Why every student should attend an AOTA Conference**Pics included**

My top reasons why every student should attend an AOTA Conference:

1. It is the ultimate prep rally because you see how we are impacting the lives of others! MOTIVATIONAL!
    During the Welcoming Ceremony,at the 94th AOTA conference, we were given the pleasure to hear from three soldiers who lost limbs in the current war due to bomb accidents. I want to apologize for not being able to remember all of the soldiers name. Travis, was quad amputee, Tim, lost both lower limbs and servery damaged his right arm, and the other gentleman, lost both lower limbs and one of his arms. All of the soldiers talked about how OT gave them their lives back.
   Travis said that when he had his accident, his wife just had their first baby and he wondered how was he going to be able to hold his daughter and how was he going to be an active father. He mentioned, thanks to Assistive Technology, he only needs his wife for 2 seconds each morning to put on his legs and he does everything else. He said how happy he was that he was able to DRIVE from Texas to state on the east coast (I forgot which state it was). He said that OT taught him everything he needed to be able to live a life that he did not know was possible.
    Tim mentioned that after his accident, he thought his life was over. He said all his dreams went down the drain; however, with OT he found that he has a really loves singing. He said that he has opened many concerts for quite a few famous bands such as Pink Floyd! He said not only did OT give him his life back but OT also saved his life because it helped him find a purpose.
    To hear these three men talk about how OT has been with them every step of the way made my heart jump out of my chest. I thought, I knew it! I am special. I am in a career that is helping someone who has no limbs to drive across the country, a career that gave a man a voice, a career that is helping a person who does not look like everyone else on the outside to feel amazing like "a regular person" on the inside! Man! OT's and their(the patients) own motivation got them there. WE ARE A PART OF THAT! I just feel thankful for being able to hear those testimonies.

This is my photo bomb with the soldiers and their OT. 

    Also, I learned how important it is to remain a member of AOTA. AOTA can only take legislative concerns to Capital Hill for their members. For example, if there are 130,000 OT's and only 1,000 of those OT's are members of AOTA, then when AOTA representatives go to Capital Hill, they can only speak for 1,000 members. There is power in numbers. Just think if we could have 35% of OT's registered with AOTA, how much more of an impact we will have to help patients get the services that they need.The numbers given at the conference for OT's were larger and the number of AOTA members were SMALLER. On a uplifting note, the president announced that a percentage of our membership fee will now go towards research.

2. It was soooooo INFORMATIONAL.

    I was able to attend many short courses and seminars. I really liked the Health Literacy seminar that I attended. I learned that there are standardized test for health literacy. Some test are long and others are short. One test that I thought was interesting was reading a nutritional label. The label includes mathematics and reading, which are both needed for health literacy. I read labels a lot, but when it came to doing the math, such as a person can not have 2 gr of sodium, and having to break down the portion size then do some other stuff, I thought wow! I can see how a person can become overwhelmed and not complete reading the remaining part of the instructions for fear that the rest will be just as frustrating.

    I learned that when writing documentation for patients, we should make sure to check the reading level. We should make sure that the reading level is no higher than 8th grade, since most people drop out of school in high school and some of those people may not be able to understand 8th grade reading level. The seminar encouraged us to ask questions to assure the client understands what is going on; however, when we ask questions we should put the burden on ourselves. Such as, "Did I explain everything clearly? What can I explain better? Can you help me understand what I can explain better?" We should make sure to ask question so that the client does not feel inadequate or feel embarrassed for not understand.

    I also appreciated how the conference helped tie in the concepts that I was learning in class to practice. I heard the words like "Occupation based", "Psychosocial", "Research", and "Ataxia"over and over again. When I thought I would never have to do anything with research again, I heard about finding the mean, showing significance in almost every seminar. I did not feel lost. I was like, OOOOH this is why it is important to pay attention in class because the numbers really do mean something. LOL. Then I thought about my Neuroscience class when another seminar was talking about the cerebellum, limbic tagging, and sensory. I was thankful that my school did a good job in instilling concepts in the first part of our course. I did not feel as lost or confused as I may have if I had not had those classes. I have learned to appreciate the learning process even more, thanks to the conference.

3. The Expo was FUN. FREE STUFF!

    The Expo had so many vendors, employment agencys, schools, Assistive Technology, food, and more.  It was like a little OT smoorgish board. Too much fun. Plus good networking.

All the items I received from the conference. Including 11 bags, 3 shirts, a roll of dysim, a weighted spoon handle, a tube of bio freeze, hand strengthening tools, an auto graphed key chain from Claudia Allen (the inventor of the Allen Cognitive test) and much more. By the way, none of my clothes are in the suite case.

My imaginary bubble bath. The ball pit had lights the light up on the bottom. Very since for sensory. On the sensory profile I am a Seeker, SO I loved this!

The NBCOT booth hired this amazing man who made balloon animals. You should have seen the line. I was to receive one. He was only there for one day!

3. The COST.

    As a student we get a lower rates on the conference entrance fee.

Overall, I had a blast. I am soooo thankful to have had the opportunity to attend this year's conference. I have hoping to be able to attend next year's conference. I have started some fundraising to help with the cost. If you are interested in helping me attend my last AOTA conference as a student, please go to http://www.gofundme.com/8o6qgs . Every little bit helps. I deeply appreciate it. 

Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

I am hoping the best for all of you!

My last day at conference. I volunteered as a Room Monitor in two seminars.

Visualize Success

Guess what today is????? It is the last day of my Movements class. From what I have learned by speaking with other OTS, is that it is the Kinesiology class in other schools. I am so thankful that my teacher for the class has amazing energy. He was balance with being entertaining and professional. I just loved him. He already has our final grades up for the class. I am soooooo bumped that the information that I learned in this class just seemed to click. In my other classes, I left like I had to work really hard. This class felt like my cup of tea. The book explained concepts in "occupation based" terminology. I was able to see why it was so important to know about proper shoulder ADDuction and scapular protraction, etc. When I think about it, a client cannot reach across their body to turn the page of a newspaper if they do not have the proper ROM, range of motion.

To be honest, I am not sure if it is just because I loved the class or if it is because I visualized my success in the program. Like I have mentioned in other post, my Anatomy class was very challenging in a good way. The teacher I had for the class was very thorough. I can see how the information that I learned in that class carries over into my Movements class. I feel that if I had not had a good foundation from her class, I may have struggled in this class. The two classes go hand in hand. First I learned about the muscles and what they do. Then I learned about how those muscle allow clients to function in their daily life. When I finished my Anatomy class, I told myself that I am already a graduated OT. I figured if I could pull through that class with all the studying and application, then I must have it. I started visualizing myself putting on my cap and grown and saying my appreciation speak to my husband. I feel like I am good to go now. I am not saying I think the remainder of the program is going to go as smooth as this session has been for me, but I am saying I feel more confident that I will make it to graduation and I will be a great OT. I can do this. WE CAN DO THIS. I see it in my minds eye and I feel it in my heart. To think, in 3 more months I will have one whole year of OT school under my belt. Man that feels good.

On Monday, I will be heading to Columbus, OH for my first Level I which is Peds. This will be the only time that I will be able to travel out of state to do a whole week of Fieldwork opposed to going on every Tuesday. I am excited.  YAY! I made it to LEVEL I!

I have not forgotten to tell you all about my first AOTA conference. I am really hoping to write about it this weekend!

Hoping the best for all of you. I am thankful that I feel confident about my education right now. What are you thankful for about your OT journey?

I'm going to my first AOTA Conference

YAY!!!!!!!!!!! Today I took my last practical for my anatomy class. Guess what??????? I nailed it. I got a 45/50. I am so thankful. Again, thanks so much to my lovely reader Jennifer, who recommended that I get the Netter's flash cards. They were awesome. They were the same pictures that my teacher used for her power points. My visual memory is really good, so the cards were a life saver. I am so thankful to make it though this session. I end up getting a B in the class. BAM! Many people struggled this session, but WE DID IT! THANK GOODNESS!

Some advice when taking an anatomy class:
First, I found it very helpful to use "The Anatomy Coloring Book". I actually bought two. I bought both books used on Amazon. The first book I purchased was the first edition. From the reviews that I read, medical students use the book. The book it EXTREMELY detailed. I had to make sure my colored pencils were sharp when I colored the plates (illustrations). Each plate comes with information on what you are coloring, attachment sites, what impairments can occur in the area AND where and how to palpate on yourself.  I was amazed. I lost the first edition in my disorganized mess, so I bought another one. I bought the third edition this time. I liked the first edition so much, I wanted to know what could they have improved on. They improved the organization of the book. It had the bones together, skeletal muscle together, etc. In the first edition, it had sections broken into upper limb, lower limb, thorax, etc. Depending on your learning style, that might matter to you. I just loved the book. I said each muscle's name as I colored them.  I read out loud. I had to use ALL of my senses to get this information to stick.

Secondly, I would recommend the Netter cards. The illustrations were great. Along with the origin and insertions and nerve innervation.... the whole kit and kaboodle. Loved those cards.

Lastly, rewrite or type the teacher's power points or presentations along with your notes. I rewrote my teacher's power points and notes onto flash cards. Everyone has different learning styles; however, if you can use as many senses as you can to help you retain the information, i.e using different color pens (because the brain LOVES COLOR), then do it.

I made it through. Thanks goodness.

On to my additional excitement! I will be attending the 94th AOTA conference in Baltimore, Maryland. I signed up to be a volunteer and I was chosen. My university requires each student gets 30 volunteer hours during the course of our 30 month program. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get in some hours, so I signed up in January. I received an email about two weeks ago asking if I could volunteer on Saturday. I still have to pay for my own trip and getting into the conference, but I will be fulfilling some course requirements and learn some good information. I am excited. I found a roommate, bought my plain ticket, and bought the 4 day registration. Plus, I get a little away time. HA! I have reviewed the programs for each day. I plan on going to the Mindfulness workshop. I really believe that mindfulness is very beneficial activity that most people can do, especially with practice and dedication. Needless to say, this is an area in my life that I am still working on. Sometimes I forget that I need to practice mindfulness in high stress times.

I am on break for the rest of this week and start taking only one class next session. These are our fieldwork classes. YES! I MADE IT! My next class is Movements. I hear it is very similar to my anatomy class, so I will be reviewing all of the information that I learned over the last 6 weeks this week to help me prepare for the next class. Time is going by so fast. I honestly forgot that it was just last session that I had Neuroscience. I knew I had it, but I feels like it was months ago.

I appreciate you for sharing my journey and I hope the best for all of you out there!

I wanna be L.A.Z.Y

Good evening!!!!!!!! I am super excited because I am on break from school this week. I finished Neuroscience and Psychosocial last Friday. Our University had a Vision and Action Conference that Friday. At the Vision and Action Conference, the graduation class chooses a topic from their Level II fieldwork that they would like to research more, such as Fibromyalgia. Then they give interventions, causes, prognosis, and statistics for the diagnosis. Practitioners from the communicate are able to attend the conference to receive CE credits. It was really amazing. My cohort had to make Mind Maps based on Eleanor Slagle articles. The impairments that was in my group's article was Schizophrenia and TBI. We had to incorporate what we had learned from Neuro, to what we read in the article. Our article mainly talked about the benefits of OT in the mental healthcare settings, which went hand in hand with what we had learned in our Psychosocial class. From what you will see in the picture below are the major concepts we learned in Neuro and then branches that go into specific details about each topic.

During lunch at the Vision and Action Conference we presented our boards and the information from our article to by passers. Our board received many visitors. They said that they loved the colors, which is another thing we learned in Neuro, that the brain loves color. That was another bonus that we were able to include into our presentation. Neuro was a very interesting class. I can tell you that I loved my brain before, but now.... I REALLY love my brain and I am really thankful for it and want it does. Another successful class.

I have to start off by saying that I LOVE PSYCHOLOGY! I feel that Psychology is a very powerful field. My Psychosocial class was really amazing as well. We were able to look at mental health through the eyes of an OT. Each week we had a different group present a condition, tell its prognosis and perform an activity with the class that would work on a specific impairment. My group had Eating Disorders and our impairment was self esteem. We preformed a skit of an eating disorder group talking about anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating (eating disorder-NOS). Our activity was called "I am..." were we had the class break into small groups and list 5  I am's about themselves. The purpose of the activity was to give affirmation that would remind them how great they are. Then we asked different people questions like "Was it hard to come up with these  I am's? Do you think differently about anyone in the group after they shared? etc."

Overall, I find myself each session in the same place each we and that is FREAKING OUT! LOL. At times I feel overwhelmed because I go to class from 8 am to 2:30 pm. I pick up the baby from daycare then come right home and have to be at work from 4 pm to 10 pm, just to go to bed and do it all again. I also work 6 days a week. I worry if I studied enough? Does my kids know I love them? Did I get enough rest? The questions go on  and on, but at the end of every session, AFTER it is all said and done, I look back and think, "Why was I freaking out because I did just fine?" I am learning to not create so much stress in my life because I come through every semester passing my classes. My teacher who taught my Psychosocial and Research class was a student at my school a few years ago. He always reminds me that everything will be OK. In those moments, I do not see it as that, but in the end...... he was right. It always works out.

So this week..... I have been laaaaaaaaazzzzzzyyyyy. The baby and I have been laying in the bed watching cartoons all day. I have been able to help the kids with their homework, which I have not been able to do for a while. I have also been reading Bible stories to my daughter at night. I have to admit that being lazy feels sooooooo good and I like it. It is not just any ordinary lazy either. My lazy is Loving, Amazing, Zealous, and enjoYable every minute because I love being able to spend this time with my family!

I am thankful that I made it through another session. I did it! YAY! Thank you for taking out the time to read my post.

I am hoping the best for all of you out there!

I'm Loving IT!

Hello dear friends. I started back to school on Monday. All I can say is that school  IS AWWWWEEESOME! I am so thankful to be going through this journey. Let me tell you, when I received my bill from school this summer with the amount of tuition that was still due, I freaked out because I did not know how I was going to come up with that money. I thought my journey was about to come to a fast halt. Like a night in shinning armor, my husband cashed out his 401k to pay for my college. He said to me , "Na' (that's what he calls me) this is no joke! You are going to have to get serious and succeed at this!" I wanted to cry because I did ask him to do that nor did I know he was going to do that! I have to say how blessed I am to have a MAN who literally would give the world to make my dreams come true. So a big shout out to my husband for making sure that I continued on my path of success.

I want to quickly remind people to make sure that they give back to their community in any way possible because I am thankful that I received an scholarship from the Paul Olge Foundation here in Indiana (I wrote a blog entry on the amazing organization last year. If you have the time please read it because the history of the foundation it truly incredible.). I also want to thank the Catherine Spalding Foundation for their scholarship this school year. Enough of the Grammy Thanks You's.

I have been trying to upload pictures from my first day as an Occupational Therapy student; however, the email isn't posting to my blog. Hopefully I can get those pictures up soon for you to see how fun it was! I must say I have also been blessed to have fun, focused, and successful people in my cohort! One of my classmates said to me that we have already did the hard part with trying to get in the program, now we need to start feeling like each and everyone of us deserve to be here because we were chosen out of hundreds of people. That's when a light bulb went off! She was right! I tend to freak out about if I am good enough to stay in the program since I have heard that people get dropped for grades? After watching that TED Talk broadcast of Fake it Til You Become it (it's one of my blog entries if you would like to watch it), I feel like I am getting some good energy everywhere I turn now. It's like BAM in you face! BAM in your face! THIS IS YOUR JOURNEY! THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE AT THIS TIME IN YOUR LIFE! All I can say is how thankful I am that I am keeping my eyes wide open and I am willing to receive all great opportunities in my life! Have you ever felt just so thankful for something that your heart just feels moved by every great opportunity that comes your way? I just feel too blessed to be stressed. Literally! I did some studying last night. Normally I panic about making sure I remember it all for the test, but I just feel like everything I am learning is meant to be. So why should I stress about the test when I should be enjoying this moment right now?

I know this was a long post but I had soooo much to say. I want to THANK YOU for reading this and those who have followed me, THANK YOU for believing in me. Even though I may not know you personally, you gave me good energy to succeed too. THANK ALL OF YOU!

I am hoping the best for all of you out there!