This is a cross-post from Let’s do OT Research:

These are just a few non-OT journals I have accessed through my university, so I cannot vouch that each would be available to the “public”. You might try through PubMed, or if you have access to a university library…

Journal of Child and Family Studies “an international forum for topical issues pertaining to the mental well-being of children, adolescents, and their families. The journal translates the latest research results into practical applications for clinicians and healthcare practitioners, by addressing all facets of emotional disorders, including issues associated with identification, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention.”

Families, Systems, & Health an APA publication “is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal that publishes clinical research, training, and theoretical contributions in the areas of families and health, with particular focus on collaborative family healthcare.”

Child: Care, Health & Development “is an international, peer-reviewed journal which publishes papers dealing with all aspects of the health and development of children and young people. We publish quantitative and qualitative research papers relevant to people from all disciplines working in child health and child development. We aim to provide a forum for discussion of global child health issues and are happy to publish both primary research and systematic reviews.”

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education “Quarterly publication provides detals on childhood special education to program developers, advocates, researchers, & higher education faculty.”

I am amazed at the folks who blog regularly - I guess I do not have that much to say, or I am terrible at time management (at least somewhat) because it has been months since my last post. I have been writing; grading papers; creating assignments; a bit of vacationing…just busy.

I’ve also been collecting articles from a variety of sources and there are so many journals that we (OTs) should be writing for and so many topics we are highly skilled to be writing about that just the thought can be overwhelming…unless we band together with a plan for accomplishment! (and this is mainly from a pediatric point of view - I’m sure there is much more in other areas).

Who’s up for this?

As occupational therapists we need to get more of our knowledge formally out into the world. I just did a Google search for “sensory threshold” and was appalled at the sites that came up on top - nothing related to OT. Family.com was the second - a blog entry by a parent explaining the term. I appreciate families (I am a parent) yet I hope for resources that are reliable to have the most access to the general population.

This is the time in the seasonal cycle to reflect and plan. Both of these are difficult tasks for those of us who tend to be insular in thinking. This is the beginning of winter for my little arc of the world, yet it is not the winter of the snowstorms and ice…but rather the rains and unusually balmy temperatures. If not for new friends, it would not occur to me that half the world is beginning their summer season. Insular thinking.

Reflection is something I look for in my students - what did they learn from an assignment? what have they learned in their lives, their work, their play? What will they be able to bring to this helping profession they are joining? And what can I do to enable them to expand both their knowledge and their comfort zones?

Reflection is one of those constructs that is expected to come with maturity of thinking, yet I wonder if it is being lost because it is actually something that one learns formally and it is no longer being taught.

The holiday time of year has some terrific stories. My favorites are A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas and Hershel and the Hannukah Goblins by Eric Kimmel. The language and imagery are just delightful.
Other stories, that make their way around the WWW include The Tablecloth and Christmas with Louise. Both of these have pages on Snopes.com (the urban legend debunker). Tablecloth is a tear-jerker; Louise is ribald.
If you know of other holiday stories worth sharing, please post them to comments. Thanks! and have a happy…

In scanning some professional listserves I find I am surprised at some of the questions posted. Granted, we all enjoy and can use fresh ideas in our daily practice. But some questions are so generic and entry-level that they make me wonder why the person didn’t just open a textbook! [ah...I forget that I am a pack-rat and kept almost all my textbooks and most younger folk sell them off once they are out of that course] Or go to the Web for information.

I believe that reading is becoming a lost art. The evidence is in the listserves, in the classrooms, in the bookstores (sales and the rise of graphic novels). We seem to be moving toward a multi-media world - if it is not in song or video it will not be attended to, nor retained. This will have a devastating effect on all traditional fields that will find themselves evolving their educational formats to appeal to the consumer.

We need to revamp elementary education. Now. There is an information explosion, but we do not need to force all of that information into the curriculums of younger and younger children. We need to synthesize the information and distill what is truly relevant for living well in community and society. We need to go back to some basics, such as reading instruction in the elementary schools. Too many children are advancing through the grades without the basic skills and unless we look at the curriculums themselves, most children will be left behind because they will not have functional reading skills that would otherwise serve them in high school, college, and beyond.

Note: These are personal reflections and do not reflect/represent my place of employment.

Too many people (politicians) and organizations (HMOs, insurance providers) seem to be interfering with the ability of clinical education to actually produce clinicians ready to practice independently. The restrictions on who is responsible for treatment and notes, and who is able to procure reimbursement is limiting what can be done on fieldwork/clinical rotations in most (if not all) of the healthcare fields.

This tends to be compounded by a lapse in the sense of personal responsibility for learning that seems to be rampant in colleges and graduate schools today. [Yes, this is a broad generalization with stereotyping overtones, but, honestly, isn't it so?] If the students making it out into the clinical rotations are not taking responsibility for their own learning to begin with, and they are denied the opportunity to be independent in that environment, how do we expect them to be independent once they graduate?

As described by a colleague in Medicine recently, we have reduced the size of the box [the length of time of the learning experience] and yet are trying to cram more and more into that down-sized box and it is not working. We need to examine and enhance our abilities to synthesize and translate the most important information and learning experiences so that we can accomplish the goals of educational programs and promote independent thinkers into the workforce within the time constraints we are facing. And this needs to begin in elementary school.

Welcome to OT storyteller Weblog! While still a newbie to blogging, I am a veteran occupational therapist, educator, and storyteller. I have been inspired by other OT blogs from around the world - especially the folk in New Zealand. I hope to provide space and ideas to further the promotion, efficacy, and functionality of occupational therapy through free form exchange of ideas.

It may take a while, but there will be links and feeds soon.