I just went back to read my first blog of this semester and WOW... so much has happened since then! I blogged after my first night working with the children at the transitional homeless shelter. Boy did they trick us on that first night! They were so well behaved and sweet…the last 2 sessions weren’t as rewarding and I was rethinking my desire to bare children!
Since I started the program, we’ve had such a wide variety of experiences and each of them I’ve been treating them like a job interview. I would frequently take a step back and say to myself…Could I work with here? Do I want to work with this type of population? Does this area of OT bring out the best in my skills? Do I feel like I can make a difference here? And this semester I’ve been doing the most “assessing”! As I said in the first blog...I really didn’t think working with children was my cup of tea, but I’d keep on giving it a fair shot. After the fieldwork experience at the shelter, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to work in a setting like that. I didn’t count out other Peds setting though, as I knew there are many settings that OTAs can work with children. My second FW experience in the school setting was amazing! I really felt like could actually see myself working in the school system. However, I realize that I just had a small taste of what the job really entails and my feelings could be swayed by the type of children I saw during that experience as well. I’m more confused now than ever (in a good way) and very interested to see where I actually end up working after all of this is through! I’m anticipating my future FW II experiences (which have nothing to do with children), and can’t wait to find out more about myself as a therapist. Every semester I’ve gained more and more confidence as a future therapist and I really do feel as ready as I will ever be to step out and have my own patients!
I’ve learned so much about working with children this semester and feel like I have a great base of experience/treatment activities ideas. So if God has a sense of humor and I end up working with peds, I will feel comfortable starting out!
A few little Aha moments from this semester: A really funny moment looking back to the beginning of the semester (I think it was the first day) is when we were asked to pick something in the room that worked on a certain skill and create an activity. Lol I thought it was a good idea to have them close their eyes and feel different types of materials. What child would sit there and do that? I had no idea what sensory integration was at the time and how the heck to make fun treatment activities for children. Anyway, it took me a little while to figure it all out, but I feel like I’ve come full circle with my ideas J
While I was on my school FW, I saw the same 3 children each week. One of the kindergarteners is very far behind for his age and the OT had been working with him writing his name. On the last day, he miraculously made an e out of wiki sticks and it just blew both of us away. It seemed so small, but it was such an aha! moment for both of us! The OT and I looked at each other and said WOW! I was so grateful to see this tiny improvement before I left. Patience is key in peds!
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