Owl Be Your OT

A. Who can benefit from this intervention? Diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis (MS)  In addition, clients with ADHD, Dementia, a Spinal Cord Injury, Traumatic Brain  Injury, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis can benefit from this intervention. Population: Clients at any age or clients that enjoy crafts can benefit from this intervention. B. Problem/Barrier/Challenge Experienced by Target Population  Upper and lower body weakness Dexterity deficits  Cognitive deficits  Memory loss C. Description New Products  Cotton Ball Wreath This will help the client gain upper and lower body strength while engaging in a fun and enjoyable craft. Cotton Ball Under a Cup While observing the mixing up of 3 cups, the client can improve his/her memory when asked to identify the cup with the cotton ball underneath it.  Colored Cotton Balls  The client can also improve his/her memory by rearranging 5 different colored cotton balls into their or...

Thomas White: Tourette Does the Talking  I was scrolling through the list of topic ideas and when I got to the TED Talk section I noticed this particular one and immediately showed interest in watching it. I've always enjoyed TED Talks and i've been watching them for years, but this one is by far my favorite one. When I first saw the words Tourette in the title, I thought it was going to be someone simply talking about what Tourette Syndrome is, but when I read the description, I saw that the speaker was the one who has Tourette Syndrome. I thought to myself, "now here is a person that has confidence in himself." I chose the video to see how a person that has Tourette Syndrome deals with speaking to an audience and how he would react to any outbursts he may have during his speech. I know what Tourette Syndrome is, but I wanted to do some background research to make sure I fully understood it before I watched the TED Talk. (Even though I knew that Thomas would e...

Rachel did her case study on Allie Calhoun, who is a character from one of my favorite movies/books, The Notebook. When Allie was first diagnosed, she quickly accepted it and began writing a book that entailed details about her life, and experiences with her husband, Noah. I think this is really important because then there would be something to help remind Allie of her life before Alzheimer's, when she progressed too much for her to remember on her own. During her lifetime, Allie enjoyed listening to music, playing piano, reading, painting, and spending time with Noah. Some of the reasons Allie wanted to seek OT intervention was to help out with her daily routines when it came to taking medication and developing a comfort zone when she had panic attacks. I liked the ideas that Rachel had for Allie when it came to her OT. She suggested that Allie be involved in a program called painting to music, some activities that involve cooking and reading, and possibly a dance class with Noah...

Richard Pryor was 46 when he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). He was a standup comedian and had a very difficult life prior to his diagnosis. He was an avid drinker and smoker, he suffered 2 heart attacks within a 13 year period, and he also had triple-bypass surgery. In addition to his personal health problems, he also attempted suicide shortly before he was diagnosed with MS. He was eventually put in an electric wheelchair and his declination called for constant care by a family member. One of the long term goals that Meghan had for Pryor was to perform a 30 minute stand up comedian act while in his electric wheelchair. Because MS causes demyelination of myelinated axons, it also causes issues with muscles of the throat, which can ultimately have an effect on Pryor's ability to project his voice to an audience. Meghan then added that she would have him do vocal muscle exercises which include attempting to speak and yell at different vocal pitches.  It's horrible t...

Huntington's Disease is a neurodegenerative disease that effects the basil ganglia of the brain. It is a genetic disease that effects 50% of the people whose family members have it. Typically, it occurs in people who are 35-55 years old, but the woman, Heather Alimossy, in Tim's case study, was only 19. Since her mom had HD, Heather wanted to get tested and unfortunately, she tested positive for the defected chromosome. Tim mentioned that although Heather was diagnosed, she did not show signs or symptoms right away. Since HD effects a person's balance, posture, and memory, some of the OT interventions would be working with the Heather's balance, organization skills, making lists, and helping her to explore other hobbies. Tim would help her to explore other hobbies because her love of dirt biking will not be a realistic hobby forever. Even though HD is not a very common disease around the world, it is common within families with the gene. I find it so interesting that...

Siddharthan Chandran: Can the damaged brain repair itself?  In his TED Talk, Siddharthan talks about the different diseases that can affect the brain and what the individual diseases do to different aspects of the brain. Throughout his talk, he showed illustrations that reveal what happens to the brain when a person has a disease such as Alzheimer's disease or Multiple Sclerosis. After informing his audience that there are over 35 million people living with a brain disease, he goes on to explain that the annual cost is more than one percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), at 70 billion dollars. Siddharthan also goes on to explain that these numbers are not slowing down because people are living longer, and therefore, these age-related diseases will only continue to grow. Siddharthan also went into the topic of stem cells and how they can regenerate themselves or become specialized cells, in order to be used in whatever part of the body might need them. I de...

Overall, I enjoyed the Foundations class because I felt like I learned a lot of concepts that will help me be a better occupational therapist. I learned more about what kind of person it takes to be a successful OT and what I can do to better myself. When I tell people that I am going to be an OT, they always tell me that I have a good personality and mind set to be a good OT. Of course, it is nice for others to tell you that you will do great in the career of your choice, but it's an even better feeling when you can believe it for yourself. Honestly, I haven't always believed in my capability to be a great OT because I'm not the best student academically. I do well on assignments, I pay attention and I like to engage in class, but sometimes my test grades don't always reflect my knowledge, in the best way. Now I know that sounds stupid; just because you don't get a perfect score on a test, doesn't mean you didn't learn anything. But in reality, I have learn...

In his early 30s, Rowdy Gains, an olympic goal medalist, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). GBS typically begins in the lower extremities and progresses towards the upper extremities. After Rowdy Gains was diagnosed, his progression from paralysis was slow, but progressive. For his occupational therapy, Rowdy went to the pool a lot to help him regain some of his function. The pool was a good place for Rowdy to do occupational therapy because he was an olympic swimmer. After a year, Rowdy progressed even further and was able to regain his function in a lot of ADLs such as brushing his teeth and tying his shoe laces. Something I thought was even more incredible was that Rowdy was able to qualify for the 1996 summer Olympics. Though he decided not to compete, he was still able to regain more function than what was originally thought. Maggie shared with us that some people do end up dying from GBS because of respiratory issues. I believe the main reason Rowdy made such an i...

From day one, I knew that I would enjoy foundations. Even though it was a lot of information, I enjoyed learning the gist of the field of occupational therapy and what I can do to better my future as an OT. A few things that I enjoyed learning about include the OTPF, the different organizations that focus on OT, the OT process, and the performance patterns of OT. But I think my favorite thing to learn about was the KAWA Model. I'm kind of a nerdy person who likes metaphors and the whole concept is a metaphor, so naturally, I enjoyed learning about it. It was interesting to learn about how the river represents the "flow" of life, the water represents the shape we must take in society, the walls and floor represent the client's context, and the rocks represent the things that block our flow through life. I like things like this because it not only helps to put things into perspective for the OT, but it can also help to shape understanding for the patient. Overall, I enj...

In our foundations class this past Tuesday, we talked more about therapeutic relationships, which is the relationship between the occupational therapy practitioner and the client. It is important to have a good relationship with your clients because then they will have a better reason to trust you and your overall judgement. There are several key aspects that go into building a good therapeutic relationship with your client. Some include, following through with intervention plans, being on time to appointments, honesty, putting the client first, using clear client friendly language, showing empathy, and demonstrating active listening. Another quality that is beneficial, in my opinion, is having the capability of humor. Clients don't want to come to an OT session that's dry and boring. I'm sure a client would much rather come an appointment where the air is warm and friendly, and where it is perfectly acceptable to be yourself and laugh at yourself sometimes.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative disease that can be caused by things such as a chemical imbalance, environmental factors, and even genetics. Lauren did her case study on Lou Gehrig, who was diagnosed with ALS when he was 36. ALS was not as well known before Lou Gehrig was diagnosed, but it is because of him that ALS is more popularly known throughout society. Lou Gehrig played for the New York Yankees, and started to notice signs and symptoms while he would be playing a game or doing simple daily activities such as tying his shoes. Shortly after being diagnosed, Lou Gehrig passed away only 3 years later. I liked Lauren's OT intervention ideas in order to give Lou Gehrig the best life possible and I definitely think he would have benefitted from occupational therapy, if he would have had the chance to receive intervention. Overall, I enjoyed learning about Lauren's case study because I am a huge baseball fan and it made me want to learn and find out more a...

Kim Gorgens Ted Talk: Protecting the brain against concussion  When I came across this Ted Talk, seeing the word concussion sparked my interest and I knew it would be a video that I could relate to and enjoy listening to. I have never sustained a concussion myself, but I have always been interested in concussions and what effect they have on the brain in the long run. Concussions have been taken lightly in the past and now that more research has been done on them, they are a growing cause of concern for the healthcare field. Kim Gorgens says in her Ted Talk that concussions and their longterm effects are not established quite yet, but it has been studied that concussions can be the leading factors in multiple mental issues.  Kim talked a lot about her child and how she feels that she is overprotective of him and his actions. I don't have children yet, but I know that in the future I will be able to relate. When I was a kid, my mom forced me to wear a helmet any time ...

Today we discussed culture and how it's important to immerse yourself, as an occupational therapist, in as much culture as you can. Sometimes, without intention, we catch ourselves being racist, bias, or prejudice towards people we don't know. We learned that our society has moved from it's original "cultural acceptance," to "cultural sensitivity," and now to "cultural competence." In general, this means that we have gone from simply accepting and dealing with someone else's culture, to immersing ourselves in that person's culture and working with them to meet a shared goal. It's interesting to see how much our cultural ways have changed over the years, and how different other people's cultures can be from our own. Being open minded and willing to be accept all cultures, different from your own, is important and can be beneficial throughout your OT career.

Today we were instructed to look up specialty areas of occupational therapy and I was surprised to see just how many there are. There were 9 listed on the AOTA website that included different board certifications required for different areas such as gerontology, mental health, pediatrics, low vision, and school systems, just to name a few. But I decided to further my research and I learned that are many more emerging areas within the field of occupational therapy. Some of them include childhood obesity, autism in adults, and oncology care. I think it's really interesting and awesome that there are so many more certifications and specialties out there. It just goes to show how much the field of occupational therapy is growing and how important our field really is to so many areas of life.

There are several certifications that are required if you are interested in a certain area of practice in the field of occupational therapy. One of the specialties within the field of occupational therapy is pediatrics (BCP) and one of the certifications within the area of pediatrics is for the NICU. I think it is extremely important to have a certification in order to work in the neonatal ICU. Not only would you be working with new born babies, but you would be working with premature life. It's an extremely important job title and something that needs to be taken seriously. Parents are trusting you to help their premature baby find new life and successfully graduate from the NICU. Being a NICU occupational therapist should not be an entry-level job and you should have a few years of practice before beginning to think about going into that specific specialty. This plays into AOTA's vision 2025 because even though it might be seen as just working with babies in the NICU, it is...

Camille talked to us about Sherri Woodbridge, who is an author. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease when she was 44, but began showing signs of it when she was in her 30s. I enjoyed learning from Camille and I felt that she really knew her case well. I also liked her powerpoint because it was cheery and positive, which I believed represented the way Sherri felt about her life, despite her diagnosis. I thought it was a good idea that Sherri created a blog in order to share her thoughts and feelings about her diagnosis. I felt like Camille did a good job of explaining the case to us and it was obvious that she liked doing research about Sherri. She shared with us that Sherri did not have OT, but that she did have PT. Camille also shared with us some of the suggestions she would have for OT, such as adaptive equipment to help her type, along with hand strengthening exercises.