very reductionist, but there is a lot to learn and improve upon if you're an OT in acute care.

How to compile a relevant past medical history
prioritizing evaluations - a few different methods
Acute Care Tips and Tricks - some essential tips learned after many years
who gets to go home? - 3 short case studies of "similar" people who all discharged to different locations
Adventures in serial casting - this is a review of the research surrounding serial casting efficacy
Patterns - a couple of patterns observed in admissions based on weather and other external factors


Pediatric- I'm still getting my sea legs in the land of peds, but here are a couple of good entries. As I start to feel more confident, there will probably be an uptick in this category
Mat Man  -maybe my favorite photo entry
infant toddler trauma awareness  -a lot of really good information on trauma training
starting in Early Intervention: assessment -how I picked my EI assessment


Energy Conservation- this is a fondness of mine. At one point I had a whole EC series planned... may still do something along those lines sometime.
energy conservation in the summer
energy conservation for holidays

Professional Issues- Various issues that I think are relevant to the profession in an overarching way

collaboration with Girl Scouts - I really want to see a greater connection between OTs and Girl Scouts
Malcolm Gladwell thoughts - remember when Malcolm Gladwell's books were really popular? here are some of his ideas applied to OT
OT twitter chat - some advice on getting started in twitter chat, which I would definitely encourage. Check out #OTalk2US if you haven't yet
thoughts on a Glee episode -the OT connections mirror version of this got picked up by AOTA's 1 minute update and really exploded. People were very opinionated over this issue, or just the show.

Personal Issues: glimpses of my more inner life

struggling to be an ot for family
reading without getting carsick -there really should be more information online about how to accomplish this
unanticipated blessings related to presenting at conference


Uncategorized- some of the randomness that is truly me
chicken dance - a little inspirational story that showcases my favorite strategy- make a fool out of yourself.
OT quotes -these are not quotes from OTs, but more meant to be generally inspirational. I should have renamed this or actually found real OT quotes, but it is what it is.

podcast with AOTA presenter -I did my very first podcast!

aquatic exercises -specific treatments for aerobic pool exercises. I now do several of these myself since I am doing prenatal water exercises
metacognitive analysis- how I approach puzzles



I think this is a pretty good list and definitely shows that I have some seriously diverse interests that I've been writing about the past five years. I think that I will probably make this an annual event, and reflect back on the best posts of the year. 

Blogiversary Winners!

I should seriously know better by now about announcing plans... as soon as I had great ideas for the blogiversary, everything else blew up. I had started my new job, which had a lot of intense time in the up-front, reevals and the like. Hospital census exploded and they needed help, at the same time that the outpatient center needed extra coverage. Still balancing the early intervention caseload also, though trying to transition them to new therapists. I had to take the four hour glucose test, and then I got ill. So clearly, this month was just not meant to happen. Promised entries will still be coming, but just on a delayed schedule.

At any rate, we do have winners for our giveaways!

Sarah wins the Geriatric Grab-bag with great gifts from Maddak, The Pencil Grip, Handybar, Tactus Therapy, and AOTA!

Our Pediatric Playthings winner was commenter #12 Jenny M! She gets gifts from  Maddak, The Pencil Grip, Tactus Therapy,  AOTA, Miss Awesomeness, and me!

Our Student Stuffs giveway winner was commenter #6 OT Girl! She wins prizes mostly from me, but also from AOTA and The Pencil Grip! (note that the # of possibilities represents the number of unique commenters, some duplicates snuck in)

I solicited these gifts based on products that I like and use, and hope that you will love them!

Commenters named in this post have 1 week to comment here with your email address (name AT source DOTCOM to prevent spam) so I can contact you since none of you left contact info! If I do not hear from you by 8am EST Friday February 8, I'm picking new people!

Thanks to everyone for commenting, re-tweeting, and pinning! I love hearing from readers and hope to get more input from you all on normal entries too! We had a couple of other bloggers stop by: Abby from Notes of a Pediatric Therapist; Heather from Heather's Creative Concoctions; and Christie from Mama OT -- be sure to check out their blogs too!

Student Stuffs Giveaway!

Life as a student... sometimes fun, sometimes stressful, sometimes unbelievable. And for one person, it's about to be unbelievably lucky!!


I like students. I like them to know that life gets better when you are being paid to work instead of paying for work experience. I like to occasionally pick on students IRL but avoid it online since my wit just doesn't translate well to type. But seriously, being an OT student can be great, since it means that you're almost an OT or OTA (which we all know is terrific)! So students need a little something special

I'm sending some of my gently used and most useful study materials. This includes a Quick Reference Dictionary for Occupational Therapy, spiffy laminated cards on multiple topics (anatomy, TBI, SCI, low vision, neuro...), and hard to find guidelines on safety for patients in acute care.

The Pencil Grip is a company that makes more than just grips, and they have sent another useful item for students. They make dry erase file folder labels, which I think would be infinitely useful when you're changing classes each semester and gaining new knowledge to be organized by the minute.

Remember that AOTA is always your best resource no matter your practice area. They have sent items to promote and explain OT, including 2 T-shirts, brand posters, and pens. For your everyday life, they've included a great tote bag, umbrella, and car decal that I'm sure will have great usefulness no matter your job site.

Included are some Dycem sample sheets, which will be handy when on fieldwork or trying to construct new adaptive devices. Also is a nifty NBCOT lunch box and pin for the Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, to remind you of helpful organizations in your post-student world.

If you're an OT or OTA student (even a very committed pre-OT student), enter now by leaving a comment below. Comments must be received before 11:59pm EST on January 31. Good Luck!

Pediatric Playthings Giveaway!

I never would have imagined when starting school, or even ending school, that I would someday consider myself a primarily pediatric practitioner. But it has largely become my OT identity and something that I really enjoy. Now I get to share some great pediatric related items with you!
The friendly folks at Maddak have been very generous in providing many items for all the giveaways. I have always liked Maddak because they provide a lot of unique tools that are very useful and they really respect the therapy professionals that use their tools. I love the awards they give out at the AOTA annual conference for therapist and student inventions that fill a new need, and now they have started a special "OT Circle" for therapists to provide feedback on their products.

Pediatric practitioners should get a lot of use out of a large roll of Tenura non-slip. Great for keeping games and materials from sliding off desks and slant boards, adapting toys for easier holding, and sometimes making it easier for little bottoms to stay in their chairs!

The Pencil Grip company makes more than just grips, but they have included standard, jumbo, and crossover grips for you to try. Their standard grip is my favorite for kiddos (and myself) and the jumbo version takes those teeny tiny hard to grip pens and makes them into comfortable arthritis-friendly writing tools. I haven't gotten a chance to try the crossover grip but the quality is quite nice. They have also donated some terrific Tri-Write crayons, which I love to use for the little ones who are just starting to color.

In the "intangibles" file is a great gift from Tactus Therapy. They will be donating a free download of their Visual Attention TherAppy app, a great tool for therapists working on cognition, attention, and scanning. This can be used on any iOS device, I'm anxiously awaiting their android versions.

There are two of the best blog resources for pediatric practitioners that I want to highlight. Karen blogs her school OT adventures at Miss Awesomeness and always comes up with terrific ideas for working with kiddos. I'm passing along some of her great tools for developing fine and visual motor skills- it's a great party pack to start or freshen your OT kit. She also developed the fun and exciting Lava Paper in conjunction with Tonya from Therapy Fun Zone. Tonya has started highlighting activities each week that therapists submit, so I'd definitely encourage you to check that out and stay fresh.

Remember that AOTA is always your best resource no matter your practice area. They have sent items to promote OT in your clinic, including a T-shirt, brand posters, and pens. For your everyday life, they've include a great tote bag, umbrella, and car decal that I'm sure will have great usefulness no matter your job site.

This pack also has some of my own personal items that I've used and enjoyed and pass along to you. This includes small travel versions of Spot It, Cranium, and Puzzominos. I've also thrown in a super toy for working on motor planning- the Astrojax.

I serendipitously found golf-sized colored pencils and my most favorite writing implements (for personal and professional use) the Bic Grips Mini. There are also a few extra sensory and learning surprises thrown in (including bubble wrap!!).

If you're a practitioner in this area, enter now by leaving a comment below. Comments must be received before 11:59pm EST on January 31. Good Luck!

Geriatric Grab-bag Giveaway!

Happy Blogiversary to me! I've spent a fair amount of time the past five years working with geriatric patients and adult phys/dys in general. Here are some awesome tools that will augment your outpatient, SNF, ALF, inpatient rehab, or hospital based practice!


The great folks at Maddak have been very generous in providing many items for this giveaway. I have always liked Maddak because they provide a lot of unique tools that are very useful and they really respect the therapy professionals that use their tools. I love the awards they give out at the AOTA annual conference for therapist and student inventions that fill a new need, and now they have started a special "OT Circle" for therapists to provide feedback on their products.

A hip kit is one of the essentially useful items that Maddak has provided for the giveaway. No matter where you work, there's always the day that you run out of reachers. The kit contains a reacher, sock aid, shoe horn, and long handled sponge. Also included is one of my favorite items- a leg lifter! So useful especially in those days immediately following a surgery. I've found that a leg lifter can also be very helpful in performing safe tub transfers when leg mobility is still limited.

Two more super useful items from Maddak are included in this package. A Tenura jar opener is better shaped than the typical flat openers and specially shaped for bottles and jars. I have difficulty opening items and know from experience these are beyond helpful. A pack of tubing to build up handles, pens, and utensils is also a great tool in the phys/dys world for so many uses.

The Pencil Grip company makes more than just grips, but they have included jumbo grips for our giveaway to assist those with arthritis. Their standard grip is my favorite for kiddos (and myself) and the jumbo version takes those teeny tiny hard to grip pens and makes them into comfortable arthritis-friendly writing tools.

My favorite car transfer tool is also part of the giveaway. The Handybar has been such a great help to my grandmother for getting in and out of the car. This tool is compatible in any car and provides a stable bar to push from and balance on while trying to get in and out of the car. It's also compact enough that it easily fits in a purse or the door console. This is such a great tool, and I love promoting mobility throughout the lifespan.

In the "intangibles" file is a great gift from Tactus Therapy. They will be donating a free download of their Spaced Retrieval TherAppy app, a great tool for therapists working in cognition. I think this would be really relevant to therapists in community based settings with high level clients, but their site also says it can be used with lower level clients. This can be used on any iOS device, I'm anxiously awaiting their android versions.

From my collection of OT stuff, I have included a faucet nozzle light. This light is supposed to change the color of the water whether it is hot or cold and I thought would be very helpful for clients with diabetes or other sensation impairments. I haven't been able to try it out but hope that it works as advertised! Also included is a Twist 'n Write pencil, what we called a rocketship pencil in the school system. This is another item that is very arthritis-friendly and can be useful even if you have limited finger control.

Last, but certainly not least, remember that AOTA is always your best resource no matter your practice area. They have sent items to promote OT in your clinic, including a T-shirt, brand posters, and pens. For your everyday life, they've include a great tote bag and umbrella that I'm sure will have great usefulness no matter your job site.

WOOOOOO! that's our geriatric tool giveaway! If you're a practitioner in this area, enter now by leaving a comment below. Comments must be received before 11:59pm EST on January 31. Good Luck!

Happy Blogiversary!

Hooray! It's my 5 year Blogiversary- 5 consecutive years of OT-specific bloggings! I think milestones are fun, even when they are self-created and goofy. So I am celebrating this full out. I had blogs and journals before, but this is really the longest I've ever kept writing with a single purpose.

To celebrate, this month will be special in a few ways. The first will be compiling what I consider (in o-so-humble terms) The Greatest Hits entries. This will come with a special post and will have a permanent page on top of the screen. I'll be putting in the posts that get the most visits, as well as those that I think have really good writing or info but were not well read. I think it's kind of ridiculous that I spent untold hours researching and rewriting the entry on serial casting efficacy, but got far more views about a 15 minute write-up of how Glee should have cast an actor that actually uses a wheelchair. That's the way it goes! If you remember something that you think was good enough to be included in this list, please comment and let me know.

Second, and likely far more interesting to most readers, I am having my first ever giant giveawayS. Not one, not two, but three mega-awesome boxes of joy are ready to be shipped to lucky winners. Sitting across from me in my living room are the three boxes of greatness, divided into Geriatric, Pediatric, and Student specific items. Why three diverse boxes? Because I am a diverse person. Each box contains some of my favorite things for the different population. I have worked with both geriatric and pediatric clients and thanks to generosity from some great companies, was able to get many of my favorite items donated. Also, not to brag, but I was a pretty good student. I love getting comments from students and started this blog as a way to pay forward to the next generation of OTs. So there will be some great things in that box too.

Third, I am delivering BIG NEWS. This is actually coming first, so be on the lookout! (I actually wrote it an hour or so ago but it's in the holding pen)

There should be some normalish entries coming too. I have a goal to clear out my started drafts and "write about this" list in the next 2 months. They won't all be classics, but it should be the normal OT ramblings that you're used to. Do have some patience for me, my EI caseload went KABOOM right before Christmas so I have tons of evals to write up, people to schedule, and paperwork to complete.

I thought about having a poll, but to some extent I have so many ideas that it seems bad to solicit more, especially knowing that I don't always get to everything. I will be trying to update the blog and link lists too, I'm afraid some of those may be woefully outdated. So please enjoy this January with me- it could be legendary!