Cool Courses On Outschool, Learning Is For Everyone & Mental Movies For Success

I recently signed up for Outschool.com, which is kind of like Udemy.com for kids. There are tons of great courses for kids of all ages and abilities.

As I was looking through the catalog I kept thinking WHY ARE THERE NOT MORE OT’s TEACHING THESE COURSES??

You could be teaching virtual courses on Outschool! Teachers get 70% of each enrollment fee and many teachers make about $60 per hour while teaching.

That’s more than some insurance companies pay per hour.

Signing up just to look around is tricky. It’s for kids only, so the site has some restrictions.

When you sign up, you have to pick an age and there’s no going back. If you say you’re 18, you’ll only be able to look at the courses that are relevant for 18-year-olds.  

I got around this by making multiple accounts, but I’m sure there’s a better way to do it (let me know if you figure it out).

These are a few of the awesome courses I found for teens, tweens & young adults:

Social Camp for Autistic Teens

Understanding Facial Expressions and What They Communicate

Navigating Social Media for Teenagers on the Autism Spectrum

Share and Stim: Social Hour for Autistic Teens

Water Cooler Conversations: Social Skills for Job Seekers with Disabilities

What happens to our patients when they grow up? When the school district is no longer responsible for their education? 

Children with disabilities are dropped by the educational system by 21 years of age, often with no other safety net as far as post-secondary education or job training.

This reality scared my friend Donald Bailey when his son, Donald, Jr., was about to graduate from high school.

What was next for an 18 year-old with autism? Was he just supposed to sit around the house all day and watch TV?

Rather than be paralyzed by the lack of options, Donald decided to start a post-secondary program for kids like his son in South Carolina.

He established the REACH program – a program aimed at providing life skills training to young adults with intellectual disabilities.

The REACH program is currently active, and thriving, in several colleges and universities in South Carolina.

In fact, one of my OT friends works in our local REACH program.

Several years ago Donald wrote a book about how he set up the REACH program and all of the obstacles he had to overcome to make it a reality.

If you’ve ever thought about starting a program for the teenagers you treat, I highly recommend picking up this book*.

Some of the info is a little dated, but Donald is always available by email to answer questions about the process (his email address is in the book).

His son, Donald, Jr., now lives independently and works for the county 30 hours a week. He even learned to drive!

These types of programs are vital, and I think OT’s are the perfect people to start them.

The science behind visualization for improving athletic performance is well-established. But did you know you can use the same methods for reaching your career goals, too?

Here’s how to do it:

• Write down a detailed description of your goals (bullet points are fine).
• Find images online that represent achieving your goals. Yes, this is kind of like a vision board, but images help jump-start the process. I find that images help me stay focused.
• Set aside a few minutes every day to visualize yourself overcoming obstacles and achieving your goals. Use your images to help focus your mind on the outcome you want. You don’t even have to close your eyes! Just read over your goals, look at your images and really see yourself doing the work and being successful.
• If negative thoughts pop up, it’s just your brain trying to protect you from failure. Thank your brain for the assistance, and then get back to visualizing.

Some days I set aside 2 minutes for visualization. Some days I can sit for 20 minutes.  

I do it no matter what, though, because I notice that visualizing busting through roadblocks and moving toward success keeps me motivated. It has also helped me solve therapy problems more creatively.

It feels like magic, but there’s research to support the process.

Here’s a great article to get you started.