Start of Week 2 of Pediatric Level II fieldwork

Today was a rather abnormal day. I woke up at 7:52am and I was supposed to leave at 8am! Luckily since I had prepped the night before, this wasn't the disaster it could have been. I ate my yogurt/almonds/blueberries in a cup as I drove on the blissfully empty freeway. I wanted to get ready for my first session – the two little girls of the triplet set. Unfortunately the triplet set didn't show up, although I didn't discover this until I had prepped for them. Oh well, flexibility. 🙂

Then it was 10am and time for hmm, Bob, to show up. Bob is a nonverbal 3 or 4 year old who is very gravitationally insecure – swings, jumping, anything that doesn't allow him control, scares him. He is hypotonic and things like moving around in a ball pit are very hard for him. He is delayed in all areas. He has the cutest grin!! We played a lot in the ball pit since it challenges his sense of balance and gives him some slight resistance. We also did some fine motor work and a few other things to challenge his vestibular/proprioceptive systems. I also worked on a little sign language with him – trying to teach him to put his hands together and sweep them apart when he is done with an activity….he could put his hands together but doesn't like to separate them. LOL. I had him for an hour all by myself! My first!

Then it was 11am and time for my next kid, hmm Larry. I warned his sub speech therapist that he plays dumb and not to fall for it. Our first goal was to get him to leave his grandmother at the door instead of forcing her to walk with him. He resisted at first, but when we had her walk in about two steps so she could wave at him as he left, he was fine, so this was the first time he didn't get door to door service. Yay! Another goal met! I stayed in the room with the sub speech therapist for a minute, being silly, and then he opened up to her and so I left. When she brought him over 30 minutes later, she said that he would say “I don't know” to things before even seeing it, until candy was brought in as a very powerful reinforcer. 🙂

I had him do what I had prepared for the girl set – my favorite – FRENCH FRY PEOPLE! I used a thick black marker to make a long rectangle on a yellow sheet of construction paper and gave it a happy face. I also drew a thick wavy rectangle for ketchup. I wanted him to color the french fry people, then cut them out as well as the ketchup, to put on another sheet of paper. It came out looking really cute, he liked it. 🙂 It sounds so stupid but I've adopted it as my favorite art project because the kids think it's hilarious.

Then we did some heavy work like pulling a rolly board, playing with cars, etc…he is also gravitationally insecure so it's hard to get him on a scooter board or anything….I gave a few stuffed animals a turn, slowly, and eventually he was willing to try it! 🙂 He wanted to paint and so we did that for a while as well. I'd say he behaved pretty well! I had him for an hour as well! I was proud!

Then it was lunch time and the director, billing chick (don't know her title), and my OT, and I, went to a local restaurant….I just brought my lunch to the restaurant, lol.

we didn't end up going to another town after all – instead we did organizational work. I organized her two big things of OT stuff so that it was like snap/zip, fine motor, painting, gross motor, baby stuff, etc etc…plus put a bunch of songs on her computer for the kids….

Tomorrow I see the child with autism who is very low level….I haven't really directly worked with him before so this should be quite an experience. :X

I've gotten some comments/e-mails about my fieldwork blogging…thanks for the feedback, glad that sharing my own experiences helps others feel a little less scared! It really is so much more do-able than you think!! Okay I'm sleepy…but freshly showered and have my stuff prepped…so going to bed….

One last thing….my friend Burt is fixing a beloved wooden stool used for kids to prop their feet on, that got broken at the clinic…I brought it to him and he is working on it just because he is such a nice guy!! Thank you!!!

Jul 08, 2008 | Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 2