Today was my first day at Pediatric Therapy Associates in Raleigh. I spent my day shadowing Ashley Houser who is an occupational therapist. We started off first thing with a breakdown explanation of her job, an overview of the day ahead, and signing HIPPA forms (for that reason there will be no names or pictures of children in these posts).
Mrs.Houser has an office perfect for fostering fun and feelings of safety. The room has bean bags, a comfortable mat, a sensory wall, and two closets full of toys.
* A few quick pictures of the room! Note the sensory wall in the third picture. *
Another area of the office is the “gym”. Movement is an aspect of OT but a majority of PT which also happens in this space. The area features an elliptical, stationary bike, treadmill and different parts of a flexible obstacle course that therapists can design on a case by case basis.
Today was a very busy day with back to back appointments from 8 am to 7 pm. The appointments are 45 minutes long and are referred to as sessions. The age range was very large from 3 to 20. Conditions were all very different as well but I was amazed at how Mrs.Houser knew so much about every kid and was able to make a plan that worked to their strengths and needs.
One of the most commonly used techniques that I learned today was looking at your “energy” level and working on techniques to calm down when your level gets too high. A very common trend in many of the patients was an overreaction to small issues and it’s amazing how some techniques work so well for some kids while they only make the issues worse for others.
*This is a chart that shows energy levels as well as techniques to help calm yourself down*