This week in practicum I got to experience something new. I went to the hospital and observed occupational therapy. At first, I was with Mary and she was working with a young girl. She was born with the top half of her thumb facing down. It is hard for her to move it and she goes to therapy once a week so try and work the knots out in her finger. First she was getting her thumbs massaged and then she started to put a gel on her thumb and used a machine to warm her thumbs. After that she use silly puddy to help the strength in her fingers. Another patient came in and she broke her elbow in the winter time so she had surgery on it. She goes to therapy for a larger amount of time than other people do because she needs to regain strength in her arm. I watched her work out on many different machines in the fitness center. One of the occupational therapists was telling me all of the different patients they could treat and how long they might have to work with the patient for.
I went to occupational therapy again on Thursday. This time I was with a woman who was a pediatrician occupational therapist which was more interesting to me than my first placement. A boy came in and he was diagnosed with autism. I felt like I could relate more with this form of occupational therapy because I am interested in special education. I also knew more about his disability. She explained many to me many of the reasons why they have to see occupational therapist and they are not always easy to work with when you first start with them. Their wrists function differently than others do so they do not like to write.
These placements were very different than my past ones. It opened me up to seeing other things that I was not aware of before. I know how lucky I am to have this inside view of so many different careers.
