HowToDoIt Therapy is now in the AppStore! Register for the iPad Mini Giveaway!

HowToDoIt Therapy is now in the AppStore!  Register for the iPad Mini Giveaway!

Download the HowToDoIt Therapy App here It's been a long time coming and there was a bit of drama but I'm so happy to tell y'all that my HowToDoIt Therapy App is finally in the AppStore!  If you received my prior email about HowToDoIt, you'll note that this app is a bit different than originally conceptualized.  In truth the original concept was 8 apps in one...which was hard to program effectively (that was part of the drama bit) so I have created the first of what I hope will be several HowToDoIt apps: HowToDoIt Therapy.  :)

What is HowToDoIt Therapy? Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, trainers, coaches, teachers and so many other professionals can quickly and easily create personalized therapeutic exercise programs for your clients or students.   Simply take pictures of your client completing the steps of an exercise program, type in the instructions (including repetitions, frequency, and duration) and then print, email or upload the tutorial to a website, for your client to access.   Here's a quick tutorial on how HowToDoIt Therapy app works.   And here's the first tutorial made with HowToDoIt Therapy created for a child on my caseload: Mary's Oral Motor Exercises By the way, the first 2 exercise program tutorials you create are free...for more tutorials, simply buy 2 for 99 cents or 10 for $3.99 (you get 2 tutorials free).   Simply tap or click on the HowToDoIt Therapy logo above or any picture in this email and download HowToDoIt Therapy - it works for both iPhones and iPads.  (If you do a search on iTunes Appstore - just enter HowToDoIt and you'll see the logo pop up.) Now about the iPad Mini Giveaway!  One of the ways you have 'arrived' in the AppStore is to get over 3000 downloads of your app in one week...so to that end, I want you to download HowToDoIt Therapy app to your iPhone or iPad by DECEMBER 15th AND tell all your friends to do that too!  Here's how to enter the contest: Open the app and you'll be prompted to create an account (don't worry, I can't access any of your info there so it's a secure account that won't be used for any nefarious scams or email spams). Then tap on the settings button (lower left corner). Then tap on the Help - Send Us an Email button.   Send an email that says "I want to win!" That's it...you are entered in the drawing for a free iPad Mini! The drawing will be on December 16, 2012.  The winner will be notified by email and announced on Facebook.  :) Want another chance to win?   Use the app and then Rate it! Go to settings, then tap on Rate Us! and tell us honestly wnat you think of HowToDoIt Therapy. Sign it with the first part of your email address that used for the "Help - Send Us an Email" entry.  If I sent an email from my email address delana@howtodoitapp.com, I'd just sign my rating with delana.  That's it and hopefully you will win!  :) Remember, the way to get noticed in the AppStore is to get over 3000 downloads of the app in one week.  I want to be the first Occupational Therapist who gets 'noticed' in the AppStore so please forward this email to everyone you know and ask them to send it to their friends and family too.  :) Thank you so much for your support and I hope you love HowToDoIt Therapy as much as I do!  :) DeLana DeLana Honaker, OTR, PhD delana@howtodoitapp.com

Copyright © 2012 www.howtodoitapp.com, All rights reserved.

Awesome Apps for Pediatric Therapists!

I'm in the midst of collecting some of the best apps for school-based, early intervention and pediatric OTs, OTAs, PTs, PTAs, SLPs and SLPAs.  Attached is the first half - I'll have more in a few days!  :)
DeLana
Awesome Apps for Pediatric Therapists Part I

FIRST iPhone/iPad App by an OT & an iPad2 or iPhone4S Giveaway!

Hi Y’all!
I’m so excited to announce that my first iPhone/iPad App called HowToDoIt™ is almost ready!  We are in the final stages of beta-testing and expect that HowToDoIt™ will be available in the AppStore in the next couple of weeks.  To celebrate this event and to get the word out, I’m giving away a FREE iPad2 or iPhone4S (winner’s choice)!

My inspiration for HowToDoIt™ was home programs.  I hate seeing poorly copied exercise sheets with some exercises crossed out and poorly written notes that are confusing to the client.  So I thought: Wouldn't it be cool if I could take pictures with my iPhone of the client actually doing the exercises and then type in the instructions specific to that client?  And wouldn’t it be cool if I could print it out as a .pdf or send it via email?  Or even post to Facebook or on a website?  Thus, HowToDoIt™ was created.

Not only will HowToDoIt™ help create home exercise programs, folks will also be able to make tutorials:

• for all kinds of craft or home projects,
• for favorite recipes,
• to document progress,
• demonstrate a procedure,
• to make a social story or
• memory books of special events
• and so much more. 

Occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech language pathologists, private trainers, coaches, massage therapists, teachers, behavior specialists, Yoga/Pilates instructors, crafters, cooks, coworkers…really just about anyone…will love using this app!  Some screenshots of HowToDoIt™ are shown below and on the www.HowToDoItApp.com website, I have a couple of completed tutorials for you to see and download (there will be more tutorials in the next couple of weeks so check back regularly).

Now, let’s talk about the iPad2 or iPhone4S Giveaway!  

There are 4 ways to enter:

• Simply REGISTER HERE.  Go ahead and register even if you don’t have an iPhone or iPad – you might win one!  (one entry) 
• Forward this email to all your friends and family.  For every one who REGISTERS HERE in the Giveaway and lists you as the referral source, you will get an extra entry.  If your co-worker, sister and best friend register and list you as the one who told them about the Giveaway, you get three additional entries!  (unlimited entries)
•  us on our Facebook page (one entry) 
• Post a comment about HowToDoIt™ on our Facebook page (one entry for each day you comment about HowToDoIt™) 

Click here to be taken to the HowToDoIt App Facebook Page

So, go register and Good Luck!!!
DeLana
DeLana Honaker, OTR, PhD    delana@howtodoitapp.com
PS: Watch for an article in this Monday’s Feb. 6th issue of OTPractice entitled: Practice Made Practical: Occupational Therapy Inventions Lead to New Business Ventures, Clinical Toolsin whichI’m interviewed about HowToDoIt™
PPS: I’ll be giving a workshop called “There’s an App for That™”: Creating Apps for Your Clients and Students at the American Occupational Therapy Association Conference in Indianapolis (Thursday, April 26, 2012 at 12:30-3:30).

Breast Cancer Research - please pass this on!

Many of us have experienced breast cancer or have had family and/or friends who have experienced breast cancer. Thankfully new treatments are being discovered but in the meantime, how does breast cancer affect or impact our occupations? One of my dear friends, Meryl Picard, MSW, OTR, is conducting research as part of her dissertation on this topic and she needs LOTS of respondents. The key to getting lots of folks to answer her 15 minute online survey is to pass this blog post along to EVERYONE you know - not just the folks you know who have had breast cancer but to ALL the folks you know and ask them to send to everyone they know and so on. By doing that, we'll reach a greater audience. So read the details below and then send it on, post it on your Facebook page, put it on your own blog, etc. Thank you!! :)

RE: Breast Cancer Research Project
 
Dear Breast Cancer Survivors, Colleagues, Community Organizers, Family and Friends,
 
Please help increase our understanding of cancer fatigue and
arm symptoms after breast cancer!
 
My name is Meryl Picard and I am a doctoral student at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ. My dissertation project explores the two most common problems, cancer fatigue and arm symptoms that affect some women after breast cancer surgery and treatment and may interfere with completing some daily tasks. At this time there is limited understanding of the relationship between these two problem areas.
 
I am using a technique called ‘snowball recruitment’ in order to find breast cancer survivors living in the United States who may be willing to complete this 15-minute on-line survey. I am asking you to forward this e-mail in the hope that your colleagues, friends, or family will cause a ‘snowball effect’ that  continues to forward this e-mail until a large number of breast cancer survivors respond to the questionnaire attached via the link below.  The research is completely anonymous for all participants, as well as for anyone kind enough to forward this information.
 
Thank you in advance for your assistance and for helping to increase our understanding of cancer fatigue and arm symptoms in breast cancer survivors.
 

Dear Breast Cancer Survivor,
I need your help in understanding women’s experiences with fatigue or arm problems that might interfere with the ability to complete daily life activities that you want to do or have to do. Difficulty with arm function and fatigue are the two most common problems that women face after breast cancer surgery and treatment.  In some women, these problems may continue after treatment is completed.
 
Your responses are very important, even if you are not experiencing any of these problems at the present time.  You may participate in this research if you:
- Are between 18 – 65 years old
- Can read English and have access to the Internet
- Have had a diagnosis of breast cancer, Stage 0 – III (please, no metastasis or Stage IV)
- Completed all your surgery, radiation or chemotherapy a minimum of 1 year ago (> 12 months) and less than 6 years ago (< 72 months).
The questions will only take 15 minutes to complete. Your responses are completely voluntary and will be kept confidential. This is a completely anonymous survey.  Please do not complete the survey again if you responded earlier this year. Click on the link below (or cut and paste the survey link into your Internet browser) to begin the survey. This research study has been approved by the Seton Hall University Institutional Review Board, which monitors all research studies to protect human subjects. If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in this study, please contact the Chairperson of the IRB at (973) 313-6314. Questions about the research study can be answered by contacting Meryl Picard at (973) 275-2910, meryl.picard@shu.edu.
 
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T6RV9TP
 
Thank you for providing your valuable time to help us understand these symptoms in breast cancer survivors.
 
 
 

Occupational Therapy & Extreme Home Makeover

I've been quiet on my blog the last couple of months - looking after my mother (who is recovering very well from her total hip replacement and is now back at her retirement job of substitute teaching) and various other projects have kept me busy! But I simply had to blog about Jennifer Silvestri, MS, OTR/L, an occupational therapist at Kennedy Krieger Institute's International Center for Spinal Cord Injury in Baltimore, MD. Jennifer worked with the cast/crew of Extreme Home Makeover to create a great new home for her client, Brian Keefer (Keefer had experienced a high level spinal cord injury in 2008). Given my mother's experience with occupational therapy during rehab, it was so exciting to see how Jennifer was truly engaged and focused on Brian and his occupations. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) interviewed Jennifer in today's 1-Minute Update . The full episode about Brian Keefer and his new home are here (Watch to the very end - Jennifer does a great job discussing and demonstrating how aquatherapy benefits Brian.) The 'behind the scenes' clips of the Extreme Home Makeover crew visiting with Jennifer and the other wonderful team members of Kennedy Krieger's Spinal Cord facility can be found here. What a wonderful opportunity this was for Brian and also for the profession of occupational therapy - kudos to Jennifer on representing such a positive message about the world of occupational therapy! :)
DeLana

What is Occupational Therapy?

My mother and I have had a recent 'interesting' OT experience that I just feel compelled to blog about.  My mother, a healthy woman in her late 60's  (True Southern Women never reveal their true ages, you know) ;), had a total hip replacement last Tuesday.  All went very well and by Friday, she was walking using a walker and standby assistance from PT/PTA to walk about 75 feet.  She transferred to a rehab facility over the weekend and today (Monday) had her rehab OT and PT evals and treatments.  Not surprisingly, Mom reported that the OT came to do her eval while Mom was doing her ADLs (activities of daily living) this morning in her room and then this afternoon, she was taken to the rehab room for more OT.  She was put on a 'hand bicycle' (looks like pedals on a tripod frame that one can use on a table top) and was told to pedal the bicycle with her hands/arms to 'build up her upper extremity strength'.  Now, I was there when the PT did his eval last week and he verbalized his manual muscle testing results (he knew I was an OT) and Mom had good to good+ upper extremity strength; this didn't surprise me because in the 3 weeks prior surgery  I had demonstrated to Mom exercises to build up her strength as I knew she would need it after surgery (isn't that what every daughter who is an OT would do??)  ;)  When I asked Mom today if the OT did any manual muscle testing, Mom said "No."  Hmm...interesting...then how did the OT know that Mom needed to 'build up her upper extremity strength'?  And why did the OT use only a hand bicycle for the entire OT session?  And where is the occupation in that?  And finally, why did the OT and OTAs and techs think it was OK to set Mom up on the hand bicycle and then stand around and talk about wedding plans and wedding dresses during the entire session??  I asked Mom who the OT was and she told me her name and I have to report that I was greatly relieved that she wasn't one of my former students!  In truth, though, I'm embarrassed by this OT; we are OCCUPATIONAL therapists and even though I will use readiness activities (ie: exercises, strengthening activities, etc.) to prepare a client for occupational activities, I would do far more than set someone up on a hand bicycle and I certainly wouldn't stand around talking about wedding plans.  What a lost opportunity to establish rapport and learn about the client's areas of occupations, perceived needs, personal goals, etc.?!  Perhaps these things will come in the days ahead...I hope so not only for Mom's sake but for all our clients'sakes; they all certainly deserve our very best efforts.
DeLana

"OT Eligibility" and "OT Goals"

School is starting soon (if it hasn't already in some areas) and some therapists have asked a familiar question I've heard many times at my workshops or in conversations with other school-based OTs and OTAs:

When providing school-based services, does the child must first 'qualify' for occupational therapy and does an occupational therapist have to have specific O.T. IEP goals or can the OT work off the teacher’s goals?

Before we can answer this question, we must keep in mind that there is a hierarchy in the process for a child receiving special education services; in short, this hierarchy includes the following components:

1. Child is having difficulties meeting general education curriculum expectations.
2. Child is referred for special education assessment; this assessment may also include an occupational therapy evaluation as part of a comprehensive picture of the child's abilities and difficulties.
3. Child qualifies for special education services under one of the 13 categories noted by IDEA.
4. An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is developed; this plan includes many elements, one of which is the goals and objectives.  (In many school districts, personnel and therapists sometimes call the goals and objectives as the "IEP" but remember that the IEP is a larger document/plan and that the goals/objectives are just one component of it.)  At this point, an OT may suggest draft goals/objectives based on her assessment and as part of the IEP team but these are not 'OT goals and objectives' - they are part of the larger plan for the child.
5. Once the goals and objectives have been determined and agreed to by all members of the IEP team (including the parents, administrations, teachers, therapists, etc.), then placement is determined.  Placement includes who will help the child meet his/her goals/objectives and where those services will take place.  It is ONLY during the placement stage of the IEP, will it be determined if expertise of related services personnel are needed to assist the student in meeting his/her goals and objectives.  At this point, the OT may recommend direct or consult services and must note which goals/objectives will be addressed by these services.  

I’ve illustrated this further in this adapted excerpt from a chapter I wrote in:  Preschool and school-based therapy.  In A. Wagenfeld & J. Kaldenberg (Eds.) (2005), Pediatric Theory and Practice for the Occupational Therapy Assistant.  Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated.

THE STRUCTURE OF IDEA ’97 and IDEA ’04 PART B:

The pyramid below illustrates the basic components of IDEA ’97 and IDEA ‘04 Part B as well as the sequence and context of service delivery.  Note that all services for children with disabilities begin with evaluation at the base of the pyramid.  The next level is eligibility followed by the development of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and then placement.  Each component of the process will be discussed below.

EVALUATION-DRIVEN SERVICES:

Eligibility for ALL special education and related services is based on evaluation.  (NICHCY, 1998, 2010).  Occupational and physical therapy may serve two roles in this evaluation process; first, in a diagnostic role in which assessment results contribute to the overall picture of a child’s abilities and differences in his educational setting and second, for placement decisions concerning related service provision.  Note that there is no assessment for occupational therapy (or any other related services) eligibility.  There is only assessment to determine if a child needs special education AND related services to make educational progress and if a child meets the eligibility for special education services, they also have access to related services if the expertise of related service professionals is needed for the child to make educational progress.

When therapists evaluate in a diagnostic role, their input is part of a comprehensive assessment.  This assessment includes an evaluation of the student’s cognitive, psychosocial and sensory motor performance areas.  Many school psychologists and diagnosticians will administer a battery of tests designed to cover all three elements with emphasis either on cognition, psychosocial skills or sensory motor skills dependent upon the suspected disability or the child’s difficulties in meeting his/her educational and curriculum expectations.  However, additional in-depth information on the student’s educational performance may be requested from professionals with additional expertise in a certain area.  For example, for a child suspected of having autism and whose parent or teacher reports significant sensory issues, an occupational therapist with additional expertise in sensory processing testing may be involved.  For a student who has difficulties with walking within the classroom or around the campus, it would be very appropriate to ask for a physical therapist to evaluate the child as well.  An evaluation for a student with moderate mental retardation who is having difficulties with self-help skills may also require additional assessment by the occupational therapist.  In all three examples, the related services personnel contribute to the child’s overall evaluation.

Once the initial assessment has been completed, a meeting is called to determine eligibility under the 13 categories for special education (these categories include: Autism, Blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disturbance, Hearing Impairment, Mental Retardation, Multiple Disabilities, Orthopedic Impairment, Other Health Impaired, Specific Learning Disability, Speech or Language Impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury, or Visual Impairment.

DEVELOPING THE IEP AND PLACEMENT:

Once eligibility is determined, an IEP is developed.  An IEP or individual education plan is a written plan based on assessment results that is developed, reviewed, and revised in a team meeting; this team must always include the parents, teacher(s) and an administrator, and may also include other personnel such as other instructional services (ie: Speech Therapy, Special Education) or related services (ie: Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Psychology, etc.).  An IEP includes, among other things:

• parental concerns
• a statement of the specific communication needs of the child with vision deficits, hearing deficits, or of limited English proficiency
• results of the evaluation or reevaluation
• strengths and competencies of the student
• a statement of the present levels of educational performance of the student
• annual goals, including benchmarks or short-term objectives as well as the method to measure goals and objectives.

At this point, all members of the team will draft goals and objectives and an occupational or physical therapist may suggest draft goals/objectives based on the assessment results for the team to consider.  Although an OT or PT may suggest these goals/objectives and they may be agreed to by the committee, these goals/objectives are part of the student’s comprehensive educational program and are not just considered the “OT’s goals” or the “PT’s objectives”.

Once the draft goals/objectives have been agreed to, placement is determined.  “The appropriate placement for a particular child with a disability cannot be determined until after decisions have been made about the child's needs and the services that the public agency will provide to meet those needs. These decisions must be made at the IEP meeting, and it would not be permissible first to place the child and then develop the IEP. Therefore, the IEP must be developed before placement.” (NICHCY, 1999, p. 15)  Placement includes:

• the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services to be provided to or on behalf of the student (including modifications)
• anticipated frequency of general, special and related services
• location of services to be provided (ie: where the child will receive these services)
• the projected date for initiation and anticipated duration of services
• the extent to which the student will be able to participate in general educational programs
• consideration of behavior issues
• transition needs 

Special Note: Occupational and physical therapists may also evaluate after the child has qualified for special education services.  In this instance, the IEP team may agree to request additional assessment and then meet again to review those results.  At this meeting the related services provider may also suggest additional goals and objectives for the IEP committee to consider and make recommendations for related services to assist in implementing the goals and objectives during the placement stage of the IEP.