How to Create a Blog Home Program

There is an exciting new feature on The OT Toolbox. Many (many) of you are now thrown into virtual therapy as a means of providing therapy services to your patients and caseload. This kiddos are struggling right along with their parents, teachers, and the rest of the world. They NEED their therapy interventions for a sense of normalcy. They need regulation tools, coping strategies, or ways to work on specific areas to help them thrive. Many of you have asked for ways to work with your children in a way that helps them thrive and makes your life easier.

That’s why I’ve worked to get an individualized resource center in place for you.

Newly released on The OT Toolbox, is a Blog Resource Center (official name still to be released). This resource center is a place where therapists can log-in and create individualized or generalized home programs, resources, and recommendation lists for their clients. This is a blog format, but a multi-faceted means to provide a home program. Gone are the days of printed off exercise plans with check boxes for completing each exercise or activity, right?

We are in a new era. It’s one in which we have been heaved into. It’s surreal, isn’t it? One day we as therapists had our cozy little school-based office in the janitor’s closet ( ? ) or completed a treatment day a mega-amazing clinic complete with crash pads and rock walls. The next, we are quarantined with a laptop and all of our regular therapy tools locked up in those closets and clinics. Crazy, right!!??

That’s where the blog resource center came in.

This resource-sharing tool has actually been in the works here on The OT Toolbox. It’s the product of my creative effort to put tools into your hands, as therapists. I wanted to come up with a way for occupational therapists, (some of the most creative-thinking people on earth) to share resources and tools with those they serve. Creating a space online where images, videos, lists, and files could be posted in a multi-dimensional home programming system is modern, innovative, and practical.

So, when massive numbers of therapists and educators moved to virtual treatment capacities, I knew this had to the be time to get the blog resource center out into the hands of those who needed it most.

A Synopsis of the Blog Resource Center

This versatile online tool provides a means to provide information to families.

The website format allows therapists to create a home program that can get into the hands of anyone with online access through a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Link to your home program page on Zoom, Google Classroom, or any teletherapy platform.

Therapists can create an online blog that directs their clients through specific and individualized home programs.

This is an online pediatric OT therapy platform-for telehealth/therapy. Therapists can easily share and link resources on The OT Toolbox with parents.

This is the start of an all-purpose and sophisticated teletherapy platform. While interactive games and apps are not yet available, we are exploring additional tools to better serve you.

This is a way to link to OT-centered apps that are available online.

You can easily embed YouTube videos directly into the blog posts that guide your clients through specific activities.

You can upload videos taken from your mobile device that directs your clients and their families through specific activities.

Video conferencing is not available at this time. This is a blog-type resource center. Think of it like a virtual home program. Clients’ families can read instructions and plans, view images, listen to videos or audio files, and access files, templates, apps, and games. If you’ve ever wished for an interactive home program, this is for you.

You can create a web-based page where you can invite families or parents. They will not be able to see anyone else that has accessed the site.

There is not accountability portion at this point, because you will not be able to see who has accessed the url, but we are looking into that portion.

Use the blog post as a checklist for activities to complete with clients via phone call, email, or video conference.

There is no login needed by families. Therapists can share the url to their blog post with families (many or individualized) and families can access the tools they need to complete as part of the home programming. The url is not accessible by search or indexing on The OT Toolbox, so only those who have access to the specific url will see it.

HIPAA, FERPA, and Private Information

Despite the secret urls that are generated when a blog post is created in this resource center, Private information should not be used on these blog posts. No identifying information should be included in blog posts created as home programming.

Despite the use of secret urls, the links are not privately protected. There is nothing preventing anyone with the link to prevent them from seeing it.

Names, ages, specific physical locations, and any personally identifying information should NOT be included on the blog posts.

How to use the blog resource center

Setting up your first blog home program is easy. Below, you will find directions to set up your home programming pages. For a visual directions, check out the video below.

STEP 1: Click on “Log In” on the top navigation bar on The OT Toolbox.

STEP 2: Log in or create a new account if you don’t already have one set up.

STEP 3: Click on the “My Posts” button.

STEP 4: Click on the “Create Post” button.

STEP 5: Write your first home program in blog post format!

How to create a home program in blog post format

TITLE: This can be as simple as “Home program for April 1st” or as detailed as “Activities to work on finger isolation”

POST DESCRIPTION: In the post description, enter any information that you would like to have completed in your home programming descriptions. Thies can be created in paragraph or list format.

FILES (Audio, Video, PDF, Word docs, ect.): You can upload one file per blog post. This is set at one file per blog post in order to reduce confusion and information overload among your clients. You are free to create as many blog posts as you like if additional files or videos are needed.

IMAGES: Add images throughout your home program if you like. When you want to add the image, click the insert photo button. Images are best viewed in square format. Please do not use images found through Google search or on Pinterest. These are copyrighted images and will be removed.

FEATURED IMAGE: Upload one of your images here to serve as the placeholder in your “my posts” dashboard. This provides a catalogue-like menu for your clients to choose from images and blog post titles. when they have the link to all of your posts.

General Information: You can create a general home program for all (or a set of your clients) or an individualized home program for each client.

Remember to not use any identifying information in blog posts. Anyone with the secret link could see your home program.

Please do not copy/paste content found anywhere online. You are free to link to web pages that you wish to reference.

Please do not link to companies or products. The purpose of these blog posts are to serve your clients, not sell to them.

Before publishing, you need to agree to a few items: Click the boxes stating you have not included any private information and that you did not link to outside products/companies. Click the reCAPTCHA button and hit the “Create Post” button. That’s it! Your home program is now live on The OT Toolbox resource platform!

You can find the link to share your blog posts with your clients by clicking on “My Posts” on your account dashboard. You can grab the link to share all of your posts or you can click on each individual post and share that url with individual clients or classrooms.

A few rules for the OT TOOLBOX Home Program Platform

While you can upload files, NO copyrighted files can be uploaded. This includes digital files that you’ve purchased from this website and other websites.

No content (words, text, or images) can be copy/pasted from this site or other sites.

Finally, know that in the initial phase of this platform, all posts must be approved by The OT Toolbox at this time, to ensure SPAM or excessive links are not being added. At the end of the day, this is a facet of The OT Toolbox and the reputation as a professional resource must be upheld. Please understand that all posts are subject to being edited and harmful links or self-promotional links will be removed. The primary goal of this platform is to serve therapists working through virtual therapy and to provide tools to help individuals thrive. Any questions or for help, please direct emails to contact@theottoolbox.com

For a detailed explanation of how to create an account, check out this video:

Any questions? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com