ETCH-M & SFA assessment reports…
The Evaluation Tool of Children’s Handwriting and School Function assessments…driving me bonkers.
Handwriting is so subjective, and time consuming. They say it gets easier with time, we’ll see…
School Function Assessment…it’s so long! There are so many individual sections and the total time required to administer it is about 2 hours! I don’t know how I feel about it yet, I haven’t finished my write up.
I’m thinking about school OT, but everything is still up in the air.
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I need to write about my Denver Assessment on a 4 year old! I was nervous/excited, but it was awesome! I wanted to play with all the little kids after we were done.
Assessment today….
Today, my class is going to a preschool to perform the Denver II to some children. After we do the assessment, we write up the report, and eventually give it to the parents.
I’m nervous!
We don’t know how old the child will be, most likely between 2-4. There are so many little things that are part of the assessment. I hope the kid doesn’t lose interest too quickly!
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Pathology exam was yesterday, and it wasn’t too bad considering the last half of the material was taught haphazardly. I’m happy with the B that I got.
Let’s Goooo
- Look over campus tour guidelines, giving tour on Mon
- Study pathology, test Tues
- Complete OT evaluation/assessment report for Coping Inventory and Sensory Profile due Tues
- Look over anatomy stuff because I’m tutoring someone on Tuesday
- Look at the Denver II Assessment because I’m actually evaluating a kid on Wednesday! Kind of nervous.
- Read handwriting article and start on critique, meeting with group on Weds
Time crunch. Let’s do this.
This is a great article about a robotic arm that helped two paralyzed stroke patients in an experiment. The robotic arm is such a breakthrough because the patients were able to control it through the use of only their brain.
There is a video on the site as well and it’s amazing! One woman “used the technique to bring a coffee container to her lips for the first time in 15 years.” Think about how satisfying that is!
and…..’But “what’s impressive about this study is that it shows how neural-interface technology can be used for activities of daily living,” said Andrew Jackson, an expert on movement neuroscience at Newcastle University in England’
Wooooohooo OT! and Thank you science!
(via Stroke Victims Control Robotic Arm With Thoughts - WSJ.com)
This is what I have left between now and the end of the month…ahhhh
Ahhhhh you’re so close to being done! Keep it up you’re almost there!!!
OT Domain
Last week we were assigned to read a short case study and separate the client issues into the OT domain of practice. There are 6 components of the OT Domain:
- Activity (Performance areas)
- Skills
- Patterns
- Context
- Factors (Client factors)
- Occupation
I have the hardest time identifying client factors.
There are 3 categories for client factors:
- values, belief and spirituality
- body functions
- body structures
The notes we have are note making it easy for me to understand what exactly I should be pulling from the case study. When you look at the case as a whole, everything is a client factor.
I am so tired right now.
“Doctors add years to an individual’s life.
An Occupational Therapist adds life to those years”
Live life to its fullest.
Well stated!
Fieldwork IA Placements
Yesterday we were given our Fieldwork IA placements (FWIA). At my school how it works is we get a total of 8 full observation days at two different locations. Last term there was one day where we were allowed to make a request in the area that we would want our observations to be in. I chose Peds and Mental Health because I haven’t seen enough of it. I’ve seen plenty of hand and plenty of outpatient adult so I wanted something different.
Well, when I got my FWIA paperwork, I saw that I was placed in a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) and my other site was TBA. The FWIA coordinators had said that since our FWs would take place during the summer, it’d be more difficult to find a Peds site that had enough patients to observe. As for mental health, apparently it’s been difficult to secure enough locations for FWIA students. Most mental health locations want FWII students, which is understandable.
I am familiar with the SNF site that I was assigned because I had an observation day there last term. It is somewhat far from where I live (2hrs) so I’ll have to commute there really early on them assigned days. It’s a great site, the OTs there are really interactive and encourage questions plus the rehab gym is awesome. I just don’t know how I feel about the setting I’ll be in.
With a SNF facility you see a lot of older patients, and sometimes I get sad when you see the family that the patient is coming from. Some caretakers really don’t care about the patient. It’s just sad.
Anyway, I’m hoping I get my other assignment really soon. I’m excited to be out there!
Paralyzed woman finishes marathon 16 days after start
A 32-year-old paraplegic woman using a robotic walking suit has completed the London Marathon, 16 days after the event began.
Hundreds of onlookers cheered a tearful Claire Lomas on Tuesday afternoon as she crossed the finish line on The Mall in central London, The Sun reported. Lomas, who was paralyzed from the chest down in a 2007 horse-riding accident, walked the 26.2-mile course using crutches and a £43,000 ($69,500) suit that uses motion sensors to help her move her legs. When Lomas shifts her balance, the ReWalk machine moves her joints forward, allowing her to take a step, the BBC reported.
Lomas, of Eye Kettleby, England, averaged more than 1.5 miles per day since the marathon began on April 22, following the official route. She stayed at a hotel at night and was driven to the spot where she stopped the day before, according to the BBC. Her husband, Dan Spicer, accompanied her the whole way, and her parents and 1-year-old daughter also were with her for parts of the walk.
“The support has been breathtaking and it feels fantastic to finally finish,” she said, according to The Sun. “I really didn’t expect this and I can’t quite believe it’s all for me. Everyone has been so supportive and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Term 2
So, term 1 is in the bag! Term 2 started yesterday, and I am super excited. Now I have more of the OT classes compared to last term where I only had an OT Foundations course. I’m registered for:
- Biomechanics and Lab
- Pathology
- Wellness and Prevention
- OT Eval and Assessment
- OT Professional Forum
- OT Evidence Based Practice
- Fieldwork IA!!!
So far I’ve only had 3 classes but I’m looking forward to them. For biomechanics lab, we get to dissect cadavers. Which I think is fascinating. Wellness is a class where we learn about alternative forms of medicine that we might incorporate in therapy, like yoga or pilates. It also aims to teach us about all the aspects of wellness like social and mental wellness. Eval and assessment is awesome. The professor says it’s a lot of work, but I’m ready to put in the effort. We’ll be learning different types of assessments and applying them to case studies. We’ll aso be going out and performing these assessments on volunteer patients!
Today I have my Fieldwork course, so hopefully I’ll get my placements. Last term we got to write down our 2 preferences and I put Pediatrics and Mental Health. I chose pediatrics because with my undergrad shadowing I barely saw any. I was mostly able to observe Hand and Neuro (I love Neuro!). As for Mental Health, I’ve really never heard about it, the fieldwork coordinator said it might be hard to find a location willing to take a student for a Level I, so I’m hoping for the best.
I know that I don’t want to shadow in a Nursing Home. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy working with the elderly, it’s just that I really want to be somewhere that I can learn something new.
