Ella's OT Student Blog

Occupational Profile Client demographics: Joe O’Brien, 44 years old, 04/21/2018 Client Report Reason the client is seeking OT services and concerns related to engagement in occupations (may include the client’s general health status) Joe is seeking OT services because he was recently diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease and he would like to slow the progression of his symptoms. Joe has issues with his temper, being still, holding objects, and drinking from a normal glass. Occupations in which the client is successful and barriers or potential barriers to his/her success in those occupations (p. S5) Joe enjoys: Working as a police officer, spending time with his family, drinking with friends, and watching baseball. The main barrier to the activities he enjoys is the chorea. It causes him to move almost constantly and it also causes him some embarrassment. Personal interests and values (...

In my Neuro class we have been learning about Huntington's Disease. It is a terrible disease that attacks the mind and body, rendering the individual powerless. HD is an autosomal dominant disorder, which means that an individual only needs one copy of the gene to have the disease. This also means that there is a 50/50 chance of a person getting the gene, assuming that only one parent has the gene. If you have the gene, then there is a 100% chance that you will become symptomatic at some point during your life. After being diagnosed, individuals typically live 10-15 years. Since we started learning about HD in class I wondered if there were any TED talks about the subject. So I googled TED talks about Huntington's Disease and was given a couple of options. One of the talks I watched is titled Facing Death Full of Life. Danielle Valenti is talking about the story of her mother, who had HD. Danielle's Mom had been hiding the fact that she had HD from her to protect her from...

Alex Coriell was diagnosed with ALS in January 2013 at the age of 29. The video, Alex Coriell's Journey with ALS, walks you through Alex's journey. It shows you just how quickly the disease progressed and how positive Alex remained through it all. Alex went from being a normal 29 year old, father of 3 to a man of low muscle tone needing to eat through a feeding tube. The clip starts with Alex standing up in church telling his friends of his recent diagnosis and as the clip progresses, while his condition continues to get worse Alex remains positive and joyful. This clip showed me the importance of remaining positive, despite how bleak the diagnosis might be. It would have been so much easier for Alex to be an Eyeore, he chose to be a Tigger. It also makes me wonder if Alex's positivity had anything to do with how long he was able to live with ALS? In college, I had to take a class called Sport Psychology, that focused on how psychology plays a role in sports. Based on what...

The Neuro-Developmental Treatment Frame of Reference is a theory that is used to analyze and treat posture and movement impairments based on kinesiology, the study of human movement, and biomechanics, the study of forces and mechanical laws and their effects on movement in living organisms. It takes into account planes of movement, alignment, range of motion (the degrees of movement that a client has), muscle strength, base of support, postural control, weight shifts, and mobility when making a plan for intervention. The goal is to get the client to engage in meaningful occupations, which is done through assuming that posture and movement impairments are able to be changed. This theory can be used with children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly. According to this theory, to be functional means that the client would be able to engage in meaningful occupations. An occupational therapist would look at upper extremity movement, specifically: reaching, grasping, releasing objects, self ...

Today in class we learned about health literacy and how we can be more aware of it. Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Health literacy is dependent on: communication skills of the client and professionals, professional knowledge of health topics, culture, demands of healthcare and public health systems, and demands of the situation/context. If a client does not understand what the health care provider said there is a possibility that they could take their medication incorrectly, do therapy exercises incorrectly, go along with a procedure, etc. To "combat" this health care providers must ensure that clients understand their situation, how to treat it, and the next course of action. This can be done by using simple language, pictures/diagrams, asking the client to repeat back what was said in their own words, promoting the ask...

Some people see the world as black and white. You either do option A or option B. How boring would life be if there were only two options for everything?! Our lives could be somewhat unique, but there would always be someone who was the same. As in life, there are shades of gray in therapy. These gray areas can be the way the therapists adapts the session specifically to the client or it could be a grey area because there is not much research on the topic. Before I got into OT school, I was observing in an out patient that specialized in the treatment of children with Autism. This clinic offers OT, PT, speech, and food therapy. I was observing a session with a therapist and she warned me that the next kid was a bit stubborn and would probably fight with us about some issue. We do the session and there were no issues. I thought the kid was having a great day. The therapist asks the kid to put on his shoes, cue the meltdown. The child started to stomp and scream that he was NOT going to...

In class this past week we were asked to watch the TED talk "Why We Need Universal Design", presented by Michael Nesmith, who is deaf. He begins his talk by telling a story of what happened to a friend of his, who is also deaf. His friend was going down the hallway and another man was walking towards him. The friend and the man started doing that awkward dance when two people both go the same way down a hallway. The friend saw that the other man was blind. The blind man starts to speak to the deaf man. The deaf man tries to sign that he is deaf, but realizes that the blind man can't see it. The deaf man tries to type a message to the blind man, but realizes that he can't see that either. The deaf man takes the hand of the blind man, puts it on his ear while shaking his head no. The blind man then understood that the man was deaf. They both laughed and went their separate ways. In this example, Nesmith was showing how people have to adapt to be understood. Nesmith ...