Leap into the New Year Activity for 2018

Can you believe it will soon be 2018?  I certainly can not.  The Fall always seems to go by so quickly.  Back to school quickly morphs into Halloween, then Thanksgiving, the December holidays and BOOM New Year’s Eve.  The younger you are the better this celebration.  Kids and teenagers love to stay up until midnight and parents not so much haha!  The latest themed sensory motor packet is to help celebrate the new year.

This Leap into the New Year Activity for 2018 is from the New Year’s Sensory Motor Packet.  Children can practice all the different types of leaps.  Print and test your leaping skills.

DOWNLOAD LEAP INTO THE NEW YEAR 2018

Check out the complete New Year’s Sensory Motor packet.

This download is great for schools that only allow secular holiday activities.  It is also wonderful for your own children.  Waiting up until midnight can get loooooooooong with young children.  This packet will help to keep the children busy until the countdown.  Find out more here.

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5 Ways to Improve Productivity

The schedules of pediatric occupational or physical therapists tend to be extremely busy.  If you work in the schools, you know how hard it is to complete all the daily tasks, follow your schedule and maintain focus throughout the work day.  After work hours, add bringing paperwork home or phone calls to parents and doctors not to mention managing your own home life.  With the digital age being in full swing, your attention and focus can be pulled in many different directions affecting overall productivity.  Here are 5 tips to help improve your productivity throughout the day as a pediatric therapist:

1. Start the day with a simple mindfulness practice.  Whether it be to take a few deep breaths, pray or meditate for awhile upon waking up take some time to be calm.  Don’t roll over and grab your phone.
2. Organize your day efficiently.  Your brain is most likely more clear and fresh in the morning.  Schedule complex tasks in the morning.  Move simple tasks to the afternoon whenever possible.  Stay organized throughout the day and maintain a clean work environment (this one is really difficult for me!).  You will be more productive if you are less distracted by a physical or digital mess around you.  Try to keep your physical work area clean which would include your therapy bag to carry all your supplies, your car and your paperwork.  Also, try to keep your digital work area clean.  Delete unnecessary emails, apps or files.  Reduce clutter as much as possible on your home screen.
3. Schedule smaller team meetings when possible and delegate tasks.  Limit the number of people to attend group meetings.  This cuts down on some people just sitting there for extended periods of time being unproductive if their opinion if not needed.   When in a meeting, delegate one person to be directly responsible for each task to make it clear who needs to complete each action item.  For example, if you are meeting on implementing modified seating then assign specific tasks to each individual ie therapist provides the alternative seating equipment, student must be safe with alternative seating, teacher’s assistant collects simple data on whether the modified seating is increasing attention to task, teacher reports on improvements noted in academic abilities and therapist modifies alternative seating choices if necessary.
4.  Create templates or forms for frequent communication or documentation.   By streamlining the paperwork process you will be more productive. Check out School and Home Communication Forms for Therapists – a download of 21 forms to increase communication between therapists, school staff, students and parents or Data Tracking Forms for School Based OTs and PTs – a download of 7 data collection forms for monitoring progress in occupational and physical therapy in the school setting
5. Take your own brain break.  Allow for time to reflect throughout the day and at the end of the day.  What did you do right and what can you improve upon?

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