I Can and I Will Watch Me Poster Freebie

I Can and I Will Watch Me Poster Freebie

Better late than never… Every year I like to update a poster freebie to celebrate PT and OT month.  October is Physical Therapy Month so I am a bit behind.  This poster freebie was created for PT month or for all year long.  I created it with Happy PT Month on the bottom or print it without that section.

If you are a pediatric therapist, I don’t have a doubt in my mind that you read this poster and one child or several children pop into your memory.  It is those children that proved you wrong.  You may have thought his/her goals were too lofty or the parents expected too much.  Then that child “schooled you”.  This poster is for ALL those children that show us each and every day THEY CAN AND THEY WILL.  Believe in each child’s abilities and talents and they will achieve their goals.

Looking for more positive affirmations for children?  Check out Positive Affirmation Posters and Cards.  This is a digital download of 25 positive affirmation posters (8.5″ x 11″) and smaller cards of the posters (4.25″ x 2.75″).  Empower children to realize all of their talents.  All too often, children with special needs are told what they are unable to do, how about teach them what they can do!  Positive affirmations help children to believe in themselves. The posters include simple text, animal pictures that compliment the text and colorful backgrounds.  Hang them up around the house, class or therapy room and provide the child with the small cards to carry around to reinforce the concept.  FIND OUT MORE.

Sign up to receive our email newsletter to gain access to the I Can and I will Poster Freebie.  If you already subscribe, just enter your email and you will be redirected to the download.

The post I Can and I Will Watch Me Poster Freebie appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

5 Simple Tips to Help Children Reach Their Goals

Do you ever feel like a child you are working with is in a rut or having trouble reaching their goals?  Maybe you just want to give them an extra push to accomplish a task.  Here are 5 simple tips  to help encourage children:

1.  Change up the tools, toys or activities that you are doing.  It may be just as simple as approaching the skill using a different tool or material.

2.  Change the environment.  Perhaps trying accomplishing the skill outdoors, in a quiet room or with a peer.

3.  Be positive.  If you assure the student that they have the ability to accomplish the goal you will provide them with the ability to believe in themselves.  The power of positive feelings can go a long way.  Check out Positive Affirmation Posters and Cards to provide your students with a visual reminder.

4.  Change your teaching style.  If you are only providing verbal directions, perhaps offer a demonstration or a visual picture of what the student needs to accomplish.  If you are always offering verbal feedback, perhaps try diminishing how often you provide feedback to see if that makes a difference.

5.  Offer rewards.  Some students respond very well to a reward system.  You can read more on rewards and motivation in previous blog posts:

•  Using Activities of Daily Living for Positive Reinforcement
• 5 Free Positive Reinforcement Ideas for Therapy

Encourage students to track their own progress with My Goal Tracker.

Title: My Goal Tracker: This is an electronic book of data collection forms for students to track their own progress. The student can track his/her goals over time, by monitoring the skills over the course of a day, week, month or quarter. This allows the student to get a visual picture of improvement, decline or maintenance of different skills.

Included in this download is the following: samples of completed forms, goals setting worksheet, improvement ideas worksheet, goal tracking cards (for trials or percentage) and graphs to complete for daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly progress (number of trials out of 10, percentage or minutes). There is also one blank form for you to label if you are monitoring goals in a different manner. Complete the goal worksheet, print the necessary forms and place in a binder. The student can then graph his/her progress accordingly.
By having the students track their own goals they will take ownership of their progress. It doesn’t get any easier than this to track progress. Find out more.

 

 

The post 5 Simple Tips to Help Children Reach Their Goals appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Get Well Maps – Focus on Therapist Small Business Owners

We continue this series on therapist small business owners with Christina Connors, OTR/L , the owner and developer of Child Inspired.

Below is a Q and A session regarding one of her products, Get Well Maps.

Q:  First just tell a little bit about yourself – job experience, years on the job, etc.

My name is Christina Connors, OTR/L and I am the owner and developer of Child Inspired. I am a proud Mama of 2 great kiddos, Samantha & Andrew. I have been working as an Occupational Therapist for 14 years to enhance the function and independence of children and adults with various physical, cognitive, psychosocial and developmental disabilities in acute inpatient rehabilitation, home health, hospital, and educational settings. I have implemented visual, tactile, and sensory motor strategies to aid in the learning and functioning of children with autism and developmental delays. I have helped to optimize the recovery of children, adolescents and adults with brain injury in hospital, school and outpatient brain injury clinic settings. I take pride in creative problem-solving, and thinking outside-the-box during personal and professional challenges. I enjoy identifying the meaningful activities and goals in the lives of my clients, and working with them to enhance their ability to reach their greatest potential.

Q:  What made you come up with the idea of Get Well Maps?

 

Our son, Andrew (who never ceases to amaze me with his charismatic personality & perseverance) inspired the concept of our Get Well Maps. Andrew developed a life-threatening illness very suddenly when he was 5 years old, and the experience rocked our family to our core. I felt desperate for a way to communicate to my son that we would get home, although it was too early in his hospitalization to anticipate a timeline, discharge date, or know how his road to recovery might progress.  How do you answer a young child’s plea…”I want to go home” when you are faced with an uncertain medical course? Andrew was still too young to understand time concepts, especially in a hospital environment that was unfamiliar and scary to him, and we recognized that his recovery was based more on medical progression than specific dates. Drawing on my experience working with children with autism and developmental disabilities, and knowing how much my son loves cars and trucks, I asked a close friend to create a visual “road map” for us to use as a functional communication tool to track his progression toward our goal of “going home”.

Q:  Do you create the Get Well Maps yourself from start to finish?

Yes…With the help of a few very talented people that help bring the concept to fruition. I sketch out the concepts for each Get Well Map, and our amazing artist, John Donato, turns my sketches into the whimsical illustrations that are so fun and engaging for the children and their families. An incredible graphic designer, Ray Daminger, helps to format the directions, milestone stickers, and other design work required for our products. I contract the services of a manufacturing company that has specialized equipment to print our Get Well Maps on a firm, double-sided material that can be sanitized in healthcare settings. I complete the production process in-house by assembling & packaging the Maps, and ship directly to customers. We are proud that every creative process at Child Inspired is conceptualized, created, manufactured and packaged in the USA.

Q:  Can Get Well Maps be used in school based therapy practice?

Yes. We are currently working with several local educators that are trialing our Maps (we call them “Progress Maps”) in both preschool and elementary settings. Our Maps are being utilized in both special education settings to illustrate progress towards an individual child’s goal(s) in conjunction with targeted goal(s) in their IEP, and in regular education settings to illustrate progress towards classroom Positive Behavior Support initiatives. And thanks to the creative minds of so many amazing health care professionals, educators and parents, our Get Well Maps are easily adapted to help children visualize progress towards any meaningful goal that is specific to their needs (educational, medical, behavioral, social).

Please contact me for more information! I would love the opportunity to collaborate with you and your colleagues in school based therapy practice!

Q:  Is it difficult to find the time practice as an OT and manage Get Well Maps?

Yes!!! It is a constant, and at times very challenging, juggle! But with that said, I am incredibly passionate about Child Inspired, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Child Inspired is unique blend of my professional experience as a therapist and my personal experience as a parent. Our journey with our son’s (as well as our entire family’s) anxiety and PTSD only further solidified our mission to create a child and family-centered tool that could help ease anxiety for other children and families facing medical challenges. Child Inspired has been underway for 2 years. I have been working as a per diem Occupational Therapist in home health care since Andrew’s illness, which provides me with quite a bit of flexibility to manage both endeavors. Despite that flexibility, however, every day presents new challenges! Much of the work to develop Child Inspired pushes me beyond my knowledge base and comfort zone (accounting, online marketing, web development, etc), and at times has to occur outside of the traditional “work-day“ timeframe because of my OT role in home health care and personal responsibilities.

Q:  Where can we find your products? (website, social media, catalog, etc)

Website: www.getwellmaps.com

Facebook: http://ift.tt/2ePbtA0

Please email me directly at delawareconnors@comcast.net to learn more about bulk pricing & customizations.

The post Get Well Maps – Focus on Therapist Small Business Owners appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Focus on What Children CAN Do!

Calm Down Cards

Here is the newest download from Your Therapy Source – Calm Down Cards.  This is a wonderful collection of photographs with calming phrases to help children to calm down.  You can download a free poster – Just Breathe.

This set of Calm Down Cards includes 30 full size photographs with calming phrases (11″ by 8.5″ page) and smaller size (4″ by 3″ cards). Print the full size cards or the smaller size cards. You could also laminate the smaller cards to place on a key ring to toss in a calm down kit. Children can simply use visual imagery with the photos to help them calm down. Another option is to view the photographs with calming phrases and music as a PowerPoint show on your computer, tablet or phone.
The full color photographs encourage children to use visual imagery to help them to calm down and return to a “ready to work” state.  If you don’t want to print the Calm Down Cards, children can view the full size pages on the computer, tablet or phone.

Be Inspired – Motivational Tools for Pediatric Therapists

During this age of social media, we are bombarded with inspirational messages of which some hit home more than others.  I think this quote is perfect for pediatric therapists.  As a profession, I think we live and breathe this everyday for the children and their families.  When children want to achieve a certain skill (no matter how big or small) it is our job to teach and motivate them to reach their goals.  Part of that job is encouraging children to believe in themselves and for us as therapists, teachers and parents to believe in their own abilities as well.  To me this is the core of what we do – teach children to be just a little braver, stronger or smarter.

Think about it with some task analysis using some common therapy goals:

1.  Walk across the room independently – the child needs to take the risk that he/she will not fall and get hurt (bravery), strengthen the trunk and legs to physically make it across the room and make choices about what obstacles to avoid (smarter).
2. Tie your shoes – the child has tried hundreds of time to tie his/her shoes and needs to be brave and try one more time to face that fear of failure, strengthen the fingers and hands to be able to physically pull the laces tight and must be able to sequence the order of shoe tying.
3. Pump a swing – have the courage to try and face the fear of falling off the swing, strengthen the arms, trunk and legs to hold on, balance and pump your legs and understand when to lean back and when to extend your legs.

I could go on and on with task analysis of almost every therapeutic goal.  So remind the children that you work with of the wise words of Christopher Robin (aka A. A. Milne) – Always remember, you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.

Check out some other motivational tools for pediatric therapists.

More of my favorite therapy quotes (click on the link to download a free poster) –

Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance you must keep moving. – Albert Einstein 

The most important thing to do as a therapist is to educate.

Move your body, grow your brain.

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence. – Denis Waitely

Do you have a favorite motivational quote you would like to see on a poster?  Let us know.

The post Be Inspired – Motivational Tools for Pediatric Therapists appeared first on YourTherapySource.com Blog.

6 Treasure Boxes to Add in Some Fine Motor Practice

If parents, teachers or therapists give children rewards when a goal is achieved here are 6 ideas to encourage fine motor practice when they reach into the “treasure” box:

• Button Bags – sew a felt bag that has a few button closures at the top. In order for the children to get the reward they must unbutton the bag to reveal the prize.
• Zippered Bags – hide the prizes inside pencil pouches and they have to unzip to reveal the prize
• Lock and Key – use a lock on a treasure box. To pick a prize you have to unlock the box.
• Unscrew the Lid – paint the inside of a jar to hide what is inside. The children have to unscrew the lids to get the reward.
• Shoe Untying – hide the prize inside a sneaker. The child must untie the shoe to get to the prize. Then let the child pick a prize to hide back in the shoe for the next child and tie the shoe back up.
• Envelope Cutting – hide the prize in an envelope and the child has to use scissors or a letter opener to cut the envelope open. Good one for small stickers.

Punch and Reward Cards:  Download of 40 punch cards and 10 reward cards for
motivation to complete pediatric therapy goals.   Find out more information here http://yourtherapysource.com/punchcards.html.

Create Your Future

Part of our job as pediatric therapists, teachers and parents is to encourage children to succeed. Whether it be a small accomplishment, a big dream or a lofty goal children need our support and help through motivating words.  This is especially true during therapy sessions when children are faced with many challenges.  You can print this motivational poster "The Best Way To Predict the Future is to Create It" here.  Check out the complete download of Motivational Posters and Cards here.    

Ask Me Why I Got This Sticker

Here is another freebie from Your Therapy Source - Ask Me About My Stickers freebie.  You can download the templates for stickers to put on a label sheet.  You just need labels size 1" by 2 5/8" (30 per sheet Avery label #5160/8160 or comparable).  Toss the label sheet in your printer and you will have 30 stickers per page.

When a child accomplishes a skill or does a great job in therapy give them one of these stickers.  All day long friends, teachers and parents will ask them what they did in therapy to earn the sticker.  It is a great self esteem booster and helps to reinforce skills learned during therapy.

Download your sticker pages at http://yourtherapysource.com/freestickers.html

Punch Cards and Reward Cards for Therapy
By:  Your Therapy Source

Summary:  Download of 40 punch cards and 10 reward cards for
motivation to complete pediatric therapy goals.  Set goals for the
student to achieve.  When the student completes an activity, punch a
hole in the card.  After 10 punches, the student chooses a reward
card (with free prize suggestions).  Also included is a list of 30 free or
low cost rewards.  FIND OUT MORE AT http://yourtherapysource.com/punchcards.html

10 Ways to Encourage Intrinsic Motivation in Children

Intrinsic motivation is completing a skill or activity based on personal interest and enjoyment not for external rewards.  Many times young children need external motivation to complete activities during therapy sessions.  Therapists may use different reward systems such as Punch Cards and Reward Cards for Therapy to encourage children to participate in therapy sessions.  Intrinsic motivation can be harder to facilitate in children.  Here are a few tips to increase intrinsic motivation in children:

1.  Independent thinking:  Allow the student to work on a certain skill and report back to you how they have improved that skill.  They can improve or change it anyway that they think will help.

2.  Provide choices:  Children can be more intrinsically motivated if they have a say in how they are accomplishing a goal.  Try not to make any activity a requirement.

3.  Teach self direction:  Everyone feels a larger sense of accomplishment when you are able to do something all by yourself.

4.  Power of positive thinking:  Having an "I can" attitude can help tremendously and build up a student's confidence.  Check out Positive Affirmations Posters and Cards for ideas at http://yourtherapysource.com/positiveaffirmation.html

5.  Cooperative learning:  Students may feel more motivated when they can work with other students to help or teach them a skill

6.  Ask questions:  Encourage students to think for themselves rather than provide answers for them.  For example - what suggestions do you have to increase your handwriting speed?

7.  Keep it fun with some competition:  Most kids like to win and feel a sense of pride when they do .  Therapeutic activities can be intertwined with games.

8.  Shoot for your personal best:  Don't compare your abilities to others but rather that you improve each time.  Teach the student to track his/her own goals to visually represent improvements over time.  Check out My Goal Tracker at http://yourtherapysource.com/goaltracker.html for student generated data collection.

9.  Plan together:  Ask the student how they would like to reach a goal?  Explain what options are available (ie different types of strengthening or aerobic exercises) and plan together what may work best.

10.  Educate the student:  When you are working on a certain activity, explain to the student why you are doing that specific activity and how it will help him/her in their everyday life.

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30 Free or Low Cost Rewards for Pediatric Therapy

Sometimes students need some extra motivation to help them reach their goals in therapy.  I am sure you can relate to spending extra money on stickers, candy and trinkets to keep on hand to help with behavior management and motivation.   Here is a list of mostly free and a few low cost rewards to use with students during pediatric therapy sessions.

This list is from a new download entitled Punch Cards and Reward Cards.  Check it out to help motivate students at   http://yourtherapysource.com/punchcards.html.

You can download the FREE list of 30 Free or Low Cost Rewards for Pediatric OT and PT at http://yourtherapysource.com/punchcardfreebie.html

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Challenge of the Day - "Do This..." Instead of "No"

Are you up for the challenge of the day?  Can you go through an entire day of providing therapy only having a positive tone instead of a negative tone? How about as a parent?  Try spending all day avoiding the words "no", "stop" or the phrase "don't do that!"  Try replacing those phrases with positive alternatives always starting off by saying "do this" or "yes we can!"

Here are some suggestions to replace a negative tone:

Instead of saying "Do not walk on your toes."  Try "Walk with your heels down."  

Instead of saying "Do not start the Letter A at the bottom."  Try "Start the letter A at the top."

Instead of saying "Do not get distracted."  Try "Let's finish this first then we can do that."

Instead of saying "No, we can't do that."  Try "Yes, we can do that but we need to do this activity first."

Instead of saying "Stop tapping your pencil on the desk."  Try "Would you like a small fidget to hold on to for awhile?"

Can you accept this challenge, all day long????  I know it will be tough for me!

Positive Affirmation Cards and Posters

This is an electronic book of 25 positive affirmation posters (8.5" x 11") and smaller cards of the posters (4.25"  x 2.75"). Empower children to realize all of their talents. All too often, children with special needs are told what they are unable to do, how about teach them what they can do! Positive affirmations help children to believe in themselves. The posters include simple text, animal pictures that compliment the text and colorful backgrounds. Hang them up around the house, class or therapy room and provide the child with the small cards to carry around to reinforce the concept.

Find out more information.

5 Free Positive Reinforcements Ideas to Use for Therapy Sessions

As the school year progresses, it can be hard to motivate children to participate in therapy sessions or to complete in class or home exercise suggestions.  Here are 5 ways to use positive reinforcement during therapy sessions:

1.  Therapy Tickets:  Earn tickets for following rules, completing exercises, etc.  Place your tickets in a cup and see if you win the prize!  Download the free printable at http://yourtherapysource.com/freetherapytickets.html

2.  Reward Box:  When the box is full, the child earns a reward.  Print out the freebie and make the box with tickets at http://yourtherapysource.com/rewardbox.html

3.  Reward Punch Cards for OT/PT and Speech:  Give the child a punch card.  Determine what skill the child will have to accomplish to get a punch hole.  When the 10 holes are punched the child wins a reward.  Get the free punch cards at http://yourtherapysource.com/freepunchcards.html

4.  Therapy Bingo:  Print out the bingo page and fill in activities of your choice.  When child completes the activity or follows a rule, color in the box.  When the child achieves 4 items in a row, he/she wins a reward.  Another option is to complete the whole board to receive a reward.  Download the bingo board at http://yourtherapysource.com/therapybingofree.html

5.  Token Economy System for OT/PT/Speech:  The child completes certain tasks to earn "therapy money".  That therapy money is then exchanged for rewards.  Don't forget that you can get "fined" as well therefore losing money.  Great way to review money skills while rewarding appropriate behavior.  Print out the free printables at http://yourtherapysource.com/freetoken.html

Need ideas for cheap, therapeutic rewards?  Read some previous blog posts:

Positive Reinforcement Group Reward ideas at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2010/09/03/positive-reinforcement/

Sneak in fine motor practice when distributing rewards at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2011/10/23/fine-motor-rewards/

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Token Economy System for Pediatric Therapy Sessions

Here is a FREE 4 page printable to help you get started with a token economy system to use during pediatric therapy sessions.  Reward your students for a job well done or fine them for infractions. They can then use the money to purchase prizes or rewards.  Go to http://www.YourTherapySource.com/freetoken to download your free copy.  

I Can... Motivate Your Students

Print and use these "I can..." cards as a motivational tool or collaborative project.  Check out how at YourTherapySource.com and download the template.

Therapy Tickets

Here is another reward system to try for successful therapy sessions.  Head on over to Your Therapy Source to get all the details and the free download of the Therapy Tickets.

5 Simple Tips to Help Student's Reach Their Goals

Do you ever feel like a student you are working with is in a rut or having trouble reaching their goals?  Maybe you just want to give them an extra push to accomplish a task.  Here are 5 simple tips  to help encourage students:

1.  Change up the tools, toys or activities that you are doing.  It may be just as simple as approaching the skill using a different tool or material. 

2.  Change the environment.  Perhaps trying accomplishing the skill outdoors, in a quiet room or with a peer.


3.  Be positive.  If you assure the student that they have the ability to accomplish the goal you will provide them with the ability to believe in themselves.  The power of positive feelings can go a long way.  Check out Positive Affirmation Posters and Cards to provide your students with a visual reminder.


4.  Change your teaching style.  If you are only providing verbal directions, perhaps offer a demonstration or a visual picture of what the student needs to accomplish.  If you are always offering verbal feedback, perhaps try diminishing how often you provide feedback to see if that makes a difference. 

5.  Offer rewards.  Some students respond very well to a reward system.  You can read more on rewards and motivation in previous blogposts - Positive Reinforcement, Fine Motor Rewards,  and Ways to Motivate Children in Therapy.

Ways to Motivate Children

Pediatric therapists know quite well that motivating a young child is the key sometimes to successful outcomes. If a child is not interested or motivated in a task, he will not want to practice the task. Therapists try various ways to motivate children through the use of toys and reward systems. Here are several creative ways to reward children for completing whatever goal has been set.

1. Charm bracelets - buy some cheap charms and jewelry supplies. Each time a child completes a goal add a charm to the bracelet. Order charms that relate to the goal if possible - i.e. feet charms for gait training.

2. Free play - if you have an exciting therapy room full of toys, reward the child with a certain amount of free time in the room to play with whatever toy or piece of equipment that the child wants.

3. Earn play money - purchase a variety of inexpensive prizes and create prices for each item. When the child achieves the goal, give the child a fake one dollar bill. When the child accumulates say $10, you can open your shop of prizes. The child can choose to spend all the money at one time or save up for higher priced prizes.

4. Lunch - if you work in a school setting, perhaps reward a child with a lunch date. The child gets to eat lunch in the therapy room, maybe bring a friend, and the therapist can provide dessert. Play a game together after you eat.

5. Music - reward your older clients with a download for the mp3 player or put the song on a CD.

6. Reward box - Print and create this reward box to use

7. Therapy Bingo - Print and play Therapy Bingo

8. Award Cards - Print and create these free awards for OT and PT.

Check out these motivational tools:

Positive Affirmation Posters and Cards












Awards and Certificates for Pediatric Occupational and Physical Therapists