Thoughts and feelings in the presenting situation…
Erin is a 5 year old little girl who has severe dyspraxia. I have never seen Erin before but I was aware that she needs a high tech augmentative communication system. Jenny did not give me prior warning that I would be running the whole session. I pretty much ran this session solo and Jenny only joined in the session twice. I set up the whole area and made up the chart on the Velcro board. Erin is a very nice girl, who was very compliant and completed the whole program without any real dramas. She required assistance with hopping on the ground and also needed prompting and physical hands on help with duck walking. Jenny was talking to mum about issues as well as her 6 week old baby boy (who mum was a little concerned about) while I was running the session. When I met Erin I thought I may have some focus problems but she performed excellently in the session. I was very happy with how focussed and compliant she was in the therapy, especially as she had speech therapy prior to my session.
How I managed the patient…
I think I managed Erin quite well and I stayed focused and was confident throughout the session. I demonstrated some tasks to Erin to get her understanding more what she was to be doing. I gave her assistance when she needed it, but I tried not to help her when I knew she was capable of performing the task as this made her more proud of her efforts when she successfully completed a task. I gave her positive feedback throughout the sessionsuch as ‘goodwork’ and ‘well done’. At the end of the session I gave her the choice of a task she wanted to do. She chose the ball pit.
What I did well…
I believed I displayed confidence and was not afraid to get down and be on Erin’s level. I think being on their level really helps as this is less intimidating than standing up and being much taller than the children. I always kept Erin on task and believe I worked well with her and made the activities fun and friendly. I never got cross, instead I merely encouraged her to stay on track.
What I could have done better…
At the beginning of the session I should have got Erin to take off her thongs so they were not in the playground area. I found she got distracted by her thongs and would go to them in between tasks and put them on when she needed them off for the next task. She would listen and take them off when I or mum would ask her. I could have done more hanging with her, she was quite strong at this, but I don’t think she enjoyed it much. I could have done some singing with her to make her repeat the task and make it fun.
Forward plan…
Try some trycyle riding with Erin and have a look at her balance on both feet in one leg stance.
Changes for next time…
I think this program may be a little easy for Erin. I might have a chat to Jenny about making it a little bit more challenging so we can get Erin to work at a more advanced, higher level.
Overall thoughts and feelings of how today has gone…
Today was overall a good day. We saw three clients in the morning, one had cancelled due to the chicken pox. Two of these client’s I had not seen before so it was a very interesting morning working with them and learning what they were capable of. I had to create a list of the current clients that needed equipment in the future. This included their diagnosis, DOB, full name, gross motor functional score, health care card number and a table which included equipment they currently use and predicted equipment. I also divided them into low, medium and high care depending on their needs.
Strategies to improve my performance…
Don’t push the child to the extreme, especially little ones who are struggling with some tasks, are fatigued and when things are just a little too hard for them. Sometimes if they have a little fall, the whole therapy can be disturbed. Also when the child is sick, this severely affects their mood and participation/ ability level.
Questions…
I had a conversation with the Speech pathologist about Erin’s behaviour in her session. Julia had said that Erin was very focussed and well behaved in her session today. This was great as this focus continued right through into my physio session.
No comments:
Post a Comment