WOW. What an amazingly exhausting day! Today was day one of our conference for the community. There were a total of four sessions; three lead by PTs focusing on transfers, range of motion, and positioning and one by the OT focusing on types of sensory processors and how to support them in the classroom. For those of us not leading sessions we did some HARD work today. I started my morning by blowing up 50 balloons for the entrance arch, then set up the refreshments table in the auditorium, needed help making coffee (I don’t drink the stuff), and cleaned desks and chairs. Four of us cut, hole punched, and ringed up 70 sets of PECS keychains (picture exchange communication), cut PVC pipe to make homemade rain sticks, folded up and put away about 20 gymnastics mats after the PTs were finished with them, and moved four entire classrooms worth of high schools desks back into their respective classrooms.
We are tired, dirty, and a bit sore. But conference attenders (about 40 in all) were very excited and receptive to what was being shared and felt like they learned valuable tools today. Let’s hope they come back tomorrow for academic training in the areas of reading and math, music therapy, and communication. I’m going to go shower. Or sleep. Or maybe both. Check back in tomorrow to hear how my training goes!