Origin of an OT

Joseph O’Brian Age 43 Date of report: 4/20/18 Occupational Profile Reason the client is seeking OT services and concerns related to engagement in occupations (may include the client’s general health status) Recently diagnosed with HD. Experiencing early signs/symptoms interfering with daily activities and job. Increased outbursts and temper, chorea interfering with relationships and ability to complete daily activities. Becoming a problem for his job. Occupations in which the client is successful and barriers or potential barriers to his/her success in those occupations (p. S5) Father, police officer, husband, dog owner, well known citizen of the community, physically and mentally strong. HD prevents him from being able to do his job. Mood swings are interfering with his relationships. Chorea prevents him from safely doing physical labor. Personal interests and values (p. S7) Being a ...

To understand Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) I watched the movie The Theory of Everything . This was the story of Stephen Hawking and his experience with ALS, and how his life changed with its progression. I chose to write about this, partially because the movie was very well made, but also because Stephen Hawking is an example of an exceptional case of ALS. He was diagnosed much younger than most people and lived much longer. The movie made me aware of what the actual life style is like with ALS. Most of the time we think about what it does to the body, but we never think about how our daily lives and occupations change. This movie is great for OT students because it allows us to visualize what occupations are important and how they can be adapted to the client, instead of just imagining it. "The Theory of Everything" . TIFF.net . Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). 9 October 2013. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014 . Retrieved 18 April, 2018 ....

The Compensatory Frame of Reference (FOR) is a theory about changing someones environment, rather than the person. This is theory can be applied to people of all ages. It is usually used when the client's dysfunction is considered irreversible, meaning no amount of therapy will get the client to be fully functional again, but is beneficial to anyone. An example of this theory in practice would be house modifications, changing parts of the client's home to fit their needs. Someone who is permanently wheelchair bound needs to be able to get in and out of the shower independently, so putting a bar and chair in the shower will help with this need. The ultimate goal of Compensatory Frame of Reference is to help the client regain independence. Some are discouraged that they are not able to fully rehabilitate, but with this strategy they are able to use techniques to regain their daily activities, or valued roles.

Two things I learned from today's class are: 1) Health literacy is an important part of understanding what is going on when it comes to healthcare. It is more common than not that a client won't be able to read or understand what you need to relay to them. It is important to make sure the you express information to your client in a way they understand. You want the client to walk out of the appointment feeling like they have all of their questions answered. 2) Quality of care is important to get clients to return for therapy. One of the main reasons clients will not come back is because they were not pleased with their quality of care. Try to make the client feel comfortable, don't make them wait long, and make sure they are treated with dignity and respect.

Tourette Does the Talking: Thomas White at TEDxUND Thomas White is a student at the University of Notre Dame, who has been diagnosed with Tourette's  syndrome. Thomas describes this as "a neurological disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics that last for more than one year". Throughout the TED Talk, Thomas describes his normal day, explaining the outburst and unwarranted disturbances he is faced with. Regardless of his disability he is able to complete a 12 minute speech with very few disruptions, ultimately relaying the message that we are all people with flaws, but if we can accept that, we can also have hope. I chose this video because I always find TED Talks to be very inspirational. Knowing the difficulties Tourette's can provide while trying to communicate, I was very interested to see what Thomas would have to say and how he would go about saying it. I strongly recommend watching the speech, because he was amazing. To have such poise when under that...

When I was an OT intern at a geriatrics facility in Ghent, Belgium, I had no idea what I was doing. This was the equivalent of a graduate level II internship. At this time I was only a junior in undergrad. There may have been a miscommunication about the level of qualifications between Americans and Europeans. Regardless I tried to learn as much as I could. I mainly just watched the OTs do certain exercises with clients and tried to mimic those activities. At the end of the internship I had my own clients, and taught them how to use wheelchairs and assisted them with their walking therapy. I wish I could go back and redo that internship now that I have even a baseline understanding of those clients' disabilities and therapies. There are so many things I learned from that internship, but I know I would have learned so much more if I knew what to look for while I was there.

Something I learned from the online class material was what Assistive Technology (AT) is. I already had a slight understanding of what AT is (we’ve all seen the Apple commercial), instead I should say I learned more about what AT is.  Something interesting I learned about it was the levels of AT. What I thought was AT turns out to just be high tech AT. There are actually three level of AT: low tech, medium tech, and high tech. These levels go from things that are easy to make or obtain, low in cost and difficulty to use, and amount of training needed, to more expensive and require more training for use, as you go up from low tech to high tech. I wouldn’t think that a pencil grip was necessarily AT when you compare it to an iPad, but it makes a lot more sense that one is considered low tech and the other high tech. I also learned about some of the other myths about AT. It can be used for all ages, and all variations of disabilities. AT can be different for anyone who u...