Anne Zachry, PhD, OTR/L, chair and assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy in the College of Health Professions at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), has been recognized by Feedspot as having one of the top 75 occupational therapy (OT) blogs on the web. Her blog was ranked 26th by Feedspot.
Dr. Zachry started her blog, Pediatric Occupational Therapy Tips in 2011, and since then the site has had over two million site views. The blog provides information on a variety of topics, including sensory processing, fine motor skills, handwriting, and evidence-based occupational therapy practice.
Her favorite section is called, “Therapy on a Shoestring Budget.” Therapy supplies and materials can be very expensive, this series of blog posts shares a variety of fun, inexpensive, “do-it-yourself” ideas for therapy supplies that can be created using everyday materials.
Prior to coming to UTHSC, Dr. Zachry worked in the school system for over 20 years. The parents and caregivers of the children that she served frequently asked her for activities that they could have their children complete at home that would address sensory processing, fine motor and handwriting skills. “I created a variety of therapy activity sheets, and I started sending them home with the children on my caseload,” she said. “As the popularity of the internet grew, I decided to create a blog using the content from the activity sheets. This made it easy for anyone to access the information, and I was able to include colorful photos and videos as well. The more I posted, the more the popularity of the blog grew.”
“One of my goals for the blog is to increase awareness about the OT profession,” Dr. Zachry said. “I also want therapists, caregivers, and parents to understand that therapy should be fun and meaningful to the child.”
Dr. Zachry also wants to stress the importance of OTs using evidence-based practice, or client-centered practice that is supported by quality research studies and clinical expertise. “I hope that this series of posts will help OTs understand how important it is to critically review the research to ensure that they are implementing best practices to improve client outcomes.”
To see what other blogs made Feedspot’s list, visit https://blog.feedspot.com/occupational_therapy_blogs/
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