School is going great and we're officially out of orientation mode and getting into the good/fun/entirelytoomuchtodo stuff. I really like my classmates, it's definitely an interesting blend of personalities, which is awesome. With the insane amount of group projects and presentations that we do, it's been easy getting to know new people.

Here's what's been going on in my classes this week:

OT Practice Skills: We're learning about group dynamics and group processes. We're discussing Leadership Roles as well as group membership norms and roles. The idea is for us to get an idea of what we're going to encounter when we run therapy groups... the types of behavior that we'll see, and how we use the roles of the members to reach the goals. We've discussed a 7 step process of running a group and eventually we'll be implementing our own group. My group is on self-advocacy. We've been doing a lot of role playing with group roles and OT group demonstrations.

Psychosocial Clinical Conditions: We started off by breaking down the DSM-IV and looking at what each axis encompasses. We're looking at things one condition at a time, and this week was schizophrenia. I mentioned in an earlier post about our simulated schizophrenia experience. This week we had a schizophrenic man come and talk to us about his experiences and it was just incredible. I'd love to write more about him because he's a fascinating story, but I have a great fear/respect for HIPPA. Anyway he had delusions, which are false beliefs that he held to be true in his own mind. They really controlled his life, and ultimately effected his performance skills and performance patterns (yeah I had to bust out the OTPF for that one). The neurology of SZ is very interesting, such as a decrease in the size of the limbic system and an increase in the size of the lateral ventricles.

Foundations of Motor Performance: We're learning a tonnnnnnn of information in this class. Kinesiology, osteokinematics, arthrokinematics, biomechanics of functional movement, ROM, motion analysis, skeletal anatomy, physics of movement, basic goniometry.... ah! We're also doing vital signs, respiration rate, pulse and blood pressure. I really need to train my ears to hear those dang Korotkoff sounds. My professor used the dual-head stethoscope and tapped me when she heard it start and end and I hardly heard anything. I brought home a steth and a cuff to practice with so EVERYONE is getting their pressure taken.... family, friends, cat (?) will be getting their vitals taken until I get this down.

Science of Occupation: This class is basically about the theory and philosophy of OT. As important as this information is, it lacks the zest of the other classes. We've been talking a little about observing events around us and trying to figure out the occupational significance of these activities. We had an entire class on how to use the library resources and health databases... I found some of it very helpful. Next week we're supposed to dive into the OT Practice Framework which I'm excited about because that's the document we base our entire careers on in a way.

Physical Clinical Conditions: In this class, like Psych clinical, we're going through it condition by condition. We already learned about cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and now we're discussing burns. We're really just covering the basics of symptoms, prevalence, etiology, etc. We touch on the OT's role but not in depth about treatment and I really wish we did... but that's covered in another class. We're doing case studies and chart reviews. We're also doing a book report on a disability of our choice..... of course I chose TBI! The book I'm reading is called "Where is the Mango Princess?"

This weekend I'm starting my program for autistic children called Circle of Friends. I'm definitely a little nervous/anxious about this... it's my first experience with autism. This weekend I can sit back and watch though because the children have a music program the first week. My job begins next week. Part of my job is to videotape the sessions because they are being coded by OTs for different social components.

Also as part of my GA I had to find assessment tools that we're going to use for the group. I had a hard time finding them at first but once I found one, I found a ton. So if anyone is looking for good valid and reliable skill assessment tools check out...

ProEd
http://www.proedinc.com/customer/default.aspx

Western Psychological Services
http://www.proedinc.com/customer/default.aspx

Pearson
http://www.pearsonassessments.com/home.htm

That's all the rambling I can handle for tonight. : )