Week 3
Holy moly, we are THREE WEEKS into fieldwork.
Sometimes, when I get overwhelmed, I think about the last few weeks and everything that I have learned - both OT related and not OT related. Coming from the suburbs of Kansas means that I had a LOT of adjusting to do to live in the New Orleans area. Let's start with school related things.
1. I'M ACTUALLY DOING IT.
I currently am responsible for 20 kids, I get six (ish) each week. The clinic is pretty low right now, so starting next week, I have all the kids. So far, I have adjusted pretty well to this clinic. Things are more familiar to me now. I know almost all the kids, I know when some of them come in, I know a lot of their parents names. I know how long a certain child needs to swing before he is ready to work hard in therapy, I know which kids need to be negotiated with one minute of free time at the end of the session to work really hard now. I know which kids are only motivated to do my obstacle course if it involves dinosaurs and lava, and I know which kids have activities that they HATE because they are hard. I'm learning the signs of different sensory behaviors, like seeking or avoiding. I'm learning how to run a feeding session and all the necessary prerequisites to a good feeding session. I'm learning how to explain things to parents and how to manage a child who has difficulty maintaining attention on one activity.
2. Sensory, Sensory, Sensory.
My CI said the other day (and we need to put this on a T-shirt, for real) "We all could use a little OT sometimes. and WE TOTALLY CAN. Almost every single one of the kids I see has some deficit in sensory processing. We ALL have sensory preferences. My roommate (former, but I'm in denial) Leah is a seeker. She likes the TV to be on very loud and all the lights to be on. I am sensitive. A little bit of noise makes me overstimulated very easily.
In the world of occupational therapy, we recognize the following basic senses: (Depending on who you ask, some of these are grouped together. But they're all important)
Visual: anything you see with your eyes.
Auditory: anything you hear.
Tactile: anything you touch
Vestibular: where your head is in space (roller coasters, swings, and hanging upside down on the monkey bars stimulate this sense)
Interoception: The workings of you internally. Need to go to the bathroom, hunger, etc.
Proprioceptive: Where is my body in space. (jumping, running, etc. kids who appear clumsy often just have an underdeveloped sense of proprioception.)
Taste: you should know this.
Kids who are labeled as behavioral problems, attention problems, etc., in school often just have a sensory issue of some kind. Kids who aren't getting enough input in one form or another tend to lash out. Their body doesn't feel right or good but they aren't sure why. Seeing kids right after they are at school all day is a perfect example of this. They come in screaming, kicking, yelling, bouncing off the walls, and unable to to calm down long enough to listen to instructions - but 20 minutes later, they sit quietly on the trampoline and sip water, while asking me how my day was. Regulation.
3. Unexpected challenges:
The hardest part of fieldwork so far has definitely been time management with all the kids. Based on my site's expectations, I often have three - four kids at a time and delegate the session to someone else. So instead of planning and seeing six kids a day, sometimes I'll plan for six and only actually see two of them because the other four are busy with another therapist. It's tricky to write notes this way because I have to have four sets of eyes. Thankfully, this clinic is all in one room, so I usually don't have a problem with this. Another thing is the roller coaster of the day. It seems like you have four or five sessions in a row go really well and then you spend an hour of a feeding session bribing a child to lick a cracker. Really keeps you on your toes.
As for things that are less related to fieldwork...
1. The south
I love it here. I love this town. I love being right on the lake. I have a little spot that is stress free to get to (big for me) and is quiet and relaxed but usually has kids playing, people watching the sailboats come in, going for a jog, and occasionally playing in the water. I love living so close to water, and I love the constant blazing heat and sun. I love a place that understands that sweet tea is the best tea, and they have the most amazing seafood here, including fresh seafood markets.
2. Also the south
It only took one trip into New Orleans and a few incidences locally for me to figure this out, but there must be an unwritten rule in the south that you are sweet and welcoming and hospitable to maintain the southern stereotype EXCEPT driving. My anxiety skyrockets every time I get in the car here. I would drive in Omaha blindfolded before willingly driving in New Orleans alone.
3. Being alone
This is the first time in my life that I've been this alone. I live alone, I don't know anyone here besides the few people I work with, so I spend about 60% of my time alone, and the other 40% is with kids, so I don't count that. I get so excited to talk to people from home because we can talk about adult things. (Sidenote: why do boys only want to talk about farts? Like what is that?) I've learned a lot, just in three weeks, about managing my time completely by myself and finding things to do on the weekends so I don't go totally crazy.
I'm hoping that the level of comfort I feel only goes up from here. It's been a good first three weeks and I can't believe I'm already a fourth of the way through!
Sometimes, when I get overwhelmed, I think about the last few weeks and everything that I have learned - both OT related and not OT related. Coming from the suburbs of Kansas means that I had a LOT of adjusting to do to live in the New Orleans area. Let's start with school related things.
1. I'M ACTUALLY DOING IT.
I currently am responsible for 20 kids, I get six (ish) each week. The clinic is pretty low right now, so starting next week, I have all the kids. So far, I have adjusted pretty well to this clinic. Things are more familiar to me now. I know almost all the kids, I know when some of them come in, I know a lot of their parents names. I know how long a certain child needs to swing before he is ready to work hard in therapy, I know which kids need to be negotiated with one minute of free time at the end of the session to work really hard now. I know which kids are only motivated to do my obstacle course if it involves dinosaurs and lava, and I know which kids have activities that they HATE because they are hard. I'm learning the signs of different sensory behaviors, like seeking or avoiding. I'm learning how to run a feeding session and all the necessary prerequisites to a good feeding session. I'm learning how to explain things to parents and how to manage a child who has difficulty maintaining attention on one activity.
2. Sensory, Sensory, Sensory.
My CI said the other day (and we need to put this on a T-shirt, for real) "We all could use a little OT sometimes. and WE TOTALLY CAN. Almost every single one of the kids I see has some deficit in sensory processing. We ALL have sensory preferences. My roommate (former, but I'm in denial) Leah is a seeker. She likes the TV to be on very loud and all the lights to be on. I am sensitive. A little bit of noise makes me overstimulated very easily.
In the world of occupational therapy, we recognize the following basic senses: (Depending on who you ask, some of these are grouped together. But they're all important)
Visual: anything you see with your eyes.
Auditory: anything you hear.
Tactile: anything you touch
Vestibular: where your head is in space (roller coasters, swings, and hanging upside down on the monkey bars stimulate this sense)
Interoception: The workings of you internally. Need to go to the bathroom, hunger, etc.
Proprioceptive: Where is my body in space. (jumping, running, etc. kids who appear clumsy often just have an underdeveloped sense of proprioception.)
Taste: you should know this.
Kids who are labeled as behavioral problems, attention problems, etc., in school often just have a sensory issue of some kind. Kids who aren't getting enough input in one form or another tend to lash out. Their body doesn't feel right or good but they aren't sure why. Seeing kids right after they are at school all day is a perfect example of this. They come in screaming, kicking, yelling, bouncing off the walls, and unable to to calm down long enough to listen to instructions - but 20 minutes later, they sit quietly on the trampoline and sip water, while asking me how my day was. Regulation.
3. Unexpected challenges:
The hardest part of fieldwork so far has definitely been time management with all the kids. Based on my site's expectations, I often have three - four kids at a time and delegate the session to someone else. So instead of planning and seeing six kids a day, sometimes I'll plan for six and only actually see two of them because the other four are busy with another therapist. It's tricky to write notes this way because I have to have four sets of eyes. Thankfully, this clinic is all in one room, so I usually don't have a problem with this. Another thing is the roller coaster of the day. It seems like you have four or five sessions in a row go really well and then you spend an hour of a feeding session bribing a child to lick a cracker. Really keeps you on your toes.
As for things that are less related to fieldwork...
1. The south
I love it here. I love this town. I love being right on the lake. I have a little spot that is stress free to get to (big for me) and is quiet and relaxed but usually has kids playing, people watching the sailboats come in, going for a jog, and occasionally playing in the water. I love living so close to water, and I love the constant blazing heat and sun. I love a place that understands that sweet tea is the best tea, and they have the most amazing seafood here, including fresh seafood markets.
2. Also the south
It only took one trip into New Orleans and a few incidences locally for me to figure this out, but there must be an unwritten rule in the south that you are sweet and welcoming and hospitable to maintain the southern stereotype EXCEPT driving. My anxiety skyrockets every time I get in the car here. I would drive in Omaha blindfolded before willingly driving in New Orleans alone.
3. Being alone
This is the first time in my life that I've been this alone. I live alone, I don't know anyone here besides the few people I work with, so I spend about 60% of my time alone, and the other 40% is with kids, so I don't count that. I get so excited to talk to people from home because we can talk about adult things. (Sidenote: why do boys only want to talk about farts? Like what is that?) I've learned a lot, just in three weeks, about managing my time completely by myself and finding things to do on the weekends so I don't go totally crazy.
I'm hoping that the level of comfort I feel only goes up from here. It's been a good first three weeks and I can't believe I'm already a fourth of the way through!
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