Student Conclave 2011- Day 1

We left Radford right after I had my peds client on campus...I rode with three other people from my class and we got almost to the interstate when I realized I had forgotten my wallet back on campus so we had to turn back around so that I could get it. Ha great start to the trip! :)
We made it to the Charlotte airport safely though and in plenty of time :) We ate a small dinner at Chili's in the airport and hung out a bit before boarding the plane! This was my VERY first time on a plane so I was pretty nervous/anxious! I really enjoyed it though :) I kindof want to plan another trip just so that I can fly again!

Kalyn, Me and Mary on the shuttle to the airport

OT girls at the airport

Aaron, Kaley and Rosemary on the plane ready to go!

We got to the hotel in Providence at like midnight and we all were just exhausted and decided to call it a night.

On Friday, we got up and headed out to get coffee/brunch at Panera before exploring around a little bit.

all of us on Friday morning, pic courtesy of a local bus driver

After brunch we walked around the HUGE mall that was attached to our hotel- we went there at least once/day. It had everything...I just wish I had had money to spend =(
Around 1:30 we headed to the Rhode Island Convention Center - that was also connected to our hotel-  to check in and browse the exhibits that were open. There were about 50 health care companies there that had set up tables giving away pens, notepads, and lots of bags! We talked to pretty much all of them over the two days of the conference.
The first concurrent sessions were from 3:00-4:00..and 4 of us chose to go to one titled "Your Fieldwork, Your Future".

me, mary, kalyn and catherine at our first session

We thought it was going to be a great session since we are all thinking about our level 2's coming up this summer. It was quite what we had expected. They had 3 students, that I think were all in peds, a clinical educator and a physical therapist (?) who each spoke for a few minutes before opening up the floor for questions.
Here are the main points/advice I got from this session:
be culturally competent/sensitive
use clinical reasoning
build a therapeutic relationship with clients throughout the OT process
be aware of what is expected of clients (peds in school) and the developmental milestones
build alliances with colleagues
get a Frame of Reference quick reference book
start a binder/folder of  'go-to' tx activities to take with you at all times
take textbooks and class notes from relevant courses
NEVER BE AFRAID TO ASK A QUESTION
trust your education and what you have learned
practice good communication skills
have a good attitude
and keep your tx client-centered

Have any of you been on a Level 2 Fieldwork- if so, what is your advice ??

After that session, we headed to the Welcoming Ceremony where we heard from the president of AOTA and other members of the board...

our group at the opening ceremony reppin' Radford :)

After the welcoming ceremony we headed back to the hotel to get ready and head to the mall and dinner at PF Changs -it was my very first time eating there and it was deeelicious!!

I did take pics of our food, but I'll spare you :)
After dinner we headed to a local bar/lounge and hung out for a while before heading back and calling it a night.. Sessions started at 8:30 the next morning....but I'll save that post for another day :)

Student Conclave 2011

Just got back from a great weekend in Rhode Island at the 2011 AOTA/NBCOT Student Conclave! I can't wait to post all about it...but for now here's a tease...

the 8 of us that went from Radford at the Opening Ceremony

with AOTA's president Florence Clark...our new role model!

check back later this week/next week for more pictures and my experience at the conference!

RU Occupational Therapy Video

Graduate Programs in Health and Human Services at Radford University from Radford University on Vimeo.


posts coming soon about...
-Our Student Occupational Therapy Association
-My Level 1 Fieldwork in a State Mental Hospital
-The AOTA Student Conclave 2011 - It is in Providence, RI this Friday-Sunday so when I get back, expect posts about the sessions I attended and the experience as a whole! I am so excited about it =)

Pediatric Client: Treatment Session 2

Last Thursday we had our second treatment session with our little kiddo! And our prof videotaped us...yeah I don't ever want to see that video haha I hate how I sound on camera.

We worked on finger identification, handwriting and radial digit isolation and shoe-tying
*For finger ID- we had 3 pairs of gloves (working on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th digits mainly) and had one of those fingers cut out of each glove so when he put the glove on either his 2nd, 3rd or 4th digit was sticking out and not covered by the glove. Then we had him close his eyes, i touched a finger and had him identify it by name.
I was so happy that he met his goal of identifying fingers with 90% accuracy by last week :) We will still review it these next two weeks tho.
*For handwriting, we flattened a piece of play-doh out on the table and gave him a stylus. Then we traced a letter with our finger on his back and had him draw the letter in the play doh. Once we did a handful of letters like that, I just had him write the alphabet on a sheet of lined paper so see how he was with writing every letter like he would be expected in the classroom. Only one reversal, but some inconsistent letter sizes and spacing between letters.
*For radial digit isolation we "fed the tennis ball". Kate had gotten two tennis balls and cut slits in them for mouths, them we decorated them with faces. He was to use his radial digits to pick up beads/pom-poms and put them into the tennis ball's 'mouth'. we also worked on handstrength with this too- sometimes we would be holding it open for him to put "food" into, and then sometimes he would hold the ball open while we put the 'food' in the mouth. He REALLY liked this activity so we may repeat it :)
*Annnd then there was shoe-tying. Oh I wish it were easy to teach this! We went from a shoe-tying book and tried to go page-by-page. He has the first step down pat, but its the from the "bunny ears"/loops and on that gives him trouble. This week we are going to do some backward chaining to try and teach him to tie his shoes. I REALLY want him to reach this goal in the next two weeks- I know his mom would be SO happy if he could tie his own shoes! =)

Only TWO more tx sessions before he will be discharged!

Pediatric Client: Treatment Session 1

Last week we started treating our pediatric clients! like I said before, we are treating in pairs. We each had to come up with our own goals (1 LTG, 4 STG's) and treatment activities for our session.
Last week we worked on handwriting, finger idenfication/isolation and shoe-tying.
For handwriting, we put shaving cream on a mirror and had him draw letters in the shaving cream, we also traced letters on his  back with our fingers and then had him draw the letter than he felt.
For finger isolation/identification we used finger monsters in a 'lesson' to go over all of the finger names. and then we had him draw his had on the paper, then label and color each finger a different color
then for shoe tying we had a paper plate with holes around the outside that he laced a shoe string around and then we helped him to tie a bow at the top (like a wreath) then decorate the plate.

It went really well and we got good feedback from our clinic supervisor, and our client seemed to enjoy the activities!

Tomorrow, we have our second tx session....we'll be working on isolating the radial digits, fine motor skills, handwriting and shoe-tying again.