Student Blog
What are OS/OT?

Fieldwork ⟩
November 30, 2014, by Kristy

Fieldwork What are OS/OT?

Last week we finished up our Level I Fieldwork opportunities so I thought I would take some time and give you a little bit more background about what these experiences look like. 😊 One of the unique things about the program here at USC is that fieldwork experience is built into our coursework within the Immersions. As students, we are placed in 3 different Level I Fieldworks, which align with which immersion you are in — Adult Rehabilitation, Mental Health, or Pediatrics. The first two fieldwork opportunities occur in our first year of the program. I started in the Mental Health immersion, so my first Level I was at a Community-Based Mental Health Wellness Center. This was a very interesting experience as it was my second semester of graduate school (can’t forget about summer term!) and there was no occupational therapist at my setting. I was very nervous about not having someone to shadow but part of the experience is just learning about the population you are working with. I was fortunate enough to chat with individuals and hear their life stories as well as lead groups and meet with individuals one-on-one to facilitate lifestyle changes. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity and thought it was a great learning experience! The next semester I was in the Pediatric Immersion and was placed at a local school district. This was fantastic for me since I hope to go into School-Based Practice. I loved being able to work with the children and plan creative activities for them to do. I learned a lot about working with multiple children at one time, planning therapeutic obstacles, and creating educational games. Being in a school district is also a great opportunity to learn about interdisciplinary teams as you work with classroom teachers, physical therapists, speech therapists, psychologists, among others. Lucky for me, this experience confirmed by desire to work in this area of occupational therapy! My last Level I experience was for the Adult Rehabilitation immersion, and was at an outpatient therapy clinic, specifically working with hands. I learned a lot of what it takes to “prep” muscles for therapy, such as why you would use heat or ice. In addition, I learned about different types of exercises and stretches you can do for the joints and muscles of the fingers, hand, wrist, forearm, and elbow. Overall, this was a great opportunity for me to learn about an area of occupational therapy that I didn’t know anything about.

In addition to Level I Fieldwork opportunities, we also are placed at two Level II Fieldwork sites. The first one occurs between your first and second year in the program, after you have completed two Level I experiences. My first Level II was at a Community-Based Mental Health Wellness Center (yes — same type of setting as my Level I if you’re still with me!). I pursued this opportunity as it was a setting I very much enjoyed and thought I had a lot more to learn about! And boy was I right! The Level II experience is for 12 weeks full-time. I was able to lead groups, meet one-on-one with clients, facilitate a workshop on time management, and conduct a relaxation workshop. I was given the chance to create my own experience and sought out many educational opportunities! One included the beginning development of a group intervention for adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but stay tuned for more on this later! I have yet to complete my second Level II fieldwork, but am excited for what experiences that will bring.

Fieldwork experiences are great chances to learn more about the field of occupational therapy and explore different settings that you may not have done before. USC is unique in that we have 5 opportunities throughout our program and they are all different experiences! Everyone’s is a little bit different, but they are all great!!!

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Pedal Pushers! Pedal to the Medal, Giving Back Shifted to Another Gear! ⟩
November 14, 2014, by Jonathan

Community Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

Hello there everyone! Hope that you’re all doing great!

This past Sunday, some of my fellow classmates and I had the opportunity to help out Pedal Pushers, a Los Angeles chapter of Ambucs Inc., a non-profit organization that helps to provide adaptive tricycles for children and adults through fundraising within the community! The opportunity to get involved with this awesome cause was wheely fun and wheely rewarding 😛 This amazing organization was brought to my attention by Sonserey, a member of Pedal Pushers, who I had the pleasure of meeting at OTAC. I SPOKE (hehe) with Sonserey and she told me all about Pedal Pushers and Ambucs, in addition to the story of what fuels their efforts. Sonserey is an occupational therapist who works in pediatrics. She told me that when she’s doing an evaluation, much alike most OTs, we start off by trying to decipher what the client’s meaningful occupations are. A common response from the kids she works with is to “ride a bike.” However, for some children with special needs, a traditional bicycle may not be the most practical option. Thus, Amtryke therapeutic tricycles were created to offer an adaptable, universally designed option for children with varying levels of physical abilities! The Amtrykes can be custom made to have a number of features, based on the child’s abilities, safety, and family preference. These features include hand or foot operation, rear-assist steering, assistive pedals, in addition to other adaptations. The best part is, everything on the Amtryke can be adjusted, so the child can continue to use their Amtryke as they get bigger and grow older!

What my classmates and I had the opportunity to participate in on Sunday was actually the final phase of the Amtryke process. It all starts off first with raising enough funds to be able to purchase the Amtryke for the child. Committed families, friends, and communities focus their efforts in hopes that they can make the child’s dream come to fruition. Second, the child is then assessed and fitted for their very own Amtryke. Therapists will collaborate with the children and their families in designing a unique Amtryke that best fits the child’s abilities, function, and interests. The final stage in the process was what my classmates and I had the pleasure of participating in on Sunday! There’s a build an amtryke work shop in which therapists and volunteers will actually create the Amtrykes for the children. The children and their families then pick up the Amtrykes, give it a test drive, and then get to take their Amtryke home! The whole process requires a great deal of diligence on the child’s part, as they patiently wait for an Amtryke they can call their own.

The whole building process we engaged in on Sunday was fun, informative, and extremely rewarding. When the children and their families arrived, you could see the excitement on the children’s faces. To see how ecstatic they were when they first hopped on their Amtryke and propelled a couple feet forward was absolutely priceless! The genuine elation that consumed the kids was contagious, and you couldn’t help but feel the same happiness. Thank you so much to Pedal Pushers and Ambucs for letting us be part of this amazing cause! Here’s some pictures of the process, enjoy!

If you’d like to learn more and get involved with Pedal Pushers/Ambucs, please feel free to visit them at pedalpushers2014.wix.com/pedalpushers and ambucs.org.

Also feel free to like Pedal Pushers page on facebook at facebook.com/PedalPushersLA

Thank you for reading! Have a great weekend, follow your passion, pedal on, but remember to not lose your balance 😊

— Jonathan

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Learning Handy Skills! ⟩
November 12, 2014, by Claire

Classes What are OS/OT?

This week, our adult rehabilitation course is focusing on hand rehabilitation and making splints! Here are some pictures of the splints that we made in lab.

There’s a lot to learn and I could definitely improve on some of the splints that I made, but it was fun to practice the skill! We made a neoprene thumb splint that is commonly used for children with cerebral palsy in our pediatrics lab course last semester. Now I have many more to add to my splint collection!

We will be having a guest lecture from an adjunct faculty, Lisa Deshaies, who also works at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center also (in about half an hour actually), and I’m really looking forward to it! Our textbook reading for this week was a chapter that was written by her as well — we are really lucky to have so many experienced OT faculty members and connections!

Edit: We just wrapped up our guest lecture! I learned a lot about hand therapy and physical agent modalities, and Lisa also helped dispel any fears we might have about pursuing hand therapy certification. We got to try out some of the equipment and therapy techniques. We were told, “If you’re going to use these methods on your patients, you should know what the experience is like!”

Here are some pictures:

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OT/PT Forum 2014 ⟩
November 11, 2014, by Bindi

Community Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

In our line of work, collaboration between rehab professionals is fundamental, as a client will always need a team to work with. No one therapist can do it all, since there may be needs that the client will have that are out of the scope of one’s profession.

So the Alpha Eta Chapter of Pi Theta Epsilon and the Physical Therapy Student Association of USC got together to bring us the 5th Annual OT/PT Forum to enable the Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy students to come together and acquire a better understanding and scope of each one’s profession.

The event began with a wonderful dinner where the students mingled and learnt about their academic courses and how they proceed, the different clinical experiences they have and what OTs and PTs thought of one another ☺. During this time we also had plenty time to look at educational posters from both professions.

Soon after we dove straight into the program with welcome addresses from Dr. Florence Clark and Dr. James Gordon, the Associate Deans and Division Chairs of Occupational Science & Therapy, and Biokinesiology & Physical Therapy respectively.

There were two case study presentations, the first on Physical Disabilities and the second on Pediatrics. It was interesting to learn how the OTs and PTs worked together on cases where we as soon to be professionals would not have thought to intervene. The one that amazed me most was the collaboration between the 2 professions on a case of cystic fibrosis with a double lung transport.

Great initiative!!! Fight On OTs and PTs!!!

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Electives ⟩
November 7, 2014, by Kristy

Classes What are OS/OT?

One of the many unique opportunities you have here at USC, is the chance to take elective courses during the spring of your 2nd year. This is the time where you can gain additional education on certain topics you are interested in, explore new interests, or build upon knowledge already gained in the program. Even though when we complete the program we are considered “generalist” OTs, you can “specialize” your electives. For example, if you are interested in Pediatrics, perhaps you will take a course in Early Intervention, School-Based Practice, and Sensory Integration Theory. Or if your focus intends to be Adult Rehabilitation, you may take Enhancing Motor Control for Occupation, Hand Rehabilitation, and Occupational Therapy in Acute Care. If Mental Health and Wellness is your niche you could focus on Lifestyle Redesign and Therapeutic Communication for the Healthcare Practitioner! There are so many combinations of courses you can take! And if you are someone who is interested in all of the above, that’s fine too! You can take any of the above and more! It is a great opportunity to continue to explore the field of occupational therapy and all it has to offer.

For myself personally, I hope to go into school-based pediatrics, therefore I am taking School-Based Practice, Sensory Integration Theory and Sensory Integration Interventions. The latter two classes fulfill part of the requirements for the Sensory Integration Certification Program. Through the certification program, I will gain knowledge in the foundations of sensory integration, education on administering the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT) and interpreting the results as well as ideas for intervention to implement sensory strategies. I am really excited to start my electives in January and feel lucky that I have the opportunity to further explore my interests in pediatrics!

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