MOTivate To Create

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒐?!?

I closed my eyes on week 3, open em and I’m already on week 8 of my FW2B!?!

So obviously, I wasn’t able to post my weekly reflections on the blog nor active on providing feed content (stories are a different story 😜) However, I did my own reflections and realizations on my journal and jot down notes here and there as I continued to learn in my rotation. I think at this point of my experience, I can talk more about the duties and responsibilities of an OT in the school-based setting.

So tonight, watch out for my blog 4 (link will be on my bio at 8PM PST) to elaborate more about this topic. These are based on what I learned during this experience. In collaboration with one of my mentors (CIs) at the site, I bring you. 𝑬𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑶𝑻 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 & 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔.

School-based OT mentors... I know this is not all of it. So feel free to add more to this list (comment below) some awesome things that you do!

Have a wonderful Monday and week, everyone! 🤗

👩🏻‍🎓 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏. 😜

I received my grad regalia in the mail a couple weeks ago but I’ve never mustered the motivation and will to open it. We were originally scheduled to finish our program by next month (March 19th). But due to the unfortunate events that I encountered this past year, I won’t be able to complete my MOT program until the end of May (if this time, all goes according to plan). Now, not everyone in our cohort will be delayed. I am just one of the unfortunate ones. 😅

Nevertheless, it actually took me over a decade to get here, what more is another 2 months?! 😂
3 years to AA, 3 years to BS, 2 years off, and now, 3 years MOT... missed events and trips with family and friends, gallons of tears, sweat, and blood 🤣; significant amount of $$$...

I posted a question in my story yesterday and appreciate all the responses from this communOT! Thank you. 🙏🏼
Professional and soon to be professional friends,
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮??

😁 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒖𝒏!

Last week, I started my level 2B field work experience at a school based setting. But given the circumstances and obvious concerns in SoCal, kids aren’t back to in-person learning yet. Therefore, I have to complete my FW2B on a virtual setting. 😞

Nevertheless, I feel and I know that I will still benefit A LOT from this experience. This may come with convenience of not leaving home (for the most part) but also the stress and challenge to learn to provide skilled services on an online platform. 😅

Feel free to join me in my 12-week journey to learning the ways of educational OTs. I would love to share some of what I learn together with my thoughts and reflections. Blog 1 in this series is now up on my website! Link in my bio. 🥰

Also, check out some of the awesome educational OTs in this platform that help me prepare and continue to educate me about this setting: .in.motion .with.an.ot.mom .amigos

🧩 𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔
are equipment, techniques, strategies, and/or activities that increase or decrease sensory input to help an individual focus and get to the “just-right” state of occupational participation and performance. 🌸

(Swipe left to see the mountains of sensory equipment “toys” our OT team is giving to kiddos in the special education program) 🤗

During the first week of my FW2B at a school based setting, I was able to experience prepping materials that will help students access their education. These include sensory supports that will stimulate/inhibit sensory inputs so they can regulate and learn at home. 🏠🏫

As OTs, we have to make sure that we do our best to provide optimal services. That may also include advocating for the children, our teams and getting the resources needed to maximize their learning. And sometimes, that entails doing additional research for the best equipment, contacting and getting the best deals from vendors, obtaining POs, requesting for approvals, coordinating with deliveries, putting in the heavy work of carrying boxes and individual items (from 7lb lap pads, to a 1oz fidget), sorting, organizing, packing, and delivering to designated places. 💗

I am really fortunate that I got to experience this in FW during this phase of our lifetime (the pandemic phase). I am also grateful for a supportive interdisciplinary team. 🙏🏼

These are just some of the sensory supports that we had in the backpack/tote bags that the kiddos will receive.🎒
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕/𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒅𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕??