Welcome to The OT Toolbox
Our mission is to help you do that-to provide you with tools, inspiration, and the community you need to succeed.
The OT Toolbox is a site for Occupational Therapists
Are you an OT who needs fresh ideas to work with children who experience sensory processing dysfunction, fine motor deficits, visual perceptual concerns, or executive functioning challenges?
Are you a therapist who struggles to find information to hand off to parents and teachers in easy-to-understand ways?
This site is for therapists.
The OT Toolbox is a site for parents
Are you a parent who is looking for creative ways to work on developmental skills? Do you have questions about things like when your child should write, color, get dressed on their own, or eat without spilling their soup?
Do you have concerns about sensory processing and are looking for ways to help your child grow and experience life without being on sensory overload or avoid certain textures?
Are you looking for information on fine motor skill development or have concerns about the way your child holds his pencil, writes letters, or wondering why they can’t button their coat yet?
This is the site for parents.
The OT Toolbox is a site for Teachers
Are you a teacher who struggles to find meaningful and easy ways to sneak fine motor development activities into the classroom curriculum?
Do you have children with handwriting challenges and just don’t know how to help these kids develop the skills needed for legible written work?
Are you struggling with attention, organization, or other executive functioning issues in the classroom?
The OT Toolbox is a site for Teachers.
Welcome to The OT Toolbox!
Some of our most popular content is located at the top menu bar of the site. These areas are perfect for therapists, teachers, and parents:
Sensory Processing Information
Visual Perception and Visual Motor Skills
Promoting Childhood Development Through Cooking with Kids
Using Crafts to Promote Fine Motor Skills and Visual Perception
Using Children’s Books to Promote Healthy Development of the Child
About The OT Toolbox site:
The beliefs and values of The OT Toolbox are intertwined within each post, article, social media post, email, and message. You will always know what to expect from us. We are striving to promote the healthy development of kids.
Inspire- We’re here to inspire you each and every day. Our intent is to empower you with resources and tools that promote the healthy development of kids through creative activities, sounded in experience and evidence that can be carried out with ease.
Development- Development occurs through play, movement, and exploration. These areas are intertwined in the child. The OT Toolbox is here to support and promote and active and healthy lifestyle through motivating and authentic experiences.
Encourage-Strong, healthy kids that live their life to their fullest through strengths, interests, creative interventions, accommodations, modifications, and all the other tools we therapists provide. This site is an encouragement that in the trenches of focusing on occupation, life comes in fun, easy, authentic, real, evidence-based, and creative ways.
Share- We’re here to share strategies, tips, tools. and ideas that fill up your “toolbox” with a set of necessary to meet the challenges that kids today experience everyday.
Grow- We’re here to grow as professionals, just like you! As an OT, we always have the ability to grow and develop as professionals. Learning happens throughout the lifespan as we all know and the OT can learn new tricks to meet the needs of clients and changing needs.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an Occupational Therapist since 2000. She created The OT Toolbox and is the author/creator of the website and its social media platforms. Colleen has authored The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook and co-authored The Handwriting Book, The Scissor Skills Book, and The Toilet Training Book.
A Little About Colleen:
10 facts about Colleen~
1. I have been an Occupational Therapist since 2000. After having my third baby, I stayed at home and put the OT on the back burner. Being creative is a must, though and this blog became the place for me to create and share. I love to pull my OT background into blog posts with developmental spins on crafts and activities.
2. I am an Aunt to 11 nieces and nephews including my husbands side of the family. We have a lot of sleepovers at our house that always involve fun play and crafts. Being an Aunt is the Best!
3. I have run three marathons and lots of half marathons.
4. I live within 15 minutes of both of my sisters. I LOVE that my kids get to grow up with their cousins.
5. I have four kids and between all four pregnancies, have been in labor for 56 hours.
6. I have a small cookie obsession. Ok, not small.
7. I have 6 laundry baskets that are ALWAYS full of dirty clothes, clean-need-folded clothes, or need-put-away clothes. Always.
8. We have only one pet: a fish named Marshmallow.
9. I drink waaaay too much coffee.
10. People call me Supermom and ask how I do it all. My answer is I am definitely NOT a Supermom. I do try my hardest to be a super. mom. for my kids. I can do bits and pieces of the things I love to do but can not do it all all the time…and there are many things that make every other mom out there a super rock-star mom that I can not do. We can’t do it all, friends. We’re in this motherhood thing together. Every mom is a super mom to their kids. Just do the things that you do best. And your kids will see you as a superhero. You’ve got this!
Contact Us:
Interested in contacting us? Send us a message! We love to hear from you. Questions, Comments, and Inquiries are always welcome. Interested in a guest post from us, collaboration on a project, or product review? Let us know!
Shoot me an email…theottoolbox@gmail.com