Today I fishing up the last of my hours. There isnt much to write about since the kids graduated last night and not many of them showed up today so i didnt really have anything to do. Nichole finished up with carter on tuesday and i dont come till wednesday. Today I pretty much helped the teachers with taking stuff down and watching the kids. I enjoyed the time I dot to observe the OTA, but any other time i didnt like doing paper work and doing stuff that they didnt want to do for themselfs. Overall it was ok I hope next time I can get a different setting so that I can get experience with seeing everything an OTA would do in certain situations.

this week nichole and I went down to the other classroom to see the kids. She needed to work with a couple that she didnt work with in a long time. When we first got there they were having circle time and they were all very hyper. she tried th brushing techniques agian on some of the students and other that she tried it on didnt want anything to do with it. when circle time was over she didnt have alot of time to do treatment since it was the kids last day, so she did the best that she could. They were making ice cream sundays that day, so when they were making ice cream sundays she sat down with them and had them scoop their own toppings on to the the ice cream. after they were done eating she had them clean up she was asked to help the kids sign a autograph book. she had each kid come over and sign their name to their classmates book. That was pretty much all we had time to do because it was their last day and everything was so crazy.

S: The last day of school was a fun experience

O: I participated in helping the kids make sundays and also helping them sign autograph books.

A: I enjoy helping the kids with fun activites that also help them in the long run,

P: I have a couple more hours left to do and then I will be all done with my fieldwork.

Lanae Brooks S/OTA

This past week at my field work site I watched the kids play for a little bit in the classroom and then I headed over to the other room to work on some decorations for the graduationt that was coming up. I have been doing that alot lately and I just feel like thats all I get done doing for clinicals. When i was in the middle decorating nichole came in the room and asked me to come over with her so that she could work with carter. we had carter come over to the table in the corner of the room to work. She had him work on how to put together a fishing line. She first got out all the stuff and layed it out. he had a hard time keeping his hands off the fishing stuff. She drew him a picture to show him what order that the fishing stuff went on the fishing line. when she asked him to show her what the picture was he pointed to all the right stuff. they were all in order too. she had him put the fishing stuff on to the line next. he had alot of trouble handling the stuff to stick it on the line but eventually accomplished it. after all the the fishing stuff was put on she moved on to tracing his name since he doesnt know how to. she drew his name out in dash lines and told him to trace it. he really didnt trace it at all his arm was everywhere all over the paper and he just couldnt seem to control his writing movements.that is all she did with him on that day.

Lanae Brooks S/OTA

Progress note: I will continue to observe with nichole and watch out she accomplishes tasks that she is directed to do. I will be able to observe unitl next week and then after that she will be back on a tuesday. that means i wont be able to see her the last week that I am there. but i really have enjoyed the time that i did get to watch.

This week in my field work site I went to the normal place that i always go to. She worked with the same kids that she always does in therapy. About 1 oclock we headed over to the new maysville high school. she sees one kid over there that is very high functioning but just has some trouble with writing and core strength. we got there when he was in the middle of eating snack. She brought him out in to the hallway of the office at a table. she had him sit at the table and write his name and trace letters. he didnt seem to have alot of trouble with tracing the letters. he just seemed to have alot of trouble holding the pencil the right way. Since he had alot of trouble with core strength she had him do wheel barells down the hallway and back up the hallway. When he was doing these he wasnt moving very fast and he didnt have very good balance in his UE. When he got back to the end of the hallway the OTA had him cross his midsection by having me put my hand on one side and then another and had him smack my hand of the opposite side. She had him finish the rest of his snack and had him head outside to play.

Lanae Brooks S/OTA

S: Working with this patient was a great expericence.

O: I preformed some treatment activites to help the patient through his therapy, which he had trouble in writing and core strength.

A:I held my hands on either side of his midline so he had to cross it.

P:I will contiune to help work with patients as much as I can while doing my clinical hours.

This week I work with nichole on a patient that to me seemed to be blind in one eye and have trouble with grasp on certain things. She didnt really inform me what diagnosis he had but that is what I took in about the patient.

The patient seemed to be very calm while sitting in circle time. While the patient is listening the OTA uses the brushing technique to help with sensory. The patient really seem to enjoy this part of therapy. The therapist first starts out by using and peice of cloth that is very soft. She begins by letting him feel the peice of material she will be using. After that rubs it in his left arm first and then across his back over to the right arm. Through out this therapy she uses about 10 different types of material to help with any kind of sensory that he is not used to. The patient then comes to the table and sits down by the therapist. She asks him to pick up the spiders with a tool that looks like big tweezers. The patient had a hard time squeezing the tweezers to pick up the spiders and put them in bowl. The patient then attempted to draw shapes such as circles, squares, plus signs. He had a hard time grasping the crayon so that he could complete the shapes. The patient was also asked to cut straight lines and curvey lines. The paient also had a rough time being able to hold the sissiors correctly. Once the patient saw that his babysitter was there to pick him up he did not want to do therapy anymore. The patient finished what he was supposed to be doing after a couple verbal cues to pay attention and then he was alllowed to leave to go home.

                                                                           S/OTA,Lanae Brooks

Clinicals this week at my field site went very well. The OTA Nichole came in on Thrursday and worked on alot more this week than last week. She started off the day by seeing the little boy in my class. This week she started by having him pick beads out of the theraputty. He really had trouble following directions. Her directions were to pull out 10 beads and lay them on the table. He started off ok then he started throwing them and then putting the beads back into the putty instead of taking them out. She then had him work on using scissors. While using the scissors she had him bring the paper out away from the table so he couldnt put wieght on his arm to help him. he could cut in a straight line but he could not cut diagnal lines or curvey lines. When then moved to the carpet, she had him lay down and prop himself up on his elbows. Nichole was trying to work on body awareness, but he kept laying down and he didnt want to work on the activity. We then moved to the room down the hall with children that really need Occupational therpay. I watched her do the brushing technique on a student, which was really interesting because I have never seen that before. she said it was to calm him down so he could pay attention. I dont think it calmed him down any because he was really hyper. After circle time in the class room they moved to activity time. The children had to trace the outline of a bug. The little girl that was in the class used a dry erase marker. When she held the marker, she held it in a key pinch. Nichole tried to get her to hold it write and tried to do hand over hand but the little girl kept going back to the key pinch no matter what technique Nichole used. I was very interesting to see another child expericance the help of an OTA. I have learned that some students really want to work on getting better and some dont want to put the effort in to it at all.

Progress note: I will continue to follow the OTA Nichole when she is present in the building. I will continue to give her my undivided attention so that I can learn interseting information about becoming an OTA. I will also apply the exercises that she taugh me to help the little boy in my class to become better at using scissors, strengthen UE control, and self awarness.

                                                      S/OTA, Lanae Brooks

This week I met the OTA that works with the little boy in my fieldwork setting. Her name is Nicole Wilkins. She seemed very excited to meet me and show me what she does with him. We first started by sitting down in a corner facing away from the other students so that he could concentrate on what she was trying to work on him with. She then had him build up blocks until she got stuff ready. Then she asked him make the same pattern with his blocks that she did hers. They were trying to get him to build up 4 blocks the same way she had them He was able to build up a 3 block series but not a 4 block series. He was also asked to color a picture and she was explaining to me what he was doing wrong, such as hold the crayon the wrong way and he moved his whole shoulder and body just to color the picture. She said that he has weak trunk control so, she had him work on wall pushes and jumping jacks. He really enjoyed doing those activites because he loves to be hyper. She told me that she has other kids in the building that she helps, so I could come with her to observe the other disablities that the kids may have and how she works with them. She informed me that I could pull the boy aside that is in my class and do the wall pushes and jumping jacks with him so he can build muscle to run with out falling and any of the other stuff he has trouble with. Overall this week went alot better because I actually got to expericane what the OTA would do in a school setting.

Progress Note: I Plan to work with the child to build up muscle in his legs and ams so that he can do everyday activites. I also plan to go to the other classrooms with the OTA so that I can expericance different settings and see students that have a different diagnosis than what the little boy has in my class. I will go with her one time a week to do this because she is only in one day a week to work with the kids.

My level 1 fieldwork experience is going very well. I am at Maysville Head Start and my supervisor is Tina Soller. I am there Wendnesday, Thursday and Friday from 8-11:30. There is supposed to be a COTA or a OTA coming in to work with a student in the class. She has not been able to come in yet. I wasnt very nervous about going there my first day because I am used to being around children. When I first showed up they made me feel very comfortable and introduced me to all the kids in the class. Most of the kids seemed to be very friendly and we not afraid to meet me. There is one child in the class that needs the help of an OTA. The first day I was there that specific child was not afraid to come give me a hug and he felt very comfortable around me. The kids really seemed to enjoy the time of day  where they can dance and jump around. The teacher also let me know that the specific child that needs help  from an OTA was being really different around me. She said that he usually shys off from people and doesnt dance or join in on groups activities. When he was standing beside me he danced and joined in on everything that the class did. Im am really excited to see how he improves over the weeks that I am there. I am also very anxious to meet the OTA that will be coming in to work with him, but till then I am just helping out with stuff around the classroom.