ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog

My next several posts will cover the issue of social class and Gilded Age Society.  I am hopeful that these posts will provide a rich background to help in more fully understanding George Barton's interests and interactions regarding occupational therapy.  Introducing the concept in short form is intended to set the stage for the next several posts. I previously wrote about the early life experience of George Barton and how his father was a banker and that he was raised among the social elites in Boston.  We know that he traveled to England and was trained under William Morris - certainly not an experience that was available to most people.  Social standing is a significant point of analysis that has not been previously documented about George Barton. Quiroga was unsure of how to assess Barton's nature (p. 124).  It may very well be accurate to state that he was truly eccentric - but the larger context of social class can not be ignored in this analysis ...

New day.  New information.  Same narrative. The January 20, 2014 OT Practice publication has a brief article under the 'Industry News' section on page 2.  The article is entitled Study Finds SI Improves Function in Children With Autism and it links to the recent Schaaf, et al (2013) article that I posted about two months ago. What has happened in the last two months?  Well, there was a lot of social media conversation about that article.  On December 4th Diana Henry posted a link to the article on the OT Connections site and entitled her message thread " OT/SI: Finally recognized for treating autism! "  Some very beginning conversation occurred, which was very encouraging, but there is not nearly enough interest in discussing the way that we herald these studies when they are released.  My post in this thread encapsulates some concerns about designs that are reliant only on parent report: When the results of complex studies get reduced to sound...

The New York State Association of County Health Officials (NYSACHO) finds itself in an awkward position these days.  As a primer, you should be aware that County Health Officials are charged with administrating the Early Intervention Program in their respective jurisdictions.  They hire Early Intervention Officials and are responsible for directing the implementation of the programs. In bygone days, the mechanisms in place for funding the Early Intervention Program were 'pay then chase' methods.  In simple terms, the County would pay the provider to see the child  for services and then the County would be responsible for chasing after the insurance companies and NY State to recover their costs. County officials have been complaining for years that unfunded mandates, like the Early Intervention Program, are stressing their budgets severely. Residents of counties who pay property taxes don't want the County officials to raise property taxes any higher than they alr...

“You know this sucks,” Jeremy scowled. “You know it, and I know that you know it.” At first I wasn’t sure if this was intended to bridge some gap between us, or if I was just a convenient target for some anger. I was only a couple years older than Jeremy and still trying to understand what it meant to be an occupational therapist. I barely had the corners of my own life tucked in properly, and here I was needing to find some headspace to help Jeremy.  Every day he made it a point to tell me that his life sucked, and that I knew it more than anyone else. Jeremy had been riding dirt bikes since he was 5 years old. His Dad was a sprint car driver and speed was a part of his everyday existence. He outgrew his little z50 Honda minibike and for several years tooled around the back woods near his house on a bunch of other nondescript bikes that were constantly breaking down. But then he got his hands on a Bultaco 175 Lobito and it was a love affair that he kept going all throu...