Daily Occupational Therapy?

I would be happy to get one hour a week of OT for V, but finding and keeping an OT who will come to our home has been very difficult. We have only had 6 months of private OT in the past 3 years, and funding was not the problem. I was very happy to come across this resource that provides another way for family or caregivers to implement some of the same strategies to help V that an OT might if they were here.

So, I have copied this review of the product from "Our Journey Thru Autism" Website:

OT in the Home, A Review of an Excellent Resource for Implementing Occupational Therapy at Home
5:11 AM Posted by Martianne


by Martianne Stanger

When you look at a title of a video and it refers to occupational therapy (OT) in the home, you expect a lot. For example:

host of activities to demonstrate how to approach OT at home in between regularly scheduled sessions with an occupational therapist
ideas for helping children regulate their senses while moving through typical activities of daily living (ADL's), such as eating, dressing, bathing, brushing teeth and bedtime
a key to understanding your child’s needs through professional perspective translated into layman’s terms that any caregiver can understand and act upon
an easy-to-watch resource that can hold your interest when viewing it in its entirety as well as be accessed in small chunks, to be watched around a busy schedule
In the case of the 90-minute video, OT in the Home with Occupational Therapist Britt Collins, M.S. OTR/L, you get all this and more.

Activities a Caregiver Can Facilitate
Due to scheduling conflicts, finances and other hurdles, many children are only able to see a licensed occupational therapist periodically. That leaves their caregivers to do OT with them in between. OT in the Home can help with this. It offers a wide variety of ideas that can act as bridge between appointments. Throughout the video, activities and strategies are discussed and modeled. These include ones that key into:

fine motor skills
gross motor skills
sensory regulation, and
organization of behavior.
Both as a parent teaching my children to write and as a tutor who helps many children that have difficulty with handwriting, I found two strategies presented by Britt particularly interesting:

Highlight a portion of each space on lined paper to give children a concrete visual to focus on when placing their lower case letters.
Use a slant board to help children with visual perceptual issues and those that need to strengthen upper extremities and hands.
Since implementing these strategies, I have already seen progress in the children I work with.

Strategies for Every Day Life
Most families cannot access support of an in-person occupational therapist on a daily basis, but any family viewing OT in the Home can benefit from the expertise of a team of them:

Britt Collins (M.S. OTR/L)
Dr. Angela N. Hissong (OTR/L,CAPS)
Dr. Kari Thompson (OTD, OTR/L, BCP, SWC, CLE, IMC,CID Doctor of Occupational Therapy, AOTA Board Certified in Pediatrics, Sensory Integration Certified, Advanced Practice Certification in Swallowing, Certified Lactation Educator, Certified Interior Decorator)
Jamie Bergstein (OTR/L specializing in Pediatric Water Therapy)
Lindsey Biel (M.A. OTR/L and co-author of "Raising A Sensory Smart Child"
This phenomenal team worked together on OT in the Home to provide caretakers with practical strategies and solutions for everyday challenges that they may face with their children.

Some that I found helpful were:

the concept of using gentle physical prompts instead of a lot of verbal ones when moving children through morning routines. Sometimes asking, “What are you going to do next?” is difficult for children to process and a physical prompt or visual cue can be more effective. Since consciously employing this strategy with my own child, I have been seeing better response times and independence when moving through routines.
drinking a thick shake or applesauce to organize oneself in the morning. I had heard and read many times that drinking through a straw can be good for oral motor development, but because my child does not have many oral-motor issues, I had ignored the activity. Upon watching Britt work with the children in the video using this technique, I realized how beneficial this activity can be toward helping any child through transitions, calming and organizing them
the reminder not to draw attention to challenging behavior as it might reinforce it. Brit consistently modeled how to move through an activity, redirecting as appropriate without reinforcing undesirable .

Accessible
OT in the Home is a well-organized resource that allows viewers to access a wide variety of strategies in an easy-to-watch format. Activities are divided into chapters which include types of skills (i.e. fine and gross) and time frames within the day (morning, homework time, bedtime, etc.). This allows viewers to view what they need when they have time to do so.

There is also a lengthy segment on aquatic OT, which made me want to run and sign up for a membership at our local pool, and a brief, but inspiring, segment on designing a sensory-friendly play space for children, which has me sketching and dreaming.

In all the chapters of OT in the Home, I found these elements extra-helpful:

The why behind the what of activities is given. For example, why would one want to toss a bunch of balls into a body sock with a child?
Activities are done with real kids, not actors or models. This made me nod in recognition at times, thinking, “My kid does that, too!” It also adds authenticity and allows viewers to witness how Britt works with a variety of children, providing a wide array of examples of how to provide clear direction, encouragement and fun and calm, firm responses as needed.
Solutions are given for adapting typical OT gym activities to home. For example, there is a good section on obstacle courses with suggestions for materials that can be used at home to create one.
All of the explanations on the video are both real and articulate. When specific occupational therapy terms are used, they are explained in a way that anyone can understand them.

So What’s Not to Like?
There is very little not to like about OT in the Home. In fact, after watching the video for the first time, my only wish was that that I had my remote control with a pause button in one hand and a pen in the other while viewing it, so I could have taken notes on the plethora of useful ideas, activities and information presented in the video.

Upon further viewing (this time, in segments, with pen in hand!), my only wish was “More!” Brit Collins and her colleagues did such a wonderful job presenting occupational therapy strategies in an understandable, practical format, which allowed me to begin using some strategies with my child immediately, that it left me wishing for a “part two” to access when we are ready for the next level.

While I know that working with a licensed occupational therapist in person is priceless, so is having a ready resource to turn to every step of the way when doing occupational therapy at home. OT in the Home is this resource. It is one that any caregiver can benefit from – one that should be in the hands of parents who need to do OT at home, caregivers wishing to explain OT to others and professionals seeking to share a useful tool with their clients.

I will be reading more posts at http://www.ourjourneythruautism.com and I hope you find something helpful there also.