Protocols

On Friday, I implemented my protocol for my mental health class. A protocol is roughly a lesson plan for a group session. My partner and I had to implement a session about time management for a group of OT grad students. Some of the grad students were given dysfunctions, such as being hung-over, fatigued, or having a song stuck in their head that we had to deal with. Our session went pretty well. We have had the most complicated activity compared to any of the other groups, but I think it was good because it actually challenged the clients. We had a few issues. One was I forgot to restate the goal of the activity right before I gave the directions. It was stated at the intro and the conclusion, but it should also be stated right before the activity. We could have also used other clients to help the clients that were having issues instead of just using ourselves. Our discussion at the end was very stilted because we just went around in a circle, which means people knew when it was their turn and tuned out otherwise. Many things went well though. We successfully integrated the previous sessions into our session, and our opening activity was a big hit. We had a blow-up chicken with get to know you questions on it that was passed around. I would say overall it was a success.

Note Writing

Lately, we have started writing notes for class. It is hard to write notes because right now we are evaluating typical people. You have to know what is typical before you can detect what is atypical. Setting goals and creating interventions for typical people is challenging. I like it though because it makes you think outside of the box. It also challenges my theory that everybody could benefit from having an OT. The other hard part is the notes we are writing are much longer than they will ever be in the clinic. This is because the professors what to know our entire thought process and observations, and they can only know that if we put it in the note. It's hard for me because I am more of a big-picture girl than a detail girl.

Tomorrow, I am going to a childcare center to evaluate a child using the Peabody. We have learned several assessments over the past couple of weeks. It makes this OT thing seem real. In the past, there have been a few kids get a real evaluation because of our results. I hope my kid is ready to be tested and do what I want. We are doing in pairs, so we have a little help in implementing. 

Interviewing

The two big ways that occupational therapists gain information about their clients is through observation and interviews. Our professors have us interviewing so many different people this semester. It is really awkward. Part of the reason is normally we already know the people we are interviewing, even if just a tiny bit. That makes the introduction weird. It also makes it hard to ask the difficult questions, such as what was the hardest time in your life. I feel like that section would be difficult either way though. Most of these interviews are somewhat conversational, but not so much so that I can have a conversation like I normally would with the people I am interviewing. I am glad that our professors force us go out and perform interviews, even if it is on people we know. It is so much harder than it seems. It is also super rewarding because I am learning things about these people that I would not have otherwise. It is also surprising to learn how many different kinds of interview there are. Who would have imagined?

Week Two

Week two was fun and tiring. Teachers actually gave lectures and there were no free lunches. However, in one of out classes we had to build the tallest structure we could out of marshmallows and toothpicks and then do an activity analysis on it. I still think my group should have won because nowhere in the contest rules did it say it needed to be freestanding. There was a lot of reading for the week. Most of it was pretty basic. All the classes seem to be focusing on what is occupation and why is important to life. We have started to delve into how to find a client's occupation also.

This week we also got our research groups. I got lower of the pack choice of groups, but I ended up getting my second choice. I was lucky. We meet with our mentor tomorrow, but from what I understand we will be working with African American girls with HIV/AIDS to evaluate life skills interventions to see if they help the girls comply to their medical needs.

One other interesting assignment I have this semester is a wellness journal. We are suppose to set at least three goals to improve our health and monitor them in a journal once a week. The is journal is a tool to help us adhere to our goals. We also have a wellness buddy to keep us accountable. I was going to try and improve my health this semester anyways, so this assignment is just an added incentive.

Next week is the first quiz, but there is also Labor Day weekend. I'm finally starting to settle down to life here and getting to know my way around, but I will be happy for a trip home.

My Occupations

So I have turned in my first official occupational therapy school assignment. It was to write a tweet (in e-mail) of our occupations. She made it tweet length so that we did not go crazy and really evaluated what was important to us. I personally felt like I could fit a lot in a tweet, but maybe that is because I am from the millennial generation. Here is mine:

I’m a daughter, sister, citizen, volunteer, student, southern, fighter, techie, foodie, niece, cousin, grandbaby, American, activist, blanket collector, Yellow Jacket, Braves fan, spiritual person, reader, blogger, board game lover, and a shopper.