Category Archives: Life Skills

Saturday Seminar: I Can Work! Hands-on Ways to Build a Strong Pre-vocational Foundation for All Young Adults

Events, Life Skills

I Can WorkOur hope for all children is that they become productive, engaged members of their community as adults.  For students with special needs, this goal becomes a challenge because it is dependent on early, interesting, and meaningful training in pre-vocational skills. At Therapro’s Saturday Seminar on March 12th, entitled: I Can Work! Hands-on Ways to Build a Strong Pre-vocational Foundation for All Young Adults, educator and creator of I Can Work!, Angela Mahoney, M.Ed. presented her 5 module course designed to integrate communication skills with hands-on pre-vocational training.  Angela has an extensive background in working on pre-vocational training with special needs students in a variety of settings in New England. Currently she is a Skills for Life Educator at the Middle School level in a self-contained classroom in Connecticut.  She is also providing consultation and training to schools and programs throughout the US in administering and adapting I Can Work! for their particular setting and students.

With her broad experience as a pre-vocational teacher and as a consultant to other schools in developing their pre-voc programs, Angela’s I Can Work! continues to evolve into a practical, exciting course that builds on basic job readiness skills such as how to greet a supervisor, how to dress for work, how to fill out a job application, appropriate job behaviors, etc. Learning those basic skills provides a firm foundation on which to build more advanced skills.  Angela’s program instructs students in 5 different jobs, including clerical, food service, retail, and grocery, which may help them discover a special interest they may not have considered.

Angela was a charismatic and passionate presenter, who engaged in lively problem solving with the audience.  The attendees were very interactive with offering their experiences as professionals and/or parents.  One Mom of a special needs student expressed anxiety that her son would become stuck in a repetitive “job” of folding paper.  Angela was able to encourage the Mom to visualize where her son’s skills could lead him, given a firm foundation in basic job skills. Angela stated that one of her goals with implementing I Can Work! is “to break the mold of preconceived ideas of these students.”  As part of Angela’s program, the skills students have acquired in their pre-vocational training are supported by data collected on a regular basis. When this information is presented at a team meeting, the broad scope of skills the student has acquired is apparent and celebrated.

Attendees had very positive comments about Angela’s seminar:

“Well organized way to approach pre-voc education for a range of student with special needs.  This seminar provides some great ideas for how to incorporate effective, meaningful activities for pre-vocational skills.” Laura K., Teacher

“Mrs. Mahoney was clear, concise & energetic.  She listened and answered questions beautifully.”  Ella, PTA/ Parent

“The format can be generalized to not just these modules/skills (that were presented today), but also to agriculture, computers, engineering, etc.” Jen L. M., Occupational Therapist

“Both our elementary students and 18-21 year old program could benefit to use this program.  I would love to collaborate on how to take these ideas even further.” Anonymous, Transition Counselor

“Fantastic presentation on how to organize a work skills program.  Can implement ideas immediately.” Jennifer P., Occupational Therapist

Thank you, Angie!

Filomena Connor, MS, OTR/L

Self-Care with Flair! Goes International… Read on!

Life Skills

By Bhanu Raghavan, MS, OTR/L & Ginger Mc Donald, OTR/L

We were lucky to experience Occupational Therapy on an international level when we were invited to present Self-Care with Flair! at the annual conference of the College of Occupational Therapists (the educational arm of the British Association of Occupational Therapists) in Brighton, England this past summer. We applied to present at the conference over a year before, hoping to spread the word about our book, Self-Care with Flair!, and were thrilled when our proposal was accepted! We immediately began to adapt our presentation to our British audience. Our presentation was well received, and we enjoyed the interaction with our British cohorts. In general, the Brits showed their trademark politeness and hospitality. We had several OTs stop to talk with us when they saw our Therapro name tags to tell us how much they enjoy Therapro’s products.

What we didn’t realize is what an educational experience it was going to be for us! We had a wonderful time roaming the Expo Hall, and learning about the technology and solutions that British OTs have devised for the same problems that we grapple with in the States. Because of the expense involved in shipping over the Atlantic ocean, many of the companies whose booths we visited do not market their products in the USA. Of course there were many products we see in our catalogs in the US, there is so much stuff out there that we don’t know about! We saw an ingenious sling that allows parents and teachers to strap pre-toddlers to their legs, to give them some weight-bearing experience as they learn to. We saw canvas and PVC “quiet rooms” built over beds, much like a tent, meant to give a child having a sensory meltdown a place to safely calm down. Another very brilliant invention was the weighted and huggable beanbag chair. Weighted should pads and lap pads made us “melt away” and say “ahhh..this is life!” We spent time in the BAOT booth just chatting and comparing how our “health care systems” differ.

The educational sessions were fabulous. We attended a general session describing an exciting study co-conducted by British and Dutch OTs that was able to come up with figures for how much money OTs save the health systems in their countries per year. In their socialized medicine systems, the numbers were in the millions! Our system, with private insurance, figures our costs differently, but the potential savings are obvious. The study is not completed, but when the results are fully published, the American health system will notice OT! Ginger attended informative sessions on new evidence about the usefulness of hip precautions (the Brits are slowly dropping them), a company that builds elevators in tiny British homes, and together we attended a fabulous session on night time positioning to prevent the many orthopedic issues with individuals with multiple handicap.

As much as we joked and laughed about our differences, our new OT friends agreed with us that we OTs are very much alike. The emphasis on function and purposeful engagement in meaningful occupations is the foundation of our profession in every country. We were honored to be asked to pose for a photograph featuring the “international therapists”.

Many therapists that attended our presentation emailed us about their thoughts (see below some comments from the participants). Thanks to Self-Care with Flair! we felt the kindred spirit as OTs due to our global emphasis on balance and meaningfulness to life regardless of whether or not one has a disability.

Since we were going to go such a long way for our two hour presentation, we decided to make good use of our time in Europe to visit old friends in England and Scotland, and to tour Budapest, Vienna and Prague. Every country with its own charm kept us hopping!

Bhanu and Ginger
Authors of Self-Care with Flair!

Comments From Participants

“Thank you for visiting England and sharing your Self-Care with Flair – your session at the conference was fabulous.” – Sally Townend, Children’s Occupational Therapy

“Firstly thank you so much for a wonderful presentation on Self Care with Flair at the recent COT conference in Brighton. I could have listened to you all day, it was fascinating and I really enjoyed the session. I love the whole concept of your innovative program, it’s so simple yet effective, I loved your rhymes and only wish I had invented it as you must have had so much fun making them up. Thank you once again for a brilliant talk and may I congratulate you on an inspired and very useful OT tool.” – Janine Hackett, University of Derby

“I must say I am super happy that I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting both of you and learning something new and wonderful too!!! Your presentation was FANTASTIC!!!!” – Vlada Poliakov

“I thoroughly enjoyed your interactive workshop at the COT conference last week and I learnt a lot so thank you!” – Nicole Tee

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Saturday Seminar: Weaving Mindfulness and Visualization into Your Practice

Filomena's Corner, Life Skills, , ,

Drive Thru MenusPopular speaker and Therapro author of The Drive Thru Menu Suite of Exercises Tere Bowen-Irish, OTR/L made a return visit to Therapro on Saturday, September 19th to present a seminar on: Weaving Mindfulness and Visualization into Your Practice. Tere has spent over 35 years as a practicing occupational therapist in a variety of school settings.  She effectively meshes her expertise in mental health with pediatric practice.

The ultimate goal for the school-based occupational therapist is to help students access the curriculum. Tere discussed that because today’s students appear to be increasingly stressed, angry, and anxious, they may have difficulty achieving academic success. Recognition of every student as “neuro diverse” bears the responsibility of assisting students to increase their resiliency. One way to do this, Tere suggested, is by helping students develop mindfulness. With daily practice of mindfulness, students show decreased stress and improved coping mechanisms when they become dysregulated. A simple task like focusing on breathing is an exercise in centering. For example:  ‘Put your hands on your stomach, inhale through your nose (to the count of 5), exhale through your nose (to the count of 5) 3 times’.

As therapists, we can teach students and their teachers highly effective methods of becoming focused and calm. Tere taught us to use visualization to achieve mindfulness.  Instead of a reactive, impulsive model of “acting, thinking, then stopping”, mindfulness can be achieved with “stopping, thinking, then acting.”

Tere_Bowen-IrishTere is always an engaging and interesting presenter. She used humor and anecdotes liberally to engage her audience. The more than 50 attendees at the seminar eagerly participated in visualization exercises individually and in pairs. The room was alive with energy and laughter!

In a world filled with anxious, stressed-out children, incorporating mindfulness and visualization into their day makes sense.  Mindfulness and visualization strategies can easily become part of the student’s day and can complement self regulation programs which the student may also be using.   A quiet mind and calm self helps with better focus in the classroom, which can directly affect academic success. As Tere taught us, ”Just Breathe….”

Take a look at what attendees had to say about Tere’s seminar:

“She incorporated interactive approaches and was enthusiastic and passionate.  She used wonderful examples for us to apply in school and practice.” Mary E., Occupational Therapist

“Excellent presentation and a lot of great ideas for treatment to address stress, attention and anxiety.” Kelley M., Occupational Therapy student

“I have attended several sessions with Tere.  I always come back from the session with ideas for my kindergarten class.” Ann Marie H., Teacher

“What a wonderful way to address the growing level of students with stress and anxiety.  Took so much away from this seminar.” Nicole R.,  Occupational Therapy student

“Tere is dynamic, keeps things moving, makes it fun.”  Becky S., Teacher/Parent

Thank you, Tere!

Filomena Connor, MS, OTR/L