Halloween Safety Tips: Safe Trick or Treating in Your Community
As you head out to enjoy Halloween this evening, here are a few safety tips to help keep you and your little trick or treaters safe while navigating your communities! Have a Plan – Plan out your safe trick or treat route before you go and let your ghosts & goblins know what to do…
Read MoreOT Strategies: Can my client with dementia drive?
Question: Can my client with dementia drive? When should I consider a driving evaluation for my client with dementia and when should I be talking about driving retirement? Dementia is a tough disease. It changes as it progresses. Understanding a client’s stage of dementia can be helpful for understanding how to intervene. I like to…
Read MoreOT Strategies: My client wants to drive. What can I do to help?
Question: What can I do to help prepare my patient for returning to driving? Do you have a client who wants to return to driving? You are stuck with where to start? Then read on! This blog includes tips and suggestions to help you expand and improve your driving & community mobility interventions. Resources for…
Read MoreOT Strategies: How can I improve reaction time?
Question: How can I improve my client’s reaction time? I was recently asked by an OT colleague, what can I do to improve my client’s reaction time? What is reaction time & how is it measured? Lots of things come into play when it comes to a client’s ‘reaction time.’ If we think about reaction…
Read MoreOT Strategies: Using the Driving Pathways by Diagnosis Sheets for OT Practitioners to Increase DCM in Your Own Practice
The Driving Pathways by Diagnosis Sheets for OT Practitioners was developed by American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and Genesis Rehab Services through support from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). to be used when developing client specific interventions for driving. The resources are based on common medical diagnosis groups including arthritis, cardiac conditions, stroke,…
Read MoreOT Strategies: How to have Positive Driving Conversations with Clients
Is your client a driver? Are you ready to help, but not sure where to start? Use these resources: To initiate positive conversations on safe driving and community mobility. As general education for drivers, families, physicians, and other members of the medical team. To lead short educational presentations. Educational resources for vehicle technology, physical fitness,…
Read MoreOn the Air: Susie Shares her Story
Have you ever thought, maybe I want to be a driver rehab specialist? Or maybe you are on the other side of the fence thinking, why would anyone do that? Listen in as Susie shares how it all started! She talks about how she found occupational therapy, navigated into driving rehab, and the twists and…
Read MoreLife is a Highway…
Lesson’s Learned from My First 30 Days in Private Practice This spring my professional career hit a major traffic jam when I was laid off and found myself searching for an alternate route. To say it was difficult, would be an understatement. I was not quite sure what I would do next, but I knew…
Read MoreFacebook Live with Dr. Touchinsky
Get a peek into our relationship as Dr. Buddy Touchinsky & I go live to chat about Driving Rehab Listen in as we talk about: What the heck I do all day Occupational therapy Driving rehab Who needs a driving evaluation How to learn more! https://www.facebook.com/doctortouchinsky/videos/641934942860197/
Read MoreDriving Simulators
I got a great question today about driving simulators and brands. Here are some quick thoughts: Driving Simulators DO NOT REPLACE a driving evaluation However, driving simulators are great for preparing the client to return to driving or, in some cases, to help with driving retirement conversations Not all driving simulators are created equal! So…
Read MoreOT Strategies: Tips for Discussing Driving Retirement
What is Driving Retirement? Driving retirement is the transition from being an active driver to becoming an active passenger. Driving is a significant and very meaningful occupation. Many of us identify driving as the link to independence, to our identity and to supporting other key occupations. Losing driving as an occupation can feel devastating to…
Read MoreDriving & Dementia: OT Strategies for Evaluation & Intervention
With the changes the dementia disease process causes in the brain, it is no surprise that the ability to drive would be affected. Current research related to individuals with dementia and driving indicates that it is not a matter of if they should stop driving, but when they should they stop driving. Therefore, in this…
Read MoreOT Strategies: Driving Retirement Strategies for Dementia
When working with a client with dementia and caregivers, remember that the conversation about driving retirement is most likely more for the benefit of the family, as opposed to the person with dementia. The person with dementia will most likely not be able to abide by driving retirement independently and will require the support from…
Read MoreConversations About Driving: Tips for the OT
Conversations about driving and community mobility do not come naturally for most OTs. But this is an important topic we all need to address. Here some tips to help you be be more confident during your next conversation about driving. Strategies for Effective Driving Conversations: Find a role model – conversations and interventions Remember to…
Read MoreBut What About Driving?
Why we, as occupational therapy practitioners, must think about driving The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers. ~Dave Barry, “Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn” For me,…
Read MoreFamilies & Caregivers: When Should We Approach the Topic of Driving Retirement?
Regardless of age, many people consider driving to be a freedom or right. When it comes to older adults, however, driving conversations have focused on ‘taking the keys’ and other messages of driving cessation, also known as driving retirement. Stories of older adults involved in crashes have been sensationalized in the media. No wonder drivers,…
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