Some thoughts on life

A Book Review of Ask, Part I by Ryan Levesque

Levesque, R. (2015). Ask: The counterintuitive online formula to discover exactly what your customers want to buy ... create a mass of raving fans ... and take any business to the next level. United States: Dunham Publishing Group.

            

                Ryan Levesque Ask book was first presented to me on the internet. I think I paid shipping to get a free copy of the book. I purchased it because it promised to help with business. As a small-business owner, I am always looking for books that help with business. Oddly enough, I received two copies of the book. I’ve had them on my shelf for a while, but decided to pick it up and start reading it tonight (January 24, 2016).

                Part I of this book is a self-written autobiography by Rayn Levesque. He discusses his life aspirations and how he came to discover and put together his famous “Ask-technique.” This technique isn’t revealed until part 2, (which I haven’t read at this time).

                                Neuroscience is something I don’t know anything about. I had posted a blog entry at my Rec Therapy Today blog earlier today [on Sunday, January 24, 2016] regarding 13 books that Neuroscientist Sam Harris recommends for people to read. I didn’t recognize any of the books recommended. The post did mention and suggest the Tim Ferris Show.  Ironically, The Four-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss is pointed out as a book that he had read while in China.

               

                Levesque  discusses how he studied neuroscience at Brown University because he was originally planning on becoming a doctor. He didn’t take that path. He makes a reference to the sour grapes fable, where the fox who is not able to reach the delicious grapes, decides to call them sour and pretend he didn’t really want them.

                

               Self-determination is also discussed in his book. Levesque posts a self-reflection question in his that is strikingly similar to the one Daniel Pink asked in his (2009) book, Drive. He has a choice to select a high salary ($120,000) or take a third of that salary ($42,000 with no bonuses) but have a very intrinsically rewarding career.  Levesque takes the path less taken and goes for the personally fulfilling career.

                

            Law of Attraction (LOA) experts argue that you attract and bring into your life whatever you think about most. Levesque doesn’t discuss LOA, however, he appears to have implied in his chapter on “an unexpected twist,” where he receives a message about an opportunity at the right time.

                

              Levesque includes a long letter that he had written to his mother. The letter consists of goal to makea lot of money from a business concept. He discusses several of his personal qualities that gives him faith that he can make it happen.

These qualities consisted of:

• ·         Goal-setting
• ·         Hard-work: to learn more
• ·         Taking courses: to learn more information
• ·         Persistent: keeping at it and improving

                He appears to be self-validating of his own accomplishments when addressing this letter to his mother. He appears to be seeking her validation as well and yet determined to go for his dream of making money without any validation from others.

                Levesque appears to have always had an interest in business, marketing, and copywriting from an early age.  He shared how he had studied copywriting from Gary Halbert Letters.

Part 2 (The techniques) will be covered in the next Rec Therapy Today blog entry.

Bibliography

Levesque, R. (2015). Ask: The counterintuitive online formula to discover exactly what your customers want to buy ... create a mass of raving fans ... and take any business to the next level. United States: Dunham Publishing Group.

Pink, D. (2009). Drive

5 Life Lessons you didn't learn in school

The late Jim Rohn is my favorite motivational speaker.

Here is a really neat article:

http://www.success.com/article/5-life-lessons-you-never-learned-in-school

National Ditch New Year's Resolutions Day!

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to write a n

ew book for Recreational Therapists.

I started writing the book on Jan. 1^st. However, it isn’t the book I had in mind to write.  I do plan to write both of them.

The calendar claims that January 17^th is national ditch your resolution day. Laugh aloud.

I hope you won’t ditch your continuing education goals.

Go here and sign-up for a self-study Rec Therapy CEU course now:

http://www.dannypettry.com/courses.html

How to learn more

Be curious. You'll learn more:

http://sciencealert.com.au/news/20142710-26398.html

Rec. Therapy in Public Schools.

I had the great privilege and opportunity to attend the “Recreational Therapy in School Settings: Current Status and Future Directions” at the 2011 American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) conference.

It was provided by: Lisa Mische Lawson, Ph.D., CTRS (of Kansas City area), Kathy Coyle, Ph.D., CTRS, and by one practitioner: Thea Kavanaugh, CTRS (New Mexico).

Note: Thea claimed that she found her position via the RecreationTherpay.Com job page. That web-site is operated by my good friend and fellow West Virginian Charlie Dixon. Here is the link: http://www.recreationtherapy.com/jobs

Okay, let me get back to the session. Sometimes I get off on tangents when I’m writing.
The purpose of this session was the take a look at the current status of Recreational Therapy in the school systems. There are Recreational Therapists in a number of schools throughout the United States. Several states were shared aloud. My state “West Virginia” was not one of them. I already knew this.

Recreational Therapists could work in three different positions for schools

These could include:

• Full-time staff



• Consultant



• Contractual employee. I think any real go-getter could create businesses and start providing services as a contractual employee.

Overall it will take strong advocacy! A Rec. Therapist could attend a local Board of Education meeting!

A Recreational Therapist can’t just go in and do anything in the school setting.

There are regulations.

• Recreational Therapists in community settings must follow the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).



• Recreational Therapists in behavioral health and rehabilitation must follow Medicare.



• Recreational Therapists in Schools must follow the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and No School Left Behind.

The good news is that “Recreation and Therapeutic Recreation” is a covered service under IDEA. A child with special needs has the right to these services when they can help a child to function more independently in a school setting.

IDEA mandates: zero rejection, non-discriminatory evaluation, appropriate education, and least restrictive environment.

The services must be listed on the child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). It might not specify for a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) to provide the services. The rules vary from state to state. Most states will claim the highest qualified person. Naturally, a person with CTRS credentials would be the most qualified to provide Therapeutic Recreation (TR) a.k.a. Rec. Therapy services. This would be an easy argument to make if interpretation of the best qualified was an issue.

It is important that the IEP is written in a way that demonstrates the child will function more independently in the educational setting.

Thea had shown several examples of her IEP goals, quarterly progress reports, and annual progress reports for students. I think she is very through and she is setting a good example for recreational therapists in all settings. I felt very inspired by the picture slideshow of the things she is doing to help the children in her school district! It looked awesome! I’m so glad the students there have her.

There are four things that a Recreational Therapist in a school setting can do:

• Assessments



• Planned Therapeutic Recreation (TR) interventions



• Social skills training/ Activity skills training, Leisure Education



• Recreation opportunities/ Community

It is important that Recreational Therapists are using interventions that are based on research. Evidenced-based practice is important. It shows that interventions have been proven to be effective. The school system calls this Scientific Evidence Practice.

There are several laws that RTs should know about:

• Clarion-Goldberg, Comm. School Dist. (1994) showed that leisure goals can be on an IEP



• Re Child with Disabilities (1993) showed that social skills can be on an IEP



• Franklin # 5 School Dist. (1985): a child with autism had been banned from afterschool program due to disruptive behaviors (which is typical for a child with his diagnosis). This law showed that a child can’t be denied services due to his (or her) disability.
  

Two more to look up and know about are:
Montgomery Co. Public Schools (1998) and Silsbee Independent School District (1997).
Information can also be found at:
http://www.wrightslaw.com/

I work in a residential behavioral health treatment setting. We have an on-campus school. Sometimes a child will arrive to our facility with an IEP. I’ve never seen one that identified a Recreational Therapist as a “Service Provider.” I think that would be awesome!

There are many things that I provide at the facility that could be on an IEP for a child with special needs. Some of the interventions that I provide include: assertiveness training, social skills training, conflict resolution skills, community re-integration, opportunities for physical fitness, leisure education, and recreation/ activity task skills.

I don’t do much with fine-motor skills or transition skills. There have been a limited amount of children with these needs.

You can get in touch with Thea Kavanaughat the ATRA site here. Note: you must be a member of ATRA to access this forum:

http://atra-online.com/forumviewmessage.cfm?forumnbr=6775&topicnbr=13582&discussionnbr=786585

ATRA also offers a good book Therapeutic Recreation in Special Education. Here is a link for that book:

http://atra-online.com/storelistitem.cfm?itemnumber=85

Networking

Looking for great ways to network with other professionals in our field?

Look no further. Here are four great ways to network:

• The American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) offers several great ways to network. First, “Friend” ATRA on Facebook. You don’t have to be a member of ATRA to be their friend on Facebook. Go here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/americantherapeuticrecreationassociation

• Second, Join the ATRA ListServ. Again, you don’t have to be a member of ATRA to join this. Go here to subscribe. It is easy to do: http://www.atra-online.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=98

• Third, participate in the ATRA forum online. I think you might need to be an ATRA Member to participate in this online forum. You can post questions and get answers! http://www.atra.affiniscape.com/forum.cfm

• Fourth, participate in one of the treatment networks that ATRA has. They’ve got several, including: behavioral health, geriatrics, physical rehab and medicine, and pediatrics. I believe you need to be an ATRA member to participate in this one.

Education articles -- back to school?

There are a lot of interesting articles about careers at the link below.

Recreational Therapists and students in degree programs may want to read some of these articles.

Go here:

http://education.yahoo.net/articles/back-to-school_options_for_you.htm?kid=1H98Y

Save UNO! Update

Heather Holmes posted this info. at the facebook page to save the RT program at UNO:

The Meeing is scheduled to discuss the RT specialization at UNO on Thursday, June 2. at Noon in Room 104 of the HPER Building. You just need to walk in straight ahead. You do not have to go through the turnstiles. Walk in the front entrance go straight ahead past the student health services office and the couches and you will see an Exit sign on the right. Go into the hall of the exit sign and Room 104 is right there,

Send positive thoughts and energy RT's :)

Save UNO!

Dear friends,

I received this email from Heather Holmes via the ATRA List-Serv.

She said:

We need your support!

The ONLY Recreational Therapy program in the state of Nebraska is in jeopardy of being eliminated. It currently is at the University of Nebraska Omaha. I have joined with other Recreational Therapists to show and educate the University of Nebraska at Omaha about the importance of this program to our state and our health care system.

A Facebook page (Save RT at UNO and in NEBRASKA) has been created to gain momentum for the RT program at UNO, I encourage you to join!

Thank you in advance for your support of our profession,

Heather.

Here is the facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_213665905321637

Dr. McCormick

My professional mentor, Dr. David Austin had posted in the ATRA List-Serv that
Bryan McCormick, Ph.D., CTRS, has accepted the position of Chair of the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies at Indiana University. Bryan is a (full) Professor at IU, where he has spent the largest part of his academic career. Most in ATRA perhaps know Bryan as an ATRA Past-President and as a fine scholar who has authored many articles for our journals.

I [Danny Pettry] had Dr. McCormick for several of my graduate courses at Indiana University. I'm very pleased to hear of this news.

Who Wants to be a Good Rec. Therapist?

As you already know, I’m a Recreational Therapist. I am not a certified teacher. However, we, RTs do provide some education. In my case, I teach social skills, life skills, calming skills, problem-solving skills, as well as many more. Our allied professionals are also educators, too. Here is an example, nurses, providing nursing education to their patients.

Why am I talking about education at my Recreational Therapy blog?

Teachers are under a lot of pressure for performance.

I discovered this from watching the 2010 documentary “Waiting for Superman.”

Wow – that documentary is unbelievable.

The major point that I got was that the United States is ranked in the 20s among nations in major subjects like Math and Science.

Bill Gates goes on the record to say the problem with companies in America is that they’re having to look outside of the United States to fill high-paying positions because there aren’t enough Americans who are smart enough to do the job.

Wow, we’ve got a problem and guess who they blame? The answer is: teachers.

Okay, that is the teaching profession.

We’re in the Recreational Therapy profession.

I think this documentary could teach us RTs a lot.

First, we must produce results. Teachers and schools that don’t perform and have low graduates are criticized in the video.

Teachers get paid about the same regardless if they’re an outstanding teacher, mediocre teacher, or poor-performing teacher.

I’m not sure if that is the case with RTs. As far as I’m aware, we, RTs don’t have contracts like teachers have.

However, I do have a lot of passion for RT and want us as a profession to be outstanding. I’m a big advocate for what we do as Recreational Therapists to help the people who we serve. After all, The American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) had identified me as an “Advocate of the Year” in 2005.

My big challenge to all of us in Recreational Therapy is to provide outstanding services and to go the extra mile to being about the best outcomes possible for our clients/ patients/ people who we serve.

One bad recreational therapist could leave a bad impression for the entire profession.

Here is an example. I heard this story when I was in graduate school for Recreation Therapy. A nursing home or rehabilitation hospital had a lobby area with a television and VCR. They had several patients sitting in wheelchairs in this area. Apparently, they were calling this “Recreational Therapy and Cinematherapy.”

I’m not sure of the full situation. But simply playing a VCR tape for people in a room does not consist of “Recreational Therapy.” That seems nearly fraudulent to me.

There is a big difference between “Recreation” and “Recreational Therapy.” They’re not the same. The U.S. Dept. of Labor even clarifies in “The Occupational Outlook Handbook.” In Recreational Therapy, they say that “Recreation workers” are identified elsewhere in the manual. Simply providing recreation activities does not make it therapy.

This is the same for many other professions, too. Being a caregiver does not mean a person is providing nursing care.

Recreational Therapist consists of several things, including:

A Physician’s order for a clinical setting: rehabilitation, skilled nursing, psychiatric.

An assessment that gains information regarding the person’s strengths and areas of needed improvement in the following domains: social, physical, emotional, cognitive, and leisure.

A treatment plan (developed with patient/ person served) to address her (or his) areas of needed improvement and to build upon strengths. Include patient/ person’ served consent to treatment.

RT or TR interventions that are purposely provided to assist the patient/ person served with meeting his (or her) treatment goals.

Evaluation of outcomes.

For more information, I’d recommend for a Recreational Therapist to read ATRA’s “Standards or Practice.” A copy of this manual can be purchased at the ATRA web-site here:

http://atra-online.com/storelistitem.cfm?itemnumber=19

Here are two books by Jim Collins (a leadership expert) that may be interesting to read. They’re both books that argue that “good” is the enemy. The goal is to be great.

One book is on managing a company and one book is about principals of schools. I’m certain that we, RTs could take useful ideas from both books and apply them to our practice in order to move from “good” to “great.”

Who wants to settle for being a good RT when they could aim for becoming a great RT?

Earn a M.S. in Rec Therapy Admin at ECU!

My good friend and mentor, Thomas Skalko (East Carolina University) fwd. the following email at the ATRA list-serve today: Dear colleagues, We are pleased to share information about a distinct Master of Science Degree offered at East Carolina University. Please share this with your colleagues orstudents who are looking to study: recreational therapy administration or recreation and park administration. Master of Science Degree in Recreational Therapy Administration, East Carolina University. We believe the RTA degree to be a premier program in Recreational Therapy. We have eight CTRS/LRT faculty teaching in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Services. The graduate degree in Recreational Therapy Administration focuses on usingrecreation as a therapy in clinical settings to improve the health and quality of life for patients, and others who are have physical, emotional, or cognitive impairments. Faculty and graduate students are engaged in research and outreach projects with the extensive therapy division of ECU’s Brody School of Medicine as well as with partners working on community integration, aquatic therapy interventions, biofeedback, and adaptive sports. Our graduates are prepared to meet national certification and state licensure standards and are trained to administer recreational therapy departments in a variety of settings. Master of Science Degree in Recreation and Park Administration, East Carolina University Students pursuing the MS Degree in Recreation and Park Administration have a wide range of goals and interests. These diverse interests in community recreation and sports, commercial recreation and tourism, youth development, and natural resource management are mentored by 11 graduate faculty members who serve the RPA program. The faculty members involved in this degree conduct a wide range of externally funded research projects that engage graduate students in the research process. East Carolina University considers this a research intensive degree and our graduates are prepared to design and administer quality program evaluations, community assessments and theoretical research for their agencies upon graduation for the RPA program. We are also proud to note that since the year 2001, more than a dozen graduates from this MS program have moved forward into PhD programs with at least five serving currently working as research and teaching faculty worldwide. Academic Common Market Students interested in the MS in Recreational Therapy Administration are eligible for the Academic Common Market. The Academic Common Market (ACM) a program of the Southern Regional Education Board which allows qualified students from the 16 partner states to pay in-state tuition and fees. Participating states include: AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MI, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV, and students apply through their own state ACM Coordinator (www.sreb.org) Application Requirements For application, three letters of reference are required as well as original transcripts, a statement of purpose, application fee and acceptable GRE or GMAT scores, (TOEFL score is also required for international applicants). All candidates offered admission will be considered for financial support and graduate assistantships as they are available. Currently funding is available in selected projects and programs. Applications received by June 1, 2011 will be given priority review with rolling reviews of subsequent applicants into early summer as space is available. We anticipate admitting 12-15 new students into each M.S. program for the fall. For additional information, please see the information at the following web sites: MS in Recreational Therapy Administration www.ecu.edu/rcls/rta MS in Recreation and Park Administration www.ecu.edu/rcls/rpa Graduate School, East Carolina University www.ecu.edu/gradschool Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies www.ecu.edu/rcls Should you have any specific questions regarding the program or the application, please contact: Kindal A. Shores, PhD Director of the RCLS Graduate Programs East Carolina University Phone: (252) 328-5649