Sensing OT

While taking Foundations of Occupational Centered Practice, I have heard many times about the top-down approach. This is a phrase that is very crucial to occupational therapy. It is easy to understand and visualize the meaning of why this is important, but it does not really mean anything until you can see it put into action. While working on a case study project for spinal cord injuries, I spent some time with a friend who has a SCI and I asked him about his experience with OT. He spent three weeks at the Shepherd's Center and had therapy almost four hours a day, so he has had plenty of experience with OT's. When we began talking about his time with the OT's he told me one thing he liked the best about his therapist was that there were so many other people at the rehab who had it much worse than him, yet they were all treated the same. Treating on person the same as someone who is less injured or more injured than them is an amazing way to show that person that they ar...

I have previously written about my grandmother who has Leukemia. During this experience, I have learned a lot of inside details about the nitty gritty of being a care giver and what being client-centered really means. Another concept that has been demonstrated in front of me is the importance of health literacy. A long time joke in my family is that my brains definitely did not come from my father. My dad's side of the family are not the "college type". Every one of my cousins, my uncle, my father and my aunt work in the auto mechanic industry in some type of way. They are all very knowledgable and talented when it comes to repairing and understanding cars. While they all possess skills I cannot even comprehend, they do not understand half of the things I say when I talk about school. They are not dumb or uneducated by any means, but they are not health care people. This is nothing I have ever thought anything about until my dad's mother became ill. My mother and ...

Response to podcast: "Terrible, Thanks for Asking" - " Help Me Remember "  Living with a traumatic brain injury is a hard thing to do but like many diseases, sometimes it can take an even worse toll of the caregivers and loved ones. During this podcast, both sides were shown from Dawn who was living with a TBI and her husband, who had to take care of her. It was interesting to see how open he was to speak about his feelings and problems he faced because of her injury, all while she was in the room. One reason for this was because she specifically asked for honesty, but I think another explanation is because he knew she probably would not remember his very hard hitting thoughts and feelings. He stated that if he would have known she would be how she was today, he would not remarry her. Living with someone who has a TBI is difficult because you never know what they are aware of. It is almost like living with a person who changes every day. On top of the instability,...

I was inspired to become an OT while I was a camp counselor for the YMCA. One of the many children that inspired me was a little girl named Amber who had scoliosis. She was a seven year old who was about the size of a two year old and insisted on always walking even though she could not get around very easily. One aspect of her day that always upset me was that we had to keep her inside during play time outside. Part of the YMCA camp curriculum was at least an hour of outside play time each day when the weather permitted. Unfortunately, Amber's condition was so serve that a simple fall could potentially kill her. So while all of her friend's played outside, she sat at the doorway and colored or played with legos. She had experienced this problem all throughout her time at school, so she was pretty much accustomed to this problem, but for me I found it very upsetting. The school playgroup was anything but universally designed in any aspect. For this reason, I find the Equal Play...

Amy Mullins Ted Talk put societies view of the word "disabled" into a whole other perspective. She began the lecture by speaking about the synonyms and antonyms of the word disabled. All of these definitions were disappointing and disturbing to read as a person without a disability, it is hard to even imagine how a person who does have a disability would feel about these harsh words. Apparently from these definitions, our society views people who are disabled to be less than human. Words like "broken-down", "helpless", and "incapable" are some that were mentioned as common synonyms. The emotion in her voice as she spoke is enough evidence alone to prove how the societal view of disabled people effects the people who are suffering. This was a speech that she had obviously worked hard to prepare and she still could not hide the hurt she felt as she read these words out loud. Amy Mullins is a person who is more successful than most people you see ...

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...

An important aspect in the practice of occupational therapy is using our words mindfully. There are many things that need to be phrased in a specific manner in order to avoid offending, upsetting, and discouraging the people we are working with. A common word that we need to be aware of is "patient". When I first began the occupational therapy program, my initial thought was to call the people we work with patient, since they are receiving treatment. This is wrong, unless the therapist is specifically working in a hospital setting. If a client is in the hospital, they are a patient, but if they are working in any other setting, this is typically wrong. Patient is not only the incorrect term to use, but it could be upsetting for the client. For example, if a client was involved in a car crash that left them paralyzed, they would be working on many aspects of recovery in order to become adjusted to their newfound life. One of the most important aspects of recovery in this s...