Characteristics of a good OT 3

Humility is an essential trait for being a good OT. Humility makes it not sting as bad when progress isn't made in your client's intervention, and it instead causes you to make changes. It makes you more open to new interventions, the input of your client, and advice of your colleagues. It helps facilitate the attitude of "I'm never done learning," and consequently causes you to seek out new knowledge and treatment techniques for your practice. Lastly, humility makes you a much more enjoyable teammate to the other professionals you practice with. Very few people like to work with someone who won't take advice.

Characteristics of a good OT 2

Creativity is an integral tool in an OTs tool box. A creative OT can find ways to use the resources available to them to integrate their client's occupations and interests into parts of therapy that could be mundane on their own. Creativity enables OTs to grade and stage intervention techniques to provide the "just-right" challenge. It also helps the therapist suggest ways to modify a client's occupations so that they can continue to do them despite an injury or condition. Moreover, creativity helps the therapist find humor in the midst of difficult situations. Often, clients need to smile more than anything else.

Characteristics of a good OT 1

Humor can make the hardest situations more manageable, mundane but necessary preparatory activities more tolerable, and therapeutic relationship more enjoyable. Though not all funny bones are created equal, we all have one, and I think utilizing them can make us more effective therapists.

Humor doesn't have to be in the form of pre-rehearsed punch lines; it can be simply the ability to laugh at your own shortcomings. Regardless of its form, humor is contagious, and no one has antibodies for it. Use this to your advantage. Humor has the ability to make your client more willing to go to therapy, in fact, they may even enjoy it. As we all know, we are much more productive when we're doing something we enjoy. Clients are no different.

The fortune of fame

Two of the ailments we have covered recently in class, Parkinson's and ALS, happened to high profile celebrities and athletes. Both of these diseases have profound impacts on those that they afflict, and I would never wish them on anyone, but there is a silver lining.

With fame comes a platform.

Those in the public eye can use this platform for good or evil. Michael J Fox and Lou Gehrig facilitated and/or allowed their platform to spread awareness of these diseases, and arguably helped provide the impetus for further research into them.

The more we know, the more of these diseases we can stop, and most importantly, we can save more lives.

Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig, a star baseball player born in 1906, found himself diagnosed with ALS on his 36th birthday. Once an elite athlete, Gehrig found himself becoming weaker, dropping things, and losing control of his movement. His doctor gave him 3 years to live, so my focus as an OT would be to optimize the movement and control that he does have, help him adapt the activities he finds important, and be a positive voice to him while he's under such a dark horizon. I would try my best to incorporate baseball or other sports related activities into his treatment protocol to make it as fun as possible to him.

Neuronote 2

I watched a Tedtalk called "How Autism Freed Me to be Myself," by a young girl named Rosie King. She started her talk making fun of herself, saying her monotone voice prevents her from getting jobs, but that she makes a great GPS. Though I would never condone making fun of others, I think being able to make fun of yourself is a sign of confidence. Her talk centered around how her "disability" in many ways is an ability. The unique wiring of her mind enabled her to do things I am not remotely capable of doing. For example, her senior term paper was written in one night- in her sleep. She got an A on it. Her take home message was that because social awareness was not that of most of her peers, she was able to truly show the world who she is. She could show this without fear of rejection or being labeled weird. I think that's something we could all learn from. Too often, we allow our creativity, talents, and souls to remain diluted or even hidden; what would happen if we just let go?
The creativity of humanity would flourish even more.

Citation: King, R. (2014, November 21) Rosie King: How Autism Freed Me to Be Myself [Video file] Retrieved From https://youtu.be/jQ95xlZeHo8

Music is good for the soul... and the brain

We all know music can take us somewhere, help us heal, and make us dance, but music can also help our cognition. A documentary I watched on Netflix highlighted the effects of music on a group of men and women with Alzheimer's disease. Individuals who didn't recognize their family or remember much about their lives were able to access those memories after hearing a song from those periods of their lives. Not only that, they were able to remember the lyrics from songs that they hadn't heard in decades. As a musician, I know that my fascination is a little biased, but I think music can be the key to memory and cognition doors that Alzheimer's, autism, or other ailments have locked away. Research into this area is still lacking, but more has been done in recent years. I would love to be involved in any way that I can.