Privacy Policy

This policy was last updated 7-11-18.

Your privacy is important to The OT Toolbox (www.theottoolbox.com) and The OT Toolbox Community (http://community.www.theottoolbox.com/). The policy below outlines how your personal information is collected and how it is used when you use our website.

You agree to the terms of this policy when you use this website. This privacy policy may change from time to time. If any changes are made, then you will be notified by revising the date at the top of this policy.

About The OT Toolbox
Founded in 2011 and based in The United States, The OT Toolbox and its community is an independently operated blog run by Colleen Beck, OTR/L. This website strives to share information related to childhood development and creative activities designed to promote, strengthen, and improve healthy development in children.

How Information is Collected
Here is how your information is collected on The OT Toolbox:

  • if you subscribe to the newsletter
  • if you leave a comment on the blog (see below)
  • if you purchase a product via the The OT Toolbox store
  • through website cookies and log files
  • through Google Analytics
  • if you post a comment, initiate a thread, share resources, or write a blog post on http://community.www.theottoolbox.com/ (The OT Toolbox Community)

Newsletter
If you decide to join the newsletter via any of the many sign up forms located throughout this website, then your first name and email address are required. We require your email address in order to send you the emails and we require your first name so that my emails to you will include a friendly personalized note. Occasionally, biggest problem areas or age ranges of your children are requested, only in order to send you information related to that age range and to provide information geared toward your specific needs.

At the bottom of every email I send, you will find a link to unsubscribe. You may unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. If you are having trouble unsubscribing or would like to be removed from the newsletter, then simply send me an email at theottoolbox@gmail.com asking to be removed.

I currently use Convert Kit as my email service provider. Your data is collected and then passed to them. Tags are used within Convert Kit to track your actions and page visits so that future emails can be better tailored to meet your needs.

Currently, I send a minimum of one email per week. However, I will occasionally email you about products and other promotions that may be relevant to your interests.

Free printables are sent directly to your email with a link via a third party application called Leadpages (read their privacy policy here).

Your email and name are never sold or given away to a third party.

All emails you receive are CAN-SPAM compliant. At the bottom of every email, you will find information on how to contact the sender, as well as information on how to unsubscribe.

Blog Comments
Currently comments are turned OFF on TheOTtoolbox.com. At some point, comments may be turned back ON, and if/when that occurs, readers will be able to leave comments on individual blog posts. If you choose to leave a comment on a blog post, then please be aware that the comment is then public and visible to anyone who reads the comment section. Your email address is never shared or disclosed, but your name and comment will be visible to others.

It is highly recommended that you avoid leaving detailed personal information in your comments.

I reserve the right to remove comments deemed as inappropriate, threatening, profane, or spammy without notice.

Store Purchases
Products in the The OT Toolbox Store are sold via SendOwl, and GumRoad. Your name, email address, and country are required during the checkout process. This information is required in order to send you the purchased product and to determine whether or not the EU VAT tax should be applied to your purchase.

The details you enter are stored by the third party applications. All payments are made through PayPal, which does not store your financial information once the transaction has been processed.

I also sell products via affiliate programs. Each program collects and retains their own data. I do not have access to the personal information that is collected by these affiliate programs. It is best to read their individual privacy policies for more information on how your data is collected and used.

Cookies

Cookies store user-specific information into a log. I use the following cookies on The OT Toolbox and The OT Toolbox Community:

The OT Toolbox and The OT Toolbox Community uses Google Analytics to track website performance and user behavior. It provides information on pageviews, referral sources, and other valuable information that helps me adapt the content I write for this website. Google Analytics does capture anonymous data about location, age, gender, and interests, but I have no way to connect that information and specifically identify you. Google Analytics may also capture your IP address as you make your way around this website. User and event data is retained for 26 months and then is automatically deleted. You can read more about that here.

Advertising Privacy Statement

This Site is affiliated with AdThrive, LLC (“AdThrive”) for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site.  AdThrive uses standard and widely-available tools for the placement and serving of ads, including those provided by Google, Inc. and its affiliates. We publish interest-based advertisements on the Site; that is, ads that are tailored to reflect your interests. To help understand your interests, AdThrive, Google and our other advertising partners will track your behaviour on our website and on other websites across the Internet using cookies.  
A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.  Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.
By using this Site, you consent to the use of such cookies and the sharing of data captured by such cookies with AdThrive, Google, and our other third party partners. You can view, delete or add interest categories associated with your browser by visiting: https://adssettings.google.com. You can also opt out of the network cookie using those settings or using the Network Advertising Initiative’s multi-cookie opt-out mechanism at: http://optout.networkadvertising.org. However, these opt-out mechanisms themselves use cookies, and if you clear the cookies from your browser your opt-out will not be maintained.  
For European Economic Area Residents
If you reside in a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), then under the GDPR and applicable data protection laws you have the rights, among other things, to access your personal data, have us erase it, and/or restrict its further processing.  If you wish to access or delete your personal data (if any) maintained by us or AdThrive related to advertising on the Site, you can contact AdThrive at info@adthrive.com. If you wish to see a list of the advertising partners we work with or change which of those partners track your behavior using cookies, click the ad preferences icon. (Available in the EU.)

Social Media Privacy
The OT Toolbox uses various social media platforms. The OT Toolbox is not responsible for what you post on The OT Toolbox social media channels.

Parental Consent
If you are under 16 years old, you must first have parental permission before using our website or entering personal information.

Final Notes on this Privacy Policy
You have the right to access your personal data and know how it is being processed. Hopefully, the policy above adequately explains how your data is used.

Personal information will not be transferred unless we are legally obligated to do so. If you would like your information to be removed from our systems, please contact theottoolbox@gmail.com. You can request to be removed at any time.

The OT Toolbox, it’s social media channels, newsletter, and The OT Toolbox Community contains links to other websites. As such, The OT Toolbox is not responsible for the privacy policies of other websites or the third party applications it uses.

If you have questions or concerns about this privacy policy, please feel free to contact us at theottoolbox@gmail.com.