Pediatric Lecture/Lab
In Pediatric Lecture & Lab (OTA 1280/90) we studied normal human development and common disabilities related to childhood from birth through adolescence. OT domain and process will include theories for intervention and practice evidence. We learned the practical applications of: handling/positioning, oral motor/feeding, assistive devices/equipment, pediatric test administration, pediatric treatment techniques, collecting community resource information, and developing creative interventions strategies for pediatric clientele.
Sensory Integration Practical Description- Wizard Theme
Tools/Objects needed:
- Wizard wand
- Lotion
- Crystal ball supplies (shaving cream, baking soda and vinegar)
- Map and bottle
- Backpack/“Magic pouch”
- Balance beam
- Ladder swing
- Jump ropes (2)
- Tunnel
- Platform swing
- Bean bags/”Fireballs”
- Tumble Foams
- Trampoline
- Pipe Cleaners
- Beads
- Music on phone
- Tactile:
- Give child a “protective potion” (lotion that we rub on their arms to give them a deep pressure massage) so that when they make the crystal ball they won’t get hurt by the powerful magic they will be using.
- Have them form a crystal ball with “magic snow” (pre-made before hand)
- Tell them that the crystal ball will help them find the location of a map that will lead to their wand. Have them destroy the ball after with vinegar so no one can follow them.
- Use the volume of music to guide them to the map by increasing when getting closer and decreasing when getting farther away.
- Proprioceptive:
- Obstacle course to find wand-
- Pretend there’s lava and to get past they have to walk on the “bridge” (balance beam).
- Climb up the ladder swing to get over the cliff, grading up as needed by climbing on all sides.
- “Jump the river” with 2 jump ropes, grading up as needed by making the river wider and using the small trampoline.
- Crawl through a tunnel that leads them to the magic mountain (their final destination) where the wand and magic pouch are.
- Obstacle course to find wand-
- Vestibular:
- Fly on a magic carpet (platform swing) to get home and pretend that on the way back they’re attacked by bad guys who want to steal the wand.
- To get away they throws the fireballs (bean bags) that are in their magic pouch at the bad guys (tumble foams).
- Fine Motor (cool down):
- Make a personalized wand with pipe cleaners and beads (for girls) or legos (for guys).
Reflection
- What did you do to prepare for this practical? After receiving the assignment I got with a partner and we decided on a theme. Once we established our theme, we went to work brainstorming ideas and tried to think outside of the box. My partner and I made a plan, then went to work gathering supplies and preparing everything for the practical.
- Did you and your partner participate in the planning 50/50 or did one of you do more? In what way—describe.My partner and I equally participated in the planning process. She came up with two activities and I came up with the other two. She planned the tactile crystal ball activity and the vestibular magic carpet game. I planned the proprioceptive obstacle course and the fine motor magic wand craft. We helped each other expand on our ideas to make them better.
- In the session, did you and partner participate 50/50 or did one of you do more? In what way—describe.
our activities and as one of us lead the activity the other assisted or cleaned up the last activity.
4. What did you learn from the experience of watching your classmates?My classmates gave me good ideas of interventions I can use when I work in
Pediatrics. It helped to watch them because I could see how different kids reacted to different treatment activities. Some interventions would work and others
wouldn’t for a particular child.
5. What did you learn from participating?I learned how to be a better clinician from participating in this practical. The most important thing I learned was how to adapt when things don’t go as planned. I had to modify the activities to fit the child’s abilities. It was helpful to gain the experience of planning and carrying out
an intervention because this is what we will do every day as an OTA.
6. If you had it to do over, what changes would you make?I would focus the activities on the child’s needs so that I am more client based. I felt like I was
telling the child what to do and not looking for what the child needed from the session. Another thing I would change is how we used music. We should have
planned ahead and had the music ready so that we would look more professional and not cause distractions from the activity.
7. What was the best thing about your practical?The best thing about our practical was our creativity. We spent a lot of time coming up with fun intervention
ideas that went along with our theme. Some things may not have gone as planned but we enjoyed ourselves. Overall, I think we did a great job and I’m grateful
for the lessons I learned.
Service Learning: Elementary Handwriting Groups
Running a handwriting group for the kindergarteners at Granite Elementary school turned out to be a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I have always enjoyed working with children because they have so much energy and life to them. I was grateful for this opportunity to work with the kindergarteners and help them with handwriting and learning letters.
This experience helped me realize that every child, even those of the same age, are at different levels. Some children required more verbal cues to attend to the task or write the correct letter while others finished quickly and needed little or no verbal cueing. As therapists, we have to learn to adapt our teaching strategies to accommodate for each individual’s needs.
Another challenge I was faced with during this group was trying to give each child the same amount of attention. Because while some demanded it, others were quieter and didn’t care to be the center of attention. I had to adapt my approach to instead of sitting at the table and giving the two students next to me the most attention, I would walk around the table and make sure all of the children were on the same page and knew what to do.
Running this handwriting group reminded me of the things that I learned in Pediatrics. We started the group by making the letters we were focusing on with our bodies. This got the children warmed up and was a fun gross motor learning activity that would prepare them for the fine motor activities to come. The first fine motor activity we did involved tactile stimulation as we had them write letters with their fingers on baggies filled with soap. For our final activity we gave the children a worksheet to practice making slants to help them be able to write “slant letters” better. These three activities all focused on slant letters which helped the children develop motor pathways in their brains. This will help them later as they increase their knowledge of letters, words, and how to write them.
In conclusion, this group helped me learn how to adjust myself to treat each client equally and individually to get everyone involved in the activities. This can be beneficial in any setting where group therapy is involved. I had to act in the same manner for all of the children so no one got left out or so they didn’t feel that I favored one of them over another. This is important in practice because there are going to be clients that we naturally get along with better and are drawn to, while others we may naturally clash with. It is important to learn how to be equally invested in any client that we are assigned to be with and know how to adjust our approach to help each client succeed. This way we give everyone the same compassionate, quality care they deserve.
This experience helped me realize that every child, even those of the same age, are at different levels. Some children required more verbal cues to attend to the task or write the correct letter while others finished quickly and needed little or no verbal cueing. As therapists, we have to learn to adapt our teaching strategies to accommodate for each individual’s needs.
Another challenge I was faced with during this group was trying to give each child the same amount of attention. Because while some demanded it, others were quieter and didn’t care to be the center of attention. I had to adapt my approach to instead of sitting at the table and giving the two students next to me the most attention, I would walk around the table and make sure all of the children were on the same page and knew what to do.
Running this handwriting group reminded me of the things that I learned in Pediatrics. We started the group by making the letters we were focusing on with our bodies. This got the children warmed up and was a fun gross motor learning activity that would prepare them for the fine motor activities to come. The first fine motor activity we did involved tactile stimulation as we had them write letters with their fingers on baggies filled with soap. For our final activity we gave the children a worksheet to practice making slants to help them be able to write “slant letters” better. These three activities all focused on slant letters which helped the children develop motor pathways in their brains. This will help them later as they increase their knowledge of letters, words, and how to write them.
In conclusion, this group helped me learn how to adjust myself to treat each client equally and individually to get everyone involved in the activities. This can be beneficial in any setting where group therapy is involved. I had to act in the same manner for all of the children so no one got left out or so they didn’t feel that I favored one of them over another. This is important in practice because there are going to be clients that we naturally get along with better and are drawn to, while others we may naturally clash with. It is important to learn how to be equally invested in any client that we are assigned to be with and know how to adjust our approach to help each client succeed. This way we give everyone the same compassionate, quality care they deserve.