More Visits to Cairo and More Friendships Developed...

Since starting this blog, I have had the pleasure of corresponding with some wonderful students, therapists and educators. Dianne Koontz Lowman, Ed. D. is one of these educators that I met through this blog. We started corresponding after I emailed the blog to the OT department at James Madison University in the US.

In November, I had the pleasure of meeting Dianne as she was part of the People-to-People Special Needs Delegation visiting Cairo. Itinerary of the 2007 U.S.-Egypt Education Forum can be viewed at: http://www.ambassadorprograms.org/upcomingprograms/education/kelly-duncan.asp.

We had a lovely time meeting for lunch and talking about special needs, the growth of OT in Egypt and life in Egypt.

I asked Dianne to share some information about herself and her experience in Cairo:

Dianne Koontz Lowman, Ed.D., is the Early Coordinator of the Training and Technical Assistance Center at James Madison University and an Adjunct Instructor in the Occupational Therapy Program, where she teaches the research courses. Previously, she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at Virginia Commonwealth University. At VCU, she taught content related to child and adolescent development, evaluation and assessment, infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities, school based practice, and qualitative research. She is a 1994 graduate of the University of Virginia, with an Ed.D. in Special Education. Her research interests are in pediatrics, focusing on working with infants, toddlers, and young children with oral motor feeding difficulties, complex health care needs, and autism spectrum disorders. She is the co-author of The Educator’s Guide to Feeding Children with Disabilities. She is a member of the Ukraine Special Needs Orphanages Fund, Inc. group (USNOF) and travels to Ukraine to work with and on behalf of children with disabilities and their families (http://www.specialorphans.org/).

Some feedback from Dianne regarding her trip to Cairo:

"I recently had the opportunity to visit Cairo as part of the People-to-People Special Needs Delegation. I found the city to be exciting, overwhelming, noisy, fascinating, and a "must-see" destination. We toured a school and had the opportunity to see older students and young adults with disabilities working and making items (I bought a beautiful scarf and purse). In addition, we met wonderful administrators, teachers, and therapists. Maha Helali spoke to our delegation and did a wonderful job describing services in Egypt (especially OT). Laura and I went out to lunch, immediately connected and began talking to future collaborations (I know we will have more about those plans later). I am impressed by all the efforts being made to organize and develop occupational therapy in Egypt and hope to be part of those efforts. Thank you!"


Thanks Dianne and Happy New Year to you and your family!

Laura

Happy New Year Wishes...

As 2007 wraps up and 2008 approaches, we look back at our achievements and make plans for the future.

The OT profession in Egypt is slowly growing and I hope the new year brings leaps and bounds of progress in regards to:


1. Continuing to create awareness of the benefits of OT services for the special needs population in Egypt.

2. Hiring foreign trained OT's to develop OT departments within established Egyptian organizations. Therefore, the development of these OT departments not only benefits the community in need, but also establishes facilities for future Egyptian students to complete their clinical fieldwork requirements for university.

***We need to hear from more Egyptian organizations, as I have had numerous inquires from international trained OT's interested in working in Egypt, but do not have the facilities to refer them too. I would be more than happy to post contact information for any OT job opportunities in Egypt on this blog.

3. Continuing to provide workshops and seminars about OT related topics.

At least two OT workshops will be presented at the ADVANCE SOCIETY'S 8th Annual Educational Conference in March 2008, held at the British International School in Cairo. Updates regarding the conference, will be posted in the new year on the LRC website. For more information about the conference, please visit the LRC website http://www.lrcegypt.org/

4. Starting the OT program at Ain Sham's University in 2008.

For more information regarding the OT Program Director Position, go to: http://www.wfot.org/office_files/Egypt%20Programme%20Director%20Ain%20Shams%20October%202007.pdf

5. Encouraging international OT students to participate in projects in relation to the need for OT development in Egypt (i.e visiting and volunteering in Egypt, raising money for supplies for under privileged people etc. ).

For a wonderful example of how international OT students can benefit from visiting Egypt and how Egyptians can benefit from their visit, then read the previous blog entry from September 2007: http://otegypt.blogspot.com/2007/09/american-ot-and-her-students-visit.html

6. ...and, how could I forget?!

Continued subscription to the Occupational Therapy in Egypt Blog, as well as, more contributions (i.e. shared experiences and photos) by people involved in the development of OT in Egypt.

Since starting the blog in June 2007, we have had over 2,800 hits to the blog and over 70 subscribers to the blog!

It has been a wonderful experience creating the blog and I only hope for continued success in 2008!

Please share with us your own experiences and Occupational Therapy in Egypt Goals...and have a happy and healthy new year!

Laura

Family Game Night

I am one of those people who grew up playing board games at home. With three older sister's there was always someone to play a game with; whether it be Monopoly, Sorry, Parcheesi, UNO, Battleship or Clue.

Well, 25 years later all these games are still around and children still love 'em! Children love all types of games, but unfortunately much of their time after school is spent filled with tutoring lessons, religious studies, sports, video games and TV. They often do not have a minute of "free time."

Board games can be educational and fun. Many games develop fine motor coordination, visual motor/perceptual skills, memory, problem solving, mathematical reasoning, and spelling skills.

So, why not have "Family Game Night" every week or at least once a month?

To get you started, I started to compile a list of games that school age children always enjoy. Many of these I have used in therapy and they are "kid approved!"



Of course not all games can be found in Cairo, so why not ask local distributors if they can start ordering some of these games? All of these games can be found online and many can also be ordered through Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/.

HASBRO: http://www.hasbro.com/

YAHTZEE

TWISTER



SCRABBLE


LITE BRITE

JENGA

CONNECT FOUR

BOGGLE

CHUTES AND LADDERS/CANDY LANE

THINK FUN: http://www.thinkfun.com/

RUSH HOUR

SHAPE BY SHAPE

ZINGO

GAME CLUB by Think Fun: A place where children learn problem solving skills while having fun. Check out the teachers guide at:

http://www.thinkfun.com/teachers_guide.pdf

OUT OF THE BOX PUBLISHING: http://www.otb-games.com/

SQUINT: have players guess the word, while you construct the picture with shapes on cards.

BLINK: kids love this visual perceptual, fast paced card game!

MY WORD: an excellent card game to build on a child's spelling skills!