Student Blog
Try, try again ⟩
February 1, 2013, by Kendra
So many times when I write on this blog, I write about inspiring moments or epiphanies I’ve had about OT. And while the bulk of my time at USC has been filled with those exact experiences, sometimes I stumble. Sometimes I fail.
So in an effort to humble myself and let you readers (possible future students) know that school is about learning, I offer a teaching story for you.
Last summer I did my level II fieldwork at a sensory integration clinic. Part of my fieldwork required me to do a case study, using current research, to attempt an intervention with a child. I chose an adorable little boy with Autism, who was underweight and undernourished due to possible sensory issues, weak oral musculature, and picky eating habits. His parents were very eager for me to try something, anything to get their little boy eating again. I found several studies and had my intervention approved.
Three times a week for ten weeks I put little pieces of corn or peas or carrot into his chicken nuggets or pancakes with the hope that I was helping this boy improve his nutrition, muscle strength and preference for different foods.
It didn’t work. In fact at one point he wasn’t eating at all. By the end of my intervention we were not friends, every time he saw me he’d turn away. Meal time was NO FUN and even his social skills during group seemed to be declining.
Flash forward to my dysphagia class last night, and our professor is showing us multiple videos of feeding interventions with another little boy with very similar issues to the one I worked with this summer.
And I do not exaggerate, EVERYTHING she said to NOT DO during feeding I DID. I was humiliated, mortified, embarrassed, and laughing because I was seeing how epically my intervention had failed. There was no going around it, I bombed.
But this is the great thing about attending school and having many internships and mentorships before being released into the real world of therapy. I was never in danger of harming the boy, my actions were always supervised by a therapist, and by allowing me to fail I was still learning.
So remember, future students, that while you come to school to learn and succeed (and I know you want to be perfect) sometimes by failing you learn even more than you imagined.
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Socially Occupied Beings ⟩
January 30, 2013, by Alisa
Life Hacks School/Life Balance
Getting back into the swing of things can be rough. I feel that I’m still getting used to it. At times I feel that I have many roles and responsibilities, and I just need a time to breathe. After reading Mary Lawlor’s “The significance of being occupied: The social construction of childhood occupations” in class, I begin to view myself as a “socially occupied being.” It made me consider the things that I’m involved in. Almost everything that I engage in has a social component. I remember one time my friend jokingly said, “Are you in school to socialize, or to study?” My theory is that 5 years from now, am I going to more likely remember the time when I did things myself, or the experiences shared with others? Sometimes the motivation to study by myself is just not there, and I end of procrastinating. In other areas of my life, such as exercising, I find that I’m more motivated to work out if it’s done in a group setting. For the past 2 years, I’ve gotten the work out plan at the school gym, which means that I get to take various group workout classes. Some of my personal favorites are yoga and Zumba, where we also danced to Gangnam Style. How trendy, right? I’m getting a little bit better. Recently I attended a wedding where the bride, the groom, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen surprised the guests with Gangnam Style as well. It was awesome. What about you? How do you occupy your time? Do you consider yourself a “socially occupied being”?
Lawlor, M. C. (2003). The significance of being occupied: The social construction of childhood occupations. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 57(4), 424-434. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.57.4.424 Show abstract
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The Hand You’re Dealt ⟩
January 28, 2013, by Paula
So far this semester, it has been interesting to experience the different teaching styles of the professors in the elective courses. For the most part, this is the first time that the students have had a chance to take classes with these instructors. After being a student for pretty much your entire life, you begin to find certain techniques that work really well for you, and others which do not. I’ve always enjoyed seeing what teaching strategies our instructors bring to the table in order to harness our highest potential and attention. This could be a special challenge with the new schedule of night classes this semester.
In our first few meetings of the Hand Rehabilitation elective, our professor encouraged the class to take a few minutes to think of what occupation would be most impacted if we were to seriously injure our hands. I always have felt that this is an awesome type of exercise to develop skills of empathy. Hearing the variety of occupations my classmates came up with was really interesting and gave an insight to the potential range of importance that can be placed on an activity by the individual. The discussion made me think about the many important activities and moments in my life, past and present, which would be altered if I were to have a serious hand injury. It also made me think of the many ways that hands are used in our lives such as for self expression and in social and family roles (some uses which have been important in my life are pictured below). I had a very hard time settling on something that would make me feel like I “couldn’t” do something — I began to realize that I was set on the fact that whatever would happen, I would work through it as much as was possible and find ways to adapt my occupational involvement so that I could still fit in the aspects of my life which make me feel like myself. The discussion eventually led to a question of resiliency, temperament and feelings of an internal locus of control (don’t you love when all of your coursework relates and you can create these cool webs of knowledge? ;]). What would I do if I had an injury keeping me out of my sports of swimming and water polo? It isn’t always about adapting the environment or introducing a device to assist function. Sometimes it is more about adjusting the goals and the attitudes associated with the barriers imposed on the individual. All of this was running through my mind when I realized we were starting in on another portion of the lecture. Here’s to a semester of electives!
“The proverb warns that ‘you should not bite the hand that feeds you.’ But maybe you should if it prevents you from feeding yourself” — Thomas S. Szasz
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Adding Variety ⟩
January 28, 2013, by Amber
With the start of a new semester and new year, I have made a goal to incorporate a greater variety of occupations into my daily life. I am not calling this a resolution, since I feel that the general attitude towards resolutions is that they are expected to be broken. I am thinking of this more as an occupational therapist implementing lifestyle redesign on herself. Last semester in my Health Promotion and Wellness Course I completed an activity called the Balance Wheel, in which you color-code your day according to the types of occupations in which you participate. I was expecting a very one-dimensional result, but to see a graphic representation was alarming: the one color representing schoolwork taking up all but a few minutes of my typical day. I realized that this lack of variety in my occupations was probably the cause of my occasionally overwhelming levels of stress. Ever since completing that activity, I have made an effort to be more aware of the way I spend my time.
With the new schedule of this semester, I am determined to get into a routine that is more diverse health-promoting. I have added exercise into my schedule nearly every day of the week. To keep my interest high, I am doing various activities like running, walking, yoga, and dance. I have even dusted off my Wii balance board to play fitness games at home. I am also making an effort to be more active socially within my demanding study schedule. For example, yesterday I went to Sunday brunch at a friend’s home. I set a time limit for how long I would stay, so I would have time to complete my studies for the upcoming week. It was nice to visit with friends and have a break in the middle of the day. I am hopeful that I will be able to maintain this new routine, increase the variety in my typical day, and decrease my stress!
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Data Phone! ⟩
January 24, 2013, by Ricky
Oh my goonies! So up until two weeks ago I had a classic, no-nonsense (and no data) flip-phone. The main reason for holding-out on the data was that I just couldn’t afford it. Sure I could save up for the phone, but what about the monthly $30 perpetuity? These are things an ex-accountant thinks about. So I reasoned, ‘what’s the point — besides, it is a phone after-all . . . a device that can make and receive telephone calls, right?’ Boy, was I wrong. The productivity that these little “miracle boxes” afford, indisputably trumps the cost. These things are no longer phones — how many people do you even catch anymore using their phones to make a long-winded phone-call? No, they are much more than that. That is, if you use them for the power of good. I can totally see how data phones can readily become a distraction, but if you consider it a tool versus a toy, then it can make you better. Life is fast these days — especially for a working graduate student. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve missed opportunities because I was the last one to check the email, or because I didn’t have my calendar memorized or in my pocket. Productivity tools like the list app called WorkFlowyare making me more efficient. Oh, and one more thing about apps, Google Maps (end of apps discussion). Yep, things are going well for me and my data phone. If I ever had to go back to the trusty ‘ol flip-phone, I think I could pull it off, but I just don’t want to.
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