Learning To Think Like an OT

I have been in OT school for four months and I find it amazing how well my OT skills are beginning to form. This morning I was in the living room with my family and a little boy came on the TV who did not have fully developed arms. He had learned how to play basketball and was really good at it, even though he was much more limited than his teammates. The interviewer asked the boy why he would not just play soccer instead, because that would make a lot more sense. The light in the boys eyes dropped and he looked at the interviewer and told him that he loved basketball.

I was immediately baffled by the fact that the interviewer would even say that to a child. Why should he have to play soccer if that's not his favorite sport? What is so wrong with him adapting to play basketball? While I was expressing my thoughts and concern about this interview my dad looked at me and asked why it was such a big deal, because it does make sense for him to play soccer instead.

I explained to my father that this boy was more than his Amelia. I asked him as parent, if one of his sons wanted to play basketball, would you put him in soccer instead, just because he might be better at it? Of course not, no parents would do that to a "normal kid" so why do that to a child with a disability. If he loves basketball, he should be able to play basketball, just like any other kid would.

 I have learned through my short time in OT school that you always look at the person first, then the disability. This is an important skill I have learned and I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

Comments

  1. VirginiaApril 24, 2017 at 11:51 AM

    I agree! Anything a child wants to do should be supported by his parents, friends, and family. I am so glad to see a family who supported their child rather than make them conform.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Client-centered Practice

I always find it to be really interesting when I can see core concepts of occupational therapy at work in health care professions in general. When going through my grandmother’s Leukemia, I was able to see the importance of client-centered practice. One of the first things my father said when he met her oncologist was he was the only doctor they saw who actually cared about what my grandmother wanted. He was the one who worked with her when my family was deciding between home health and hospice. My family had a bit of a disagreement on which was the best option. Once he realized the constant disagreement, he ended up coming in and thoroughly explaining the difference before asking what she wanted. She wanted hospice and this ended up being the best option for her. My grandmother had many hospice nurses coming in and out, so while I was there I would have casual conversation with them. One day, a nurse came in and was talking to me about her sister, who also died of cancer. He...
Read more

Developing OT Skills

As an occupational therapy student who has barely dipped my toes into the large pool of OT, any moment where I am able to practice my OT skills is exciting. My grandmother was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and has progressively become weaker. I became one of her caregivers and soon realized that I think differently than any of my other family members.  I had began working on an activity analysis for a class assignment, which led me to develop a habit of breaking down random common activities in my head step-by-step. I find activity analysis's interesting because it is amazing how many steps are involved in everyday task that take us no more than two minutes to complete. When I spend time with my grandmother, I catch myself thinking about every step it is going to take her to do each task. One night, she asked for a flash light before she went to sleep. When I went to get the flash light for her, I began to think about in what event she would use the flash light and how I cou...
Read more

Putting OT theory Into Action Response

I found Lynne Oberle's personal story of her mother very interesting in demonstrating the importance of a knowledge of frame of refrences. It was obvious her mother had not been asked about herself, her enviorment, or her unique needs and desires. None of the aspects were addressed, resulting in her not benefiting from her OT services. If a frame of reference would have been addressed, the treating therapist might have taken more time to look at the client's individual needs, like her daughter was able to do. Frame of reference is important because it focus's on a specific population, diagnosis, and the client factors. These are all aspects that were basically ignored with the client in the example and are crucial to an occupational therapist's role in helping a client. If the treating therapist were to of assessed a frame of reference, they could have actually made an impact to the client, rather than leading the client to feelings of helplessness. A frame of reference...
Read more