Student Blog
What are OS/OT?

“Say yes to play” ⟩
February 7, 2013, by Alisa

What are OS/OT?

Growing up in Thailand, oftentimes I would get scolded for playing or being playful. At a young age, I felt that I had to grow up. Even though I wasn’t the oldest child, I felt that I had to be mature. Was I trying to please the adults? Probably. I was the well-behaved one growing up. I would feel guilty for playing. It was like a stigma if you’re an adult and still play, but that didn’t stop my uncles. Maybe that’s why I admire them so much. Although they are very busy as business owners, they embrace me whenever I visit them. One of them enjoys playing golf and being a Thai Elvis. He seriously has one of the best voices — his tone is amazing. Another one knows everything about technology and video games. I realize that what drew me to them was their playfulness. They have many interests and are willing to share the joy of playing and being playful with me. Now I realize that playing is okay. It’s a form of self-care. Play continues throughout the lifespan. I am thankful for choosing the path to be an occupational therapist because I will be getting paid to play! The profession has instilled in me the balance of work, rest and play. Although it could be tough to make time being that I have many roles and responsibilities, it is important.

From reading Dr. Erna Blanche’s Play and Process: The experience of play in the life of the adult, I learned that there are different types of play: restoration, ludos (light-hearted play like joking around), self-awareness, mastery, adventure, and creativity. Now that I’m getting older — ahem — as evidenced by the amount of gray hairs I have, I enjoy more of a restorative play. I engage in this type of play through yoga. I find that I am able to put my mind into the practice and forget about everything else for just a bit, but that is probably the most refreshing part of my day.

How often do you play? What kinds of play do you engage in?

This is a photo of my dog, Summer. He likes to do leaps in the air.

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Try, try again ⟩
February 1, 2013, by Kendra

Fieldwork What are OS/OT?

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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The Hand You’re Dealt ⟩
January 28, 2013, by Paula

Classes What are OS/OT?

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

What are OS/OT?

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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Revelations in Lifestyle Redesign ⟩
January 23, 2013, by Kendra

Classes What are OS/OT?

During my Lifestyle Redesign class this morning, we were instructed to get into dyads and practice coaching techniques. The specific one we were working on involved asking the client to identify complaints and then assist them to reframe that complaint or area of struggle in a positive light and/or identify strategies to help combat that complaint.

Many sessions went like this:

OTS: What is an area of complaint for you?
Client: I am not getting enough sleep. I only slept two hours last night.
OTS: Wow, you must have a lot of important things going on in your life!

It seems simple, and perhaps silly, but the student that played the part of the client in this dyad remarked that she felt validated and the stress of having not slept was more bearable when she looked at it in a different light. It made her more interested and willing to hear what the OT had to say, and more receptive to identifying and making changes in her life.

Often times these simple strategies of, basically, just listening and affirming the client make a huge difference and create a positive relationship between the client and therapist. I loved it!

So what happened in my dyad you ask? Well mine went a little differently, but it was simply amazing!

OTS: What is an area of complaint for you?
Me: This new schedule is stressing me out, I feel like I’m not organized and don’t have a grasp on everything that’s expected of me.
OTS: That sounds stressful. What are some things you’re doing to deal with that stress?
Me: Well I feel better since yesterday when I bought binders and organizing materials.
OTS: Do you have a to-do list?
Me: Yes I do. In fact it’s right here, it has everything on it, and I take it everywhere I go.
OTS: So it seems that you’re doing really well dealing with the stress and you seem to already have a system that helps you manage everything.
Me: You’re right, I do!
OTS: You do! You’re doing great, just don’t forget you already know how to handle all this!

Crazy right!? I had the list on me! I wrote everything down, crossed things out, but when I was not actively doing that the stress of everything else burdened me so much I forgot I had already taken steps to get organized and stay on top of everything. Oh how blinding stress can be!

This just calls to mind how the job of an OT can vary from complex to simple but both are meaningful, important interactions that carry the potential to change the way a person views, and interacts with, life!

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