17
Mar
2008
Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (non-motor Revised (TVPS-R)..a mystery for you all
An OT friend sent me this…the child is almost 9 years old. Can you figure out his strengths/weaknesses?
Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (non-motor Revised (TVPS-R)
The TVPS is used to determine a student’s visual-perceptual strengths and weaknesses. Visual Perception is defined as the capacity to interpret or give meaning to what is seen. The student is shown a stimulus picture, and asked to point to a correct response from four or five choices. The student is tested in the seven areas listed below:
|
|
Vis-Percept Ages |
Standard Scores Norm=100±15 |
Scaled Scores Norm=10±3 |
|
|
Vis Discrimination assesses the ability to match or determine exact characteristics of two forms when one is among similar forms. |
>12.11 |
121 |
14 |
Above |
|
Vis Memory assesses the ability to remember for immediate recall all of |
12.7 |
111 |
12 |
Above |
|
Vis Spatial- Relationships assesses the ability to determine the one single form or part of a form that is different from the other forms. |
>12.11 |
114 |
13 |
Above |
|
Vis Form- Constancy assesses the ability to see a form and find it hidden among other forms when it may be a different size, rotated, or reversed. |
4.10 |
77 |
5 |
Below |
|
Vis Sequential- Memory assesses the ability to remember for immediate recall a series of forms from among four separate series of forms. |
>12.11 |
130 |
16 |
Above
|
|
Vis Figure- Ground assesses the ability to perceive a form visually, and to find this form hidden in a chaotic ground of matter. |
11.4 |
109 |
12 |
Above |
|
Vis Closure assesses the ability to determine, from four incomplete forms, the one that would be the same as the completed form. |
11.4 |
109 |
12 |
Above |
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
17
Mar
2008
VARK. Not an aardvark, just a learning style…
I’m always surprised when I study with others. I have a friend who is really smart and can grasp material easily. The problem is, she doesn’t always study things correctly. For example, it’s easy for her – or anyone – to read a chapter and say “Ok, I read it.” But did you really? I had her – both of us – go header by header, underlining the most important things within each header and making sure it made sense under that header. I was talking online with Merrolee, OT extraordinare and educator in New Zealand, at the same time. She pointed me to the VARK website to take a quiz on learning style. VARK’s website explains: ” VARK is a questionnaire that provides users with a profile of their learning preferences. These preferences are about the ways that they want to take-in and give-out information.”
An example scoring may look like this (my friend Suzanne sent me her results):
- Visual: 7
- Aural: 10
- Read/Write: 13
- Kinesthetic: 13
You have a multimodal (VARK) learning preference.
Merrolee wrote a post on HER blog, oteducation.wordpress.com, talking about our discussion, stating:
Karen came out as a reader/writer – perhaps explaining her comfortableness with blogging as a mechanism for developing active reflection. We chatted a bit about the value of completing the questionnaire (and yes I know these have inherent weaknesses!).. but they are a great tool to stimulate the discussions between a student and fieldwork supervisor, or between students in group – while some students must read every word on a worksheet (reader/writers) and others just want to get on with the tasks (kinesthetic). So I find it to be a great tool for facilitating the discussions that can strengthen or clarify expectations between two or more people who need to work well together.
—
I have heard about the different types of learning styles before, but Merrolee reminded me of the importance of taking that into account when studying with others. I am such a strong reader/writer that I don’t understand when others don’t learn best that way. That means I can do well academically, but doesn’t mean I necessarily grasp “real world” issues that require visual and/or auditory learning ability. Maybe all OT students – all OT educators – hey, anyone – should take this quiz – and think about how knowledge of learning style preferences can positively affect interactions with others.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1
17
Mar
2008
War and craft….OT can be manly
Our “token male OT student”, Jason (are you happy now?) gave me permission to post this e-mail to the class.
……….For those who think that guys don’t like doing crafts in their spare time should reconsider. Some of the things on the site sound like some of crafts we have completed.
Not really sure about the ramifications of using these “as-is”….might bring back some bad memories. Guess it depends on your goal. But definitely can use the site for some ideas.
Anyone have an opinion, good or bad? ……………….
One of our teachers, Rosemary, also suggested things like old airplane kits…hmmm. I have a psychosocial VA Level II fieldwork (3-months) next year, so I should remember this stuff!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
16
Mar
2008
Wear tinfoil while you read this so your IQ doesn't drop…
It has been a pretty productive weekend…My scholarship application and FAFSA are done…my new phone came and is in use…blah blah blah. And I made decaf iced tea! I touched a pot, and turned on my stove, for the first time in about thirty years!! And by thirty years I mean months. Or weeks.
One of my goals today is to write ten thousand blog posts today to catch up on the last few weeks…it drives me crazy having things hanging over my head!! I look forward to putting those papers and/or e-mails related to blogging, away!! Oh sweet smooth tabletop devoid of paper!!! Seriously it may end up being like 10-20 mini posts. Insane, I know. You can skim or skip, don’t be overwhelmed.Ooh and I have a bunch of pictures to put up from our therapeutic media projects tooooo………..oh my, how lucky and wonderful…tears of joy spring like fountain water from my lacrimal glands….KIDDING KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m pretty sure that I may one day write the worst American novel EVER.
I most IMPORTANTLY need to work on my Well Elderly Project, Tai Chi research stuff, and a bunch of other assorted sundries if that is the right word. It makes me think of tomatoes. Anyway, I have some exciting news – I am an official AOTA Conference 2008 blogger!!!…at their blog of course, but I’ll link to it…I might write a post for that blogtoday too about getting prepared for AOTA Conference, who knows!!! Plus my fellow OT bloggers have been ACTIVE lately and I need to do some hollers/specific linking to some impressive posts…like congratulating Suhaila for being so close to graduation…YES…and giving Merrolee her much promised VARK posting…and praising Aishel for his amazing and thought-provoking posts as he navigates being an entry-level practitioner…
Well, I’m sitting here rambling this while watching girls in skin-colored leotards crawl like tigers (I wanna try to crawl like that, too bad my house is carpeted…) for Tyra Banks on that model show…and I’m pretty sure my IQ dropped about 50 points…so I better start focusing on OT work for a while!!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
14
Mar
2008
La la la
We are about to have a class on Hospice!! I am excited, that should be interesting. I'm fascinated by hospice. I'm sitting in the classroom with a few other girls sitting around and waiting to start.
OTS Brooke would like to contribute: “Hellooo fabulous blog readers”
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1
14
Mar
2008
Don't we all need a playground?
My friend Suzanne sent me this link. A playground for elderly people, AWESOME!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jan/30/society.healthandwellbeing
Over-70s only! Manchester opens playground for oldies
Wednesday January 30 2008
Guardian Unlimited
The UK's first playground specifically for older people has opened near Manchester.
The “older people's play area” in Dam Head Park, Blackley, in north Manchester, features six pieces of equipment – featuring the slogan “Never too old to play” – designed to provide gentle exercise.
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
14
Mar
2008
OT school breaks my heart. Well not really.
Today has been stressful but not bad overall I guess. It started with a stressful SPSS experience for research. Then we had a 2 hour panel on aging with four neat people, two of them had disabilities. The panel concluded with one of the women singing the lord's prayer. Then I went to staff meeting…then I ran out of there to go to my cardiologist eval. I've been nervous about the appointment all week. I was in a hurry to get there on time and I was getting hypoglycemic so I stopped and bought some peanut butter crackers and orange juice at a gas station really quick to tide me over. It was a 1:30 appointment and I thought I'd be done by 2-something….I ended up leaving at 4:30 because they were able to fit me in for a stress echo + the treadmill test/all that stuff. Since the place is really far away and I stay pretty busy, I really pushed doing as much as possible in one visit.
My resting heart rate is normally around 100 (high anyway, but I was nervous so it was more like 130…and my blood pressure I was like 140/90 instead of 120/90 or so. I did the treadmill ten minutes before my heart rate was at 190 and then I stopped. I guess they'll get back to me for the results although I'm scheduled for a full study echo in 4 weeks (?) Then I went to Costco for some water and frozen fruit, ran home to drop it off, and then turned around to go to a Mexican restaurant for Brooke's birthday. OTS Brooke, Kerri & husband Brent, Meg, Emily, Kim, Allison, Stephanie, and I, all went, and it was a lot of fun. We had Baskin-Robbins too!! Now I'm at Kerri's house with them, Brooke, and Todd. They are playing Settlers of Cattan while I'm lounging with a kitty and typing on Brent's laptop. Today has been so stressful to me that I'm a lot more tired than I should be. I still have some OT work to do tonight but I'm going to do the bare minimum I can get away with…although tomorrow is a busy day too…so..umm…I guess I have to prioritize. Part 3 of management is the most important!!
Sorry for the mini-rant…but the whole cardiology experience has kept me stressed this entire week, especially today, and it obviously affects my OT performance!! So ONCE AGAIN I'm sorry I'm behind with e-mail and comments!!!!
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
13
Mar
2008
ADVANCE articles + empty OT blog promises…
Okay…long day, but all in all, federal and state taxes are done (YAY), my laundry is almost done, my dishes are finally clean, I finished shop-vaccing, and overall cleaned the house, had class, visited multiple friends, and went from 95 emails to about 35…all of which need to be dealt with asap. But it is midnight and I am soo tired so I'm going to bed and I'll try to finish dealing with them (a lot of them blog-related)- and try to write the ten thousand posts I'm wanting to write – tomorrow! Happy Birthday OTS Brooke and OTS Chery, yay for March 13th birthdays!
Here are a few links for now with interesting articles from ADVANCE
http://rehabilitation-director.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Content/Editorial.aspx?cc=108436
“Specialized Training: Focus on care techniques when dealing with patients with dementia”
http://rehabilitation-director.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=108435
“Lifting the Burden:Hospital Workers are pushing facilities to spend money on safe lifting equipment”
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
13
Mar
2008
Still Giving Kisses….OT Barbara Smith's book on dealing with Alzheimer's after experience with her mother
OT Barbara Smith sent me this information about her book…it actually looked neat. Somebody needs to sponsor me so I can get to read all these books!!!! I wonder if she wrote the Recycling Therapist…the name sounds so familiar. Hmmm. I ponder.
“Still Giving Kisses”
A Guide to Helping and Enjoying the Alzheimer's Victim You Love By Barbara S. Smith M.S., OTR/L
The title of this book reflects one of the few remaining motor acts my mother
is able to perform. Yet, this is a highly significant motor act, one that symbolizes
a continuing connectedness between myself and the Alzheimer's victim I love.
I had never planned to work in the area of geriatrics. But when my mother
developed Alzheimer's disease I was thrust into the world of home care,
Medicare, assisted living and nursing homes. I read numerous books and
learned the lingo of lawyers, the health care bureaucracy and gerontology.
http://barbarasmithoccupationaltherapist.com/
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none
13
Mar
2008
Autism Speaks Video
Patti, my OT twin soul mate, asked me to post this:
She said: “We had to do an assignment where we compared the videos on this site with “typical” vs “autism red flags”. It's really interesting to have a visual perspective side by side.”
Go Patti 🙂
Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none