Peds, I'm Not So Sure About This

I have to admit, I was a bit intimidated going into my first pediatric fieldwork. I was concerned about how well the children were going to behave and my ability to make the session fun. Plus, children can be so brutally honest! I learned that when working with children the session must be fun, friendly, focused, flexible, functional and finished, and I got the chance to practice all of these in my first session. I think finishing the session was the most difficult because one of the children in particular did not want to stop, which I was excited and surprised to see. Then, the children had to collect some materials to take with them. I was pleased to see that I had picked an activity that the children actually wanted to work on some more in their free time.

From the previous semesters, I learned that of course I, as an OTAS, make the session therapeutic. I feel like this is especially relevant to pediatrics because a therapy session could look just like play with no therapy. As a parent myself, I can understand why the parents of the children being treated would want an explanation as to how some of the sessions are suppose to be therapeutic. Also, I had to match my personality to the child's personality. I had one older client who was laid back, so I altered my speech and movements to match his style. There was also a little girl who was so excited and energetic, so while I was working with her, I was, too, and it seemed to work well!

I am looking forward to meeting more of the children at this facility. Last time I was there only 4 clients came. Hopefully, I will have a chance to interact with children of all ages. I think it is so interesting to get the kids started on a project and then just watch how they interact with me as well as each other. I would say I'm looking forward to getting to know the children more, but I only have 2 more sessions there, and that would just make me miss them.

I feel good about the way my first session went. Even though there wasn't a big turnout, the children seemed to enjoy the activity and they worked on their fine motor skills, problem solving, crossing the midline and many more skills. I especially feel good about the clients wanting to take materials with them to continue working on the activity and make more. I was worried about this pediatric fieldwork, but I feel good about it now.

The children who I am working with do not have a great deal of money, so my team and I are really trying to focus on low-budget and recycled crafts and activities. I have provided a link to a great site by Disney that has loads of great ideas! Make sure to check out the very bottom of the page. That's where most of the different categories are. This site is awesome because you can choose from so many topics to really tailor a treatment session to exactly what the client needs.