The end product associated with a decided lack of true productivity

We have a lion in my office that was left by a child several years ago. Here is his picture:













I placed him on my cable modem in plain view of everyone who came into the office hoping that someone would claim him. No one ever did, and I felt sad about it because he is a Webkinz and they were rather popular for a while and I am sure that some child was very happy at one time to have this toy. Anyway, I leave him on top of my cable modem just in case his owner ever makes a claim. He is our office mascot, and I have come to enjoy his company every day.

Today I was cleaning and organizing because I couldn't settle myself into documentation. I found a bunch of stray toys. I found the following:

1. a yellow clothespin that goes to a full set
2. an orange sheep that is matched to a full set of parent/baby animals
3. a green peg that goes to a pegboard activity
4. blue and yellow blocks that are part of a construction set
5. a peg from the BOT-2 (a motor test)
6. scissors
7. an ant from Ants in the Pants
8. the letter A from a wooden puzzle
9. a lion that goes with a set of jungle animals
10. an orange pencil gripper
11. the letter P that goes to a bead stringing set
12. a small red lion that goes to Mastermind Jr.
13. a yellow triangle that goes to a parquetry set

Here is the collection:









Undoubtedly, parents are familiar with the phenomenon of stray pieces of toys and games being lost or misplaced. It happens here too and periodically I round everything up and try to return toys to their proper home.

I decided to take a more proactive approach and create a temporary 'home' for all stray pieces and parts. Here is the picture:









I think I want to keep it in a central location, maybe near the lion. It makes sense to me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deconstructing the myth of clothing sensitivity as a 'sensory processing disorder'

Please note first that there is no formally recognized clinical designation of  'sensory processing disorder.'   It is a term constructed by occupational therapists that has not been formally recognized by the larger medical community. In our clinic we receive many referrals from local pediatricians when parents have concerns about children being overly sensitive to their clothing.  Most often the children referred are from four to seven years old and the families are severely disrupted by the children's behaviors and responses to clothing issues.  Commonly, children will have severely constricted tolerance for certain outfits, want to wear the same clothes repeatedly, complain that clothing is itchy/scratch/bumpy/wiggly/ouchie, and this all leads to disruption of daily dressing routines.  There is no doubt that the behavioral concerns are very real. The pediatricians tend to be appropriately conservative and provide families with good behavioral management suggestions
Read more

On retained primitive reflexes

Each year I receive several emails from colleagues about 'retained primitive reflexes.'  I am also seeing an increased number of reports from local 'health care' providers who are documenting these alleged problems so I thought I would write a summary of my opinion on this topic.   Predatory 'health care' providers including some OTs, PTs, chiropractors, and behavioral optometrists are creating a new 'market' for treating this alleged 'problem.'  Parents should be very wary of these practitioners and other professionals should challenge these practices whenever they are seen. The following is the kind of information that causes concern and was provided to me by a colleague as a sample from a student's IEP: The student continues to demonstrate the following retained primitive reflexes that at times interfere with his ability to demonstrate appropriate adaptive responses: Fear Paralysis Reflex, Moro Reflex, Palmer Reflex, Tonic Labyri
Read more

Twenty years of SIPT - where do we go next?

Standardized tests are periodically discarded or updated because the normative group that the test was developed around may have changed characteristics. I am unaware of any 'industry standards' regarding the life expectancy of standardized tests; rather, professionals in a field tend to come to consensus about the relative usefulness of tests on their own. I would be interested in knowing what other therapists think about the Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests - which were published in 1989. I became certified in the administration of these tests seventeen years ago. At first I found them highly useful but the more I gave the tests the more I understood the limitations. Now it has gotten to a point where I do my best to discourage people when they ask for this test - not just because of the inherent weaknesses of the test construction but also because of how old the norms are. There have been some legitimate concerns with the tests including extremely poor test-retest re
Read more