SG the Future OT

            In a Self-Portrait of a Leader exercise, my current drawing has changed in three ways since the beginning of school. First, the hair on my drawing has changed. Curly hair represents the importance of creativity in leadership, while straight hair represents the importance of organization in leadership. In my first drawing, I drew straight hair, but now that I have almost completed the didactic portion of school, I better understand the importance of a balance of creativity and organization in a leader. A leader must be able to think on their feet and creatively deal with unprecedented situations that arise, but it is also important to be prepared and organized.             I also drew a different nose for my portrait this time. The first time, I drew a triangle nose which means I used to think it was necessary to see yourself as a leader in order to be a leader. This time I drew a circle nose which means I believe that a person can be a leader without

            On Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale, I scored an 11 which I think is very accurate. I believe that we all make decisions that impact our lives, but there are also some unavoidable circumstances. When it comes to treatment in occupational therapy, it is essential for our clients to understand that they are the determining factor when it comes to their rehabilitation. The best improvements come from active participation from the client during treatment sessions rather than passive treatments (Meira, 2013). Clients who have a strong external locus of control don’t believe that they have much of an influence on their rehabilitation, and they may be less likely to complete home exercise programs which delays their discharge. Clients with a stronger internal locus of control are more likely to stick to their home programs because they believe that they can improve their current condition on their own.             To encourage our clients to believe that the

            Overall, I think the SIM encounter today went well. I used active and empathetic listening with the client’s mother, I think my descriptions of her daughter’s results were well-received and understood. At the end of the SIM lab, I asked the mother multiple times if she had any questions, and if I had a chance to re-do it, I would not have asked so many times. I also noticed that when I am trying to actively listen and someone asks me a question, I have a habit of saying “yeah” which is a way I mean to say “I understand your question”, but in this situation, the mother had just asked, “Will my daughter ever be normal?”, so my response, “yeah”, was very inappropriate. My overall response to her question went pretty well, but I should refrain from saying “yeah” in the future.              An attitude of caring can be communicated through body language and ensuring that you are going to work together and do everything you can to help. Body language is cruc

            This project proved to me that you can use almost anything as a tool in a therapeutic intervention. My client profile described a man whose deficits were in the lower extremities, but I was assigned a pill bottle. For a while I was convinced that a pill bottle could only be a hazard for my client. The ah-ha moment was definitely discovering a way to attach the pill bottle to a client’s feet—Velcro. It was not obvious how a pill bottle could be useful for a client with lower extremity deficits, but it is possible, and I now think a pill bottle has more uses than I could have ever imagined before this project.             As I continue with my education and in the future, I will remember to persevere and continue pursuing ways to help a client in a cost-efficient manner because it is most likely possible. In the future I will not be limited to just a pill bottle—I could use any household item. Although this idea did not come to me easily, I did ha

            For my final Neuro Note assignment, I decided to watch a Ted Talk about dementia, “How my dad’s dementia changed my idea of death (and life)”. I chose this talk because I think dementia looks different for a lot of people, and it affects families and caregivers so tremendously. Beth Malone talks about her experience with her dad who has frontotemporal lobe dementia. He has been diagnosed with dementia for a decade, but a few years ago, he became so sick that Beth and her family decided they needed to move him to a facility that could take care of him around the clock. Her father turned violent and was sent to a new facility specifically for people with dementia. She talks about the onesie that they have the residents wear, and she says it reminds her of a straight-jacket. She became so overwhelmed with guilt and sadness that this is what her father’s life had become.             As Beth continued to talk, I realized how much her father’s diagnosis had affected her life