Menu
Blog
In regards to my internship at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, I feel they are a partner in my education because they help me to explore my potential in working with children and patients in general. The internship is also helping me to evaluate whether healthcare would be a good fit for me for my long-term career. I don’t know that I would call it a new career that I have learned about, but I really didn’t know what an Occupational Therapist did when I began my Internship. I have learned so much about what an Occupational Therapist does, and how she helps patients with developmental delays and disabilities. Through crafts, game play, and recreational therapy, she is able to break through to children and help them to progress with things such as speech, writing, and other barriers. There are several things that I do that make my mentor’s life easier. I create arts and craft activities to help with patients’ fine motor skills, which saves the therapists’ time, I participate in gym time so that the therapist can observe the patient’s playtime behavior, and I greet patients in the lobby so that the therapist can complete their charting. I also help with room decorations when the therapist needs assistance.
0 Comments
My Essential Question:
How can the treatment plans for patients with sensory processing disorder (spd), provided by the occupational therapists at my internship at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, benefit the everyday lives of these children? I selected this as my essential question because many of the children that my mentor and I see and treat are children that are affected by SPD in their everyday lives, which leads them to come to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for treatment. SPD is a disorder in which the brain has difficulty interpreting and processing information that comes from the senses, and when processed, the child is either oversensitive or under-sensitive to the things in their environment. These children come to CHOA in hopes of overcoming the effects of SPD so that they can alleviate some of the stresses that are presented upon themselves when in social situations. This ties into the most exciting part about finding the answer to my essential question because analyzing whether or not the treatment plans given to the children are effective allows the occupational therapists to decide if there needs to be more effective treatment plans put in place to greater improve the lives of the children, which is the ultimate goal. This question accurately reflects a desire I have to further my knowledge within the subject of SPD because each case of SPD is so different, as each child has different ways of processing their outside environments. More needs to be known about this topic in all aspects as the more knowledge the therapist has, the better the therapist will be able to assess what treatment plan is best for the patient. My Profile: My name is Lindsey. I am a Senior at West Forsyth High School, where I am President of the National Beta Club, and am a member of the Capstone Program. I belong to several clubs and organizations, and I am taking six Advanced Placement classes this year on top of a part-time job babysitting on Thursday evenings, so I stay extremely busy! I also belong to Browns Bridge Community Church, where I participate in the Inside Out Youth program. I enjoy spending time with friends and community service work, as well as reading.
My Mentorship: My mentorship is at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in Cumming, located at the Collection. I work in the Occupational Therapy and Sports Medicine Departments, with the majority of my time spent in Occupational Therapy. My mentor is Alex, an Occupational Therapist. I work with her on Thursday afternoons for three hours per week. I greet and retrieve patients from the lobby, help to set up the gym for therapy sessions, and play games with the patients. When we move to the tables for table work, I help patients with crafts and writing exercises. I also help to make sample craft projects when needed. The patient age ranges are 2 to 13. My Future: I plan on majoring in a Psychology or Health Sciences Field next year, depending on the college to which I am accepted. I am most interested in a Neuroscience or a Psychology major, if available. My long-term goal is to attend Medical School to become a Psychiatrist or Neurobehavioral Physician. I believe that this internship will help me, because I am observing firsthand the value of patient relationships, and how they progress with weekly therapies. I am also immersed in the healthcare system, which is valuable experience since my career will be in healthcare as well. I have been working as an Intern at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in the Occupational Therapy Department for several weeks now. Honestly, I did not know what to expect going in, as I really didn’t have a clear understanding of what occupational therapy was, and how it would work with children since they don’t really have an “occupation.” After both observing and participating in treatment of children in this department, I have learned that this therapy can help children with several different types of issues. I have seen children with anger management issues, speech impairments, developmental issues, and behavioral issues during my time interning. Therapy consists of different concepts, including playing games, doing worksheets, verbal exercises, and even regular exercise. I am surprised that there are so many different types of issues that can be helped with occupational therapy. It is rewarding to be able to participate in helping them, and I am also surprised that the children remember who I am each week, and they come up to me and hug me when they see me.
Routine parts of the internship would include getting patients from the lobby, and watching the therapist write notes after each patient. I have learned that these notes have a few purposes. First, it helps the therapist remember what things worked with the patient each week, and what things didn’t work so well. Also, if the patient has a different therapist for the next week, that therapist can read the notes to catch up on the patient’s progress. Also, the clinic needs the notes to be able to charge the insurance company for the therapy visit. So although it takes 5-10 minutes of time after each patient, that time is very valuable to the therapist and the clinic. The article I chose fits into my potential research, because I can use it to show that the use of games such as these in therapy can help children with developmental injuries and/or impairments to improve. The article discusses the use of a game, Timocco, to help assess the level of disability in children and to, over time, help them to improve their motor skills. It is believed that virtual reality games can help those with brain injury to relearn motor skills during therapy. This article will help to bolster the idea that playing games helps children in therapy. While working at CHOA, I play games with the children, and this article works hand in hand with that concept. Because I plan on discussing using games in therapy as a way to help repair or refine motor skills in children with traumatic brain injury, this article directly relates to my research topic.
Specifically, the game Timocco has 2 levels with specific tasks that children must accomplish to collect coins. First, the monkey, Timocco is given a job where he must pop bubbles of a certain color, which is typically matched to the color shirt the child is wearing. The second level is a game where Timocco is on a beach, and he is told to collect certain pieces of fruit in different baskets. The child has to determine which basket to choose to catch the pieces of fruit, which are falling from the sky. Based on their scores, their therapists can assess improvement in their motor skills. The game can be played over and over again over time, which works because most children do not get bored with video games. Also, because the cost of the game is very low, parents can choose to purchase the game for the child to practice at home. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=08e0f7d3-8fb9-43f8-9995-36cb8db62f74%40sessionmgr102 Annotated Bibliography Graphic Organizer
Source #__1__ Bibliography (MLA or APA): 10 pts Gabyzon, M. E., Engel-Yeger, B., Tresser, S., & Springer, S. (2016). Using a virtual reality game to assess goal-directed hand movements in children: A pilot feasibility study. Technology and Health Care, 24(1), 11-19. doi:10.3233/thc-151041 Reflection: 25 pts (How will you potentially use it?) I can use this source to show that use of games in therapy can help children with developmental injuries and/or impairments to improve through the use of games. This article discusses the use of a game, Timocco, to help assess the level of disability in children. Annotation: 35 pts This article discusses a game, Timocco, which was developed in Israel as a tool to assess the level of motor performance in hand movements in children. The creators of the game found that the prevailing tests were not always successful because children would get bored and would not participate. The game, which is a virtual reality video game, has a monkey called Timocco which has to perform certain tasks. The first game has Timocco pop bubbles of certain colors, which are usually color coded to match the child’s shirt. The second game has Timocco on a beach, and he has to catch falling fruit and put them into specific baskets. The game gives the child 3 tries, and it measures game time, accuracy, target time, & action time, which together will help the therapist assess the level of disability in hand motor coordination. Because children typically like games, they will be more engaged and invested in this testing, so it will hopefully be a more accurate gauge for therapists to use. Also, Timocco is very inexpensive and easy to set up, so most programs will be able to afford it. In addition, it can be purchased and used in homes for daily exercise for patients. Potential Quotes: 15 pts - “The clinical feasibility and effectiveness of off-the-shelf computer systems (such as Sony’s PlayStation II EyeToy, Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Kinect) as a treatment modality have been demonstrated in several studies of children with motor and/or cognitive impairments, such as developmental coordination disorder or cerebral palsy.” - Timocco’s “primary goal is to assist in improving motor, perceptual, and cognitive abilities, such as goal-directed hand movement, eye-hand coordination and dual-tasking in young children with developmental delays and minor impairments.” - “The study results demonstrated the feasibility of using Timocco as an assessment tool for evaluating the effect of age on specific, goal directed hand movements among typically developing children.” Assessment: 15 pts This source is credible because it was a joint study performed by the Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy Departments at the University of Israel, the Physical Therapy Department at Ariel University in Israel, and by the makers of the Timocco game. The researchers worked together to gather a group of young children, and to measure their development based upon their scores using the game. Because the universities were involved, the game maker had no chance for bias. I read Tim Elmore’s latest blog post from Growing Leaders (http://growingleaders.com), and I found it very insightful. I do believe that an internship is an interview in progress. My parents are business owners, and they have told me many times of interns who have made mistakes, and of those who did everything right. The best interns are those who are prepared, who come in ready to work, who ask intelligent questions, and who bring insight to the job. They learn quickly and ask for more work if possible. They also don’t ask for lots of special favors such as time off, leaving early, etc. I feel that I can use the information I learned from this article to help me to be a better intern because I am going to be on an interview for an entire year. I will be working with the same mentor each week, and I will be working with the same office staff. It will be important for me to learn staff member names, and to arrive early each day I work. Also, it is very important that I observe each patient, and remember to ask insightful questions based on each case. I must dress professionally and remember to address everyone in a formal manner. Also, I should exhibit a positive energy about working with them and with children. Already, I have noticed that patients have remembered my name and hugged me, which made me feel really good. Finally, I will conduct thorough research on my topic so that I can give an intelligent presentation at the end of the year.
This week, we have been tasked with an assignment on the importance of work ethic. My parents have always told me that I would do well in the work force one day because I have a great work ethic, but I must admit that I didn’t really understand what they meant until the last couple of years. If there is one thing high school has taught me, it is that hard work and organization are required for success. Time management is vitally important, and a good student must be a self-starter, having the initiative to begin assignments on their own.
Further, leadership is an important aspect of building a successful profile in high school. I have learned that I must be dependable and take initiative to join clubs, to volunteer for community service opportunities, and to run for offices within the clubs that I have joined. Once I became an officer, dependability became even more important. Being able to communicate with other officers, club sponsors, community members, and club members has been vital to my success in this arena. After taking the online OWEI (Occupational Work Ethic Inventory), I learned that I possess the skills necessary to help me this year in my internship. I scored higher than the study’s average in Interpersonal Skills, Initiative, and Dependability. Because I am not afraid to take initiative, I can confidently approach my mentor to ask about learning opportunities and questions I have about each case I observe and on which I assist. I will strive to be a reliable and dependable intern, always on time and ready to work. And I will relish every opportunity to learn so that I can conduct thorough research, and so that I can decide upon the best future for myself. In communicating with my friends, I am comfortable and informal, and we often use slang and have inside jokes. We can almost communicate without speaking sometimes, based upon the situation, because we know each other so well. My friends and I have a mutual expectation that we can trust one another, which makes communication easy. We communicate most through text and social media. With family members, I also feel very comfortable in speaking and communicating. I am not always as free with information, but I can be myself, and express myself freely and expect that in return from them. I am very close with my family, and our communication style is loose and informal. I communicate with my family mostly verbally.
For a job interview, I would communicate very differently than with friends and family. First of all, I would carry myself in a professional demeanor. I would use a more formal tone, and keep eye contact throughout. I would track the interviewer as they spoke and keep good eye contact throughout the interview. Through direct listening, I would formulate questions to ask of the interviewer as well. These things would all be expected of me, and I would expect that the interviewer would be prepared to speak with me and to ask me questions about my experience. When speaking with my mentor, I will begin by making direct eye contact, and speaking in a professional manner. I will ask her if she needs assistance with anything specific each time we meet, and I will attempt to build a good rapport with her. I will do research on cases that we have, and I will ask intelligent questions based upon those cases. I will watch how she does things, and I will try to emulate her in the clinic setting. I will listen closely to her direction, and will use the knowledge gained to help me. with my research. I think that these techniques will help me to better communicate with her, and will make me a better intern. Within the "Getting Ready for Your Mentor" article, the author, Juliette McDonald, described many ways in which it is possible to impress your mentor and prepare for the upcoming internship. Some ways she expressed how to impress your mentor is by being responsible, discussing the details of the job, showing enthusiasm, immersing yourself into the work, and always taking initiative in the workplace. To be responsible within the mentorship includes arriving early to each shift and taking responsibility for all of your actions. Discussing the details of the job with the mentor will allow for the mentor and myself to be on the same page will all the expectations that come along with the internship, so that neither of will be confused with what each other wants. Showing enthusiasm within the work place will let the mentor know that I don't take the internship lightly, and that it's something that means a lot to me and my future. It will show that I care about learning rather than being there just to complete my internship hours for the program. Immersing myself into the work will include me always listening to my mentor and asking questions at times when I'm either confused or just curious. This will also include me using my time outside of the internship to learn concepts that could possibly benefit my time at the hospital, and also to show my mentor that I'm very interested in the cases on which we are working. Lastly, always taking initiative in the workplace will include me always seeking out opportunities to learn. For example, as I'm focusing on the topic of concussions for my Capstone project, taking initiative in the workplace would include me telling my mentor that this is my interest, and asking questions to learn more about this topic to further my knowledge and understanding for the project. All of these tips that are presented in the article will benefit me in my internship, as they will help me both prepare for the opportunity and impress my mentor.
|
|