Well, the conference is over and I presented the two OT workshops: "FAQ: Handwriting" & "Fun and Functional: Card Games." We had a nice mix of participants; parents, teachers, a physical therapist, speech therapist and psychologists who attended the workshops. The feedback from participants was positive and I hope they can apply what they have learned with their own children and/or students they are working with.
The handwriting workshop was a question and answer format covering frequently asked questions, such as "What is a good handwriting program to be used in school?" to "Why does my student use upper case letters in the middle of words?"
Participants were enthusiastic to participate in the raffle and possibly win the Handwriting Without Tears Writing Program, as well as, Callirobics Writing to Music and other writing supplies, such as the Pre-writing Fun Deck, Fine Motor Fun Deck, Pencil Fidgets, Writing Activity Guides, Wikki Stix, and Farm Sticks.
The card game workshop discussed how to analyze and grade activities to suit a child's needs. Participants enjoyed playing various commercial and non-commercial card games. Participants played with the various donated card games, such as 7ate9, Circles, Giant Spoons, Go Fish, Rummy, Jumbo Cards, Grab a Pig and others...
As participants played the card games, the skills needed to play the games were discussed, such as, but not limited to: reading comprehension, auditory comprehension, divided attention, planning skills, problem solving skills, turn taking, visual motor skills, finger dexterity, and bilateral coordination.
Participants playing various card games!
Psychologists were interested in some of the donated products, such as The New Social Stories Book: Illustrated Version, Emotional Bingo for Children, and One of A Kind: A Self Esteem Card Game.
Some of the raffle winners!
Coincidently, the person who won the basket filled with many of these books is a psychiatrist and pediatrician, Dr. Eman El Sayed and she works with children with special needs, so it was a fabulous match!
Thank you all who attended these workshops and the conference. Thank you all who donated products for the raffle and also to those who bought raffle tickets to support the Advance Society. I hope everyone enjoys the products they won!
Laura
