I would consider fieldwork to be a success thus far. I am still alive, which is always encouraging. And, on top of that, despite being around crowds of children who do not cover their mouths when they cough and sneeze, and do not wash their hands, I have emerged with my health still intact. Which is, in itself, a huge success.
But seriously, it's continued to be a very fun and joyful experience. There's something about being around kids all day that just makes the world seem better. I mean, yes, they can be completely frustrating and irritating and annoying, but overall they are a positive, cheering force of nature. And they have such interesting thoughts that they tend to share, usually unasked for. At one point, one of my friends in kindergarten raised his hand, regarded me steadily, and said, "You're a teenager." Not a question. Just a statement, in the style of a statement of fact, but, of course, not an actual fact. I considered this, and responded, "Well, no, I'm not a teenager. I'm actually 23. Which makes me not a teenager." Not to be swayed, he countered with, "But you're in school." "Technically I'm finished with school, and now I'm just learning how to be an OT, On the job." That settled the matter. Well, that, plus my saying "Finish making your upper-case L's and then you can color."
So you might be wondering what comprises an OT's work in a school setting. I've touched on it before, but that was back when I was also fuzzy on the particulars, never having done OT stuff in a school. I return to the subject now, older and wiser, with expanded knowledge that I am thrilled to impart to you. As with many OT things, our roles vary across types of settings, and then across specific settings as well. Thus, my experience of school-based OT could be different from another practitioner's. But the general scope and characteristics are the same.
One of my professors would always tell us, "If you're a school OT and you only work on handwriting, you're not doing OT." This is because OT's do indeed work closely with students' handwriting skills and abilities, and therefore it has become a bit of a stereotype that we work exclusively in that area. Which is false, obviously, and I hope that if you've learned anything from this blog it's that OT's are pros at working on many different things at a time.
So we do do a lot with handwriting, especially with the students who are in their first couple of years of elementary school. But even when we work on handwriting, it's not just the writing. It's how they grasp the pencil or pen, what muscle groups are being used during writing, the amount of pressure they exert on the paper, what their non-dominant hand is doing when they're writing, their posture when they're writing. Just to name a few. We look at coloring and cutting, also both fine motor activities. And, like handwriting, each has a long list of items to look at. And, of course, we also work with ADL's, that is, the ADL's that kids have to do at school. This dressing--zipping up their coats for recess, tying their shoes (because those shoes will invariably come untied at some point during the school day).
I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to work with high school and middle school students as well as elementary. High school and middle school OT is quite different. It's much more transition-based. In middle school, preparing the students for high school. And in high school, preparing them for their transition into the adult world. We do a lot of functional occupations that they might find themselves doing in a job in the real world. Sorting according to color, label, size, etc. Practicing stocking shelves with food (like at a grocery store). We'll also do simple cooking tasks, like this past week, we made microwave s'mores, following a step-by-step process accompanied by pictures of each step. It was quite fun.
I had hoped to blog a bit more frequently during fieldwork. We'll see if this every-6-week trend continues, or if I manage to overthrow it. The truth is, I've been dividing my not-at-school time between treatment plans for my students and studying for the NBCOT exam (OT licensure exam), so I've been a bit busy. Also, working with kids is a blast and I love it, but it's also incredibly wearing, so I've been averaging about a 9:30 bedtime every night! And late night is usually when I get my blogging done...
So we do do a lot with handwriting, especially with the students who are in their first couple of years of elementary school. But even when we work on handwriting, it's not just the writing. It's how they grasp the pencil or pen, what muscle groups are being used during writing, the amount of pressure they exert on the paper, what their non-dominant hand is doing when they're writing, their posture when they're writing. Just to name a few. We look at coloring and cutting, also both fine motor activities. And, like handwriting, each has a long list of items to look at. And, of course, we also work with ADL's, that is, the ADL's that kids have to do at school. This dressing--zipping up their coats for recess, tying their shoes (because those shoes will invariably come untied at some point during the school day).
I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to work with high school and middle school students as well as elementary. High school and middle school OT is quite different. It's much more transition-based. In middle school, preparing the students for high school. And in high school, preparing them for their transition into the adult world. We do a lot of functional occupations that they might find themselves doing in a job in the real world. Sorting according to color, label, size, etc. Practicing stocking shelves with food (like at a grocery store). We'll also do simple cooking tasks, like this past week, we made microwave s'mores, following a step-by-step process accompanied by pictures of each step. It was quite fun.
I had hoped to blog a bit more frequently during fieldwork. We'll see if this every-6-week trend continues, or if I manage to overthrow it. The truth is, I've been dividing my not-at-school time between treatment plans for my students and studying for the NBCOT exam (OT licensure exam), so I've been a bit busy. Also, working with kids is a blast and I love it, but it's also incredibly wearing, so I've been averaging about a 9:30 bedtime every night! And late night is usually when I get my blogging done...
