August Birthday Celebrants!

Happy Birthday to the August Babies!



Cohort 3

August 24 - Lisa and Janice

August 25 - Maryann and Irene



Cohort 4 Section 1

August 7 - Amporn

August 10 - Sandy

August 20 - Erika C.

August 23 - Brianna



Cohort 4 Section 2

August 10 - Maria

August 16 - Karyn

August 22 - Mary

Update on the Ralphs Fundraiser by PTE

Kunthy, Treasurer of Pi Theta Epsilon Society, would like to announce an update on the fundraiser that we have in partnership with Ralph's Supermarkets. There is a new Rewards program that they have recently launched and many of the people who has enrolled in the previous program will be receiving new cards. This changes will affect the PTE fundraising if people do not make any of the necessary changes mentioned below. They had provided everyone with two options and both of them easy to follow.

From Ralphs: As most of you probably know, Ralphs recently launched it's new 'Ralphs Rewards' program. All customers will be completing a new application and receiving a new card the next time they go shopping at Ralphs.

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT RALPHS COMMUNITY REWARDS?

(1) As long as your members LINK their previously enrolled Ralphs Club Card with their new Ralphs Rewards Card, their participation with your organization will continue without change. As a confirmation point, everyone will still see the organization contribution note at the bottom of their receipt.

(2) If they did not link their 2 cards together when they received their new Rewards Card, they must go online at http://www.ralphs.com/ to ENROLL their new Ralphs Rewards Card with your organization.

If you have any questions, please call us at 1-800-443-4438.

RALPH'S FUNDRAISER

Every time you spend money, you make money for PTE! It literally takes 30 seconds. Even better, you can get ALL your friends and family to register too!!

Here's how to do it:

1. Go to http://www.ralphs.com/ccprogram.htm.

2. Click on Participant, the link on the right.

3. Click I Agree.

4. PTE's NPO Number is 90353.

5. Fill out the card information and the matching personal info.

6. Click Submit! It's that easy!

You MUST have the card number to register. If you or your family has lost the card, there is a phone number you can call to get it. Just let them know you lost the card but you need to have the card number. The phone number is 800-660-9003.

Asking for everyone's help and generosity!

Mae P. of Cohort 3 is asking everyone's help to support a program called Casa Teresa. It is a program that provide homes for homeless unwed mothers ages 18 and over at Orange, CA. If you would like to check the full information about the program you can check it at http://www.casateresa.com/. Mae would be collecting all the donations until July 30th and will be given to Casa Teresa on August 3rd. If you have additional questions, you can contact her at mcspascua@hotmail.com. Examples of the items that will be needed are provided below. Mae would like to thank everyone in advance for their help, support, and generosity.

New or "Barely" Used Baby Items for Mothers:
Cribs
Bassinets
New Crib Mattresses
Crib Linens
Mylacon drops
Baby Tylenol
Orajel
Baby Bathtubs
New or near new baby clothes (size newborn – 2T)
Receiving Blankets
Diapers (size newborn to Size 4)
New Car seats and Strollers
Canned/Dry Food
Baby Formula
Baby Wipes
Baby MonitorsMiscellaneous Items for the Residents:
Food Cards
Phone Cards
Bath Robes
Pajamas
Gift Cards for Wal-Mart or Target
Bedding
Towels
New Bed Pillows
Alarm Clock/Radios
Laundry Baskets
Disposable Cameras

Office Equipment/Technology:

Fax Machine, Scanner, Photo Printer

The Ball Pit & Jenny

Dear Ball Pit:
Hi. It has been a while, I’m sorry. About 3 years, in fact. How are you? I have been super busy and doing really well. Remember how we met? I had just graduated Cal Lutheran with a Psych degree and just come to the realization and conclusion that I am too emotional already to be all that a psychologist should be. Perfect. Timing. Luckily, I was able to move from part time to full time at my job. As you know all too well, working with kids with Autism can be both frustrating and rewarding; aaaaaand can open many doors for opportunity, which is how I met you!
One of the children I was working with regularly (and completely in love with) suddenly had to change her schedule. I had been seeing her 3 times a week for almost a year and was now at the risk of seeing her maybe once a week...maybe even not at all. Well, what the heck? Why was this happening? Apparently, she was going to start seeing an Occupational Therapist for sensory integration. Oh. Yeah, of course. Obviously. Wait, what? What IS that?
I decided I wasn’t going to go down without a fight so I told Mom that I would just go to her OT sessions with her. Maybe I could help somehow? I had never seen anything like a Sensory Integration Clinic. It was a huge room filled with you, swings and slides, and zip-lines. There were children working with therapists and their parents, having a great time. It was only later that I learned these “toys” served a major purpose. I started looking into Occupational Therapy on the internet and asking about it around my job. I loved the idea that children could be helped by making them feel good AND give solutions to problems I didn’t even know they could have. Naïve.
So the reason I haven’t seen you in sooo long is because I have been going to school to become an OT. School has opened my eyes to all of the different avenues Occupational Therapy can cover. I hope you don’t get jealous, but there is a whole adolescent population in the mental health field just waiting to be helped, and I think I’ve found my calling there. But don’t be sad, please, because it was from within you that I realized I wanted to be an OT. Remember that day? I was sitting right in the middle of you, waiting for a child to come down the slide into my arms. So thank you. You don’t know what you have done for me. I love you!

Thank you, thank you always and forever,

Jenny N. <3

July Birthday Celebrants!

Cohort 3


July 1 - Cali H.

July 23 - Kristi R.

July 31 - Amy Z.



Cohort 4 Section 1


July 11 - Kate

July 18 - Robert

July 26 - Julie



Cohort 4 Section 2


July 29 - Anna

July 31 - Zach



Happy Birthday to all of you! Wishing you more fruitful endeavors to come!

Fieldwork I experience

by Avry Umali

It's the first fieldwork experience for Cohort 4 occupational therapy students!

I remember we were all excited prior to receiving our corresponding fieldwork sites. Now that we have seen how occupational therapy works in various settings or how these sites can benefit from occupational therapy, its time to reflect upon them and share the experience with our other classmates.

It would be interesting to find out where other people went and know what you think of your site! Describe your fieldwork site (you don't have to write down the name of the site for privacy). Add in the skills or things that you've learned there and maybe add in what you think their site or program can improve in. Your suggestions and comments are welcome!

SOTA Officers for School Year 2008-2009

Submitted by: Katy Rae Bachar
Edited by: Avry Umali

As Cohort 3's departure from campus activity approaches, they will be passing the torch to Cohort 4 for all administrative and executive functions for SOTA. Here are your new SOTA officers for the school year 2008-2009:

President: Cody M.

Vice President: Jessica A.

Treasurer: Kristen H.

Secretary: Amporn K.

Fundraising: VACANT

Social/Community Service: Ieecha H.

Historian: Jacqueline M. and Gloria H.

Newsletter: Avry U. and Erin K.

Snack Shoppe Representative: Jeanette Young


If anyone who is energetic and a natural advocate is out there, please apply for the fundraising position!

Here is a short message from Zeela Diwa, the previous fundraising chairperson from cohort 3:

HEY COHORT 4! This is Zeela, from cohort 3 and current fundraising chair for SOTA. I encourage any one of you to do this position for SOTA. You can put the FUN in fundraising, I know I did;) The officer position is vital to SOTA's funding of meetings, events, and activities. Also, you can use whatever money you raise for your Alumni Night, Graduation Banquet, and other exciting events. It does not require much work, as long as you can find fundraising opportunities and possible donors, this will not take too much out of your precious time. I did most of the events on days when the cohort had no class, which is mostly Fridays. You can also work with other officers to help fundraise. I am including an attachment to this email about what I did as a SOTA officer. Please consider this position!

Peace, Zeela

Congratulations to all!

What do occupational therapy students during their break?

by Avry Umali

1st summer session has finally ended. I know that there is another session in store for us but before that, let’s enjoy our week break from school! So throw away your books for a little while (hopefully not literally), sit back, and relax!

In relation to school breaks, I conducted a survey about how CSUDH occupational therapy students would do or plan to do with their seven days. I had a total of 50 survey sheets returned out of 76 (65.79%) students in the masters of occupational therapy program. 25 students came from cohort 3, 8 students from cohort 4 section 1, and 18 students from cohort 4 section 2.

Survey sheets were distributed to occupational therapy students prior to end of spring 2008 break. The survey sheet had the question “How do OT students spend their precious week off from school?”. A maximum of ten items were allowed on the survey sheets. Survey sheets were collected and the total numbers of responses were recorded. Cohort 3 had a total of 231 responses, cohort 4 section 1 had a total of 67 responses, and cohort 4 section 2 had a total of 159 responses.

All responses were categorized and sorted. The categories that emerged were:

Table I. Categories of survey responses

Sleep
vacation & trips
cleaning/organizing area (room, house, apartment, car, etc)
watch a movie/tv
meet/eat/call friends, relatives, loved ones
relaxing or do nothing
get a job and make some money/work
exercise or going to the gym
eating (out or in)
school related activities (Buying or selling books, registering for summer school, etc)
go to clubs and bars (can be drinking/dancing, specified)
be involved in any sport
doing crafts or other projects
PC/video console activities (blogging, playing games, surfing the internet)
run errands (do grocery shopping, pay bills, etc)
cooking and/or baking
reading
drinking
shopping (clothes, shoes, etc.)
dancing
listening to music
smoking


I have sorted the top five activities that emerged from each cohort’s survey. The results were as follows:

Table II. Cohort 3’s top 5 activities to do during their school break (n=231)


meet/eat/call friends, relatives, loved ones=49 responses (21.21%)

vacation & trips=30 responses (13.00%)

cleaning/organizing area (room, house, apartment, car, etc)=16 responses (6.93%)

watch a movie/tv TIE exercise or going to the gym=14 responses (6.06%)

doing crafts or other projects=11 responses (4.76%)



Table III. Cohort 4 section 1’s top 5 activities to do during their school break (n=67)

meet/eat/call friends, relatives, loved ones TIE vacation & trips=11 responses (16.42%)

relaxing or do nothing TIE cooking and/or baking=6 responses (8.96%)

watch a movie/tv TIE exercise or going to the gym=5 responses (7.46%)

school related activities (Buying or selling books, registering for summer school, etc)=4 responses (5.97%)

doing crafts or other projects TIE shopping (clothes, shoes, etc.)=3 responses (4.48%)



Table IV. Cohort 4 section 2’s top 5 activities to do during their school break (n=159)

meet/eat/call friends, relatives, loved ones=27 responses (16.98%)

vacation & trips=20 responses (12.58%)

watch a movie/tv =12 responses (7.55%)

school related activities (Buying or selling books, registering for summer school, etc)=9 responses (5.66%)

exercise or going to the gym TIE shopping (clothes, shoes, etc.)=8 responses (5.03%)



One thing that I can say is that all three cohorts identifying and agreeing on the same activity was amazing. I guess we learn to value our relationships with other people as we deal with the daily stress of school life.

What do you guys think of these results? Please write and comment!