Plus Puzzles & Cognitive Dev & The OT Tool Box

Happy New Year All! My hubby and I enjoyed a quiet dinner at home with a delicious glass of Pinot Grigio! How was your New Year’s Eve? Having 2 weeks off of school got me thinking about so many ideas! As of January I am in the Speech field for 49 years! I have observed so many changes in our field! I started in 1976 believe it or not and IEP’s or computers did not exist. I had to type everything on a manual typewriter! OT’s were not part of special preschool programs But I loved the field of OT. I can’t remember how I even learned about it. Two of the first books I read was by Barbara Knickerbocker Holistic Approach to Treatment of Learning Disorders (one of my students received OT from her in Princeton, NJ ) and Jean Ayres Sensory Integration and the Child. Moving forward I had taken numerous workshops. I also created a free Sensory Processing checklist generated by AI (see below). I really wanted to get certified in OT but it just didn’t work out. I have had sensory issues all my life. I am very sensitive to loud noises. Just ask my husband who loves to play loud music. He now uses headphones to listen to music. I also have an unusually low tolerance to pain as well. So I understand our students who display these sensitivities.

Eventually OT’s became part of the programs. In 1983 I worked in a hospital providing speech & language services to babies through 3 yrs old. I loved working with the team - Social Worker, Teacher (who became an SLP - we are still in touch!), OT, PT. My most recent experience a few years ago was working with OT’s Jen & Casey at Northern Hills Academy in Sparta, NJ. I learned sooo much!! I loved observing and co-treating on occasion. We had 5 amazing SLP’s working together as well.

So this is my opportunity to share an amazing OT website called The OT Toolbox! The owner is Colleen Beck, OTR/L who has provided a plethora of almost every topic related to OT. There are activities and resources for therapists, teachers and parents. What I love about this site is the simple descriptions of problems we deal with every day in our practice, e.g. Executive Function, sensory, functional skills, fine motor, grasp patterns, vision and so much more. She provides a section of free resources as well. She writes a BLOG, is a published author, and offers a membership club as well. You can check out her awesome website theottoolbox.com HERE

I hope you love over 15 FREEBIES for this month! There are 3 Color the Code - you can add any pics or words you want. There is 1 Cariboo Winter picture set, free BOOM CARD set, Find shape chocolates, and build a mailbox. There are separate downloads for Snow Ideas, Sensory Processing List and Enhance Executive Function with Puzzles. Also check out last year’s Color Pages!

Last but not least, in my spare time I play a lot of pickleball and I love my quiet puzzle time - 1000 pc puzzles are my favorite! For the first time I was not able to complete a puzzle! Watch this VIDEO to find out why!

Special DATES: Jan 15 National Bagel Day Jan 19 National Popcorn Day Jan 20 Martin Luther King Day Jan 25 Opposite Day Jan 28 National Lego Day Jan 31 National Hot Chocolate Day January Calendar has links to so many other fun dates!

Please feel free to email me any time at ricki@preschoolspeechieplus.com

FREEBIES BELOW

All FREE RESOURCES are on my website in the PS+ Store or on TPT. I hope you find them useful! If there are other resources or checklists you are looking for, I am happy to add more to my website!. Check out TPT and MY RESOURCES for practically any checklist you may need. If you would like a PDF with links please email me at ricki@preschoolspeechieplus.com . (FYI adding more than 1 item to your cart can be a little tricky - when you add first free item, after you click on purchase, arrow back to add another item…it will say “adding”. You can keep adding product this way. When you click on continue, it will take you to checkout.)

BELOW ARE SEASONAL ITEMS YOU MAY LIKE - CLICK ON IMAGE TO CHECK IT OUT!

Click on images above for links and FREEBIES!!

ENJOY!! Ricki