a young occupational therapist

While preparing to apply to OT school, I had to complete several hours of observation. I had so many great observation experiences and many different types of areas I had the opportunity to learn. One in particular experience I had was with a therapist who actually graduated from the same program I am in now. He works in a inpatient skilled nursing facility, that also provides hospice. Being in the program I am in now (and after 3 months of learning) I can identify his setting as such. I can also recognize therapy techniques he used that I was really unsure of his reasoning behind them while I was observing, like preparatory activities versus therapeutic use of occupations activities or even purposeful activities. On his patients, he usually used some sort of preparatory activity, such as an arm bike or stretching, but then would lead to his bigger activities for the clients that catered to what they needed to improve on most, purposeful activities. Had I known a little more then, I wo...

I currently have an obsession with the new TV show “The Good Doctor” on ABC. First of all, if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it - however, it can be cheesy or seem staged, but I love watching Freddie Highmore play Dr. Shaun Murphy. In the show, Murphy is a new surgical resident at the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, and he happens to have autism. The show describes his life and how he interacts with his patients and his colleagues. I am so in love with all of the characters, they each seem to reach me in different forms or fashions. Which brings me to my next point, it has been revealed that one of my favorite doctors on the show, Dr. Glassman, has a brain tumor. This man just so happens to be Dr. Murphy’s mentor and is the person who raised him after his brother passed away. It literally brought me to tears after I watched the episode. In the scene where Dr. Glassman finally realizes he might have something going on, he is out to eat at a restaurant with a new friend...

Our professor had us listen to a TED talk on universal design, Why We Need Universal Design . If you haven't heard of this topic, it is basically how  an environment can be accessed and used to the greatest extent possible by all people - no matter their age, size, ability or disability.  Michael Nesmith spoke on the topic, well he actually signed about the topic. Michael is deaf and uses American Sign Language to give his speeches, and someone else voices over for him to the crowd. He overcame his disability and gave a very interesting lecture on a topic I've actually never really thought about.  When I started thinking about this idea of universal design, I really kept being drawn back to OT. We can help so many people do so many different things - overcome disabilities, regain old abilities after their lost, figure out ways around current issues in life. It's almost as if the idea of universal design could be apart one of the pillars of the field. One place I feel we...