Skills Reflection in Occupational Therapy
Skills Reflection -1 Groups and Creative Activities
In this essay I am going to critically reflect on how an Occupational Therapist (OT) would use grading and adapting to increase the therapeutic gain for clients when using groups and creative activities. I am going look at these two skills as they focus on client centeredness and intervention. College of Occupational Therapist (COT 2010; Atkinson and Wells 2003) stated that as a therapist one has to have a continuing duty to respect and hold the autonomy of a client, encouraging and enabling choice in the occupational therapy process and do things that are meaningful. During my placement I participated in an activity based social group of elderly people with dementia. A Group is defined by Jacobs and Jacobs (2004) as individuals who are in contact with each other and are aware of some common goal. One particular activity that I can reflect on was the Parachuting exercise. According to Willet (2006), parachute games encourage cooperative, non-competitive play and reinforce turn-taking and sharing. This activity was to enable social interaction among members of the group who were lacking in confidence. It involved the sending of a ball from one client to another by raising and lowering the parachute. The therapist leading this session was the facilitator who put the environment into consideration by choosing a well-lit and spacious room where all chairs and tables were put to one side to facilitate participation. This can be identified as adaptation. Crepeau et al (2009) defined adaptation as changing tasks demands so they are consistent with the individual’s ability level either by modification, use of devices or changes in physical or social environment. The ability to grade and adapt is one core skill unique to the occupational therapist with the purpose of changing the environment of an activity for a therapeutic gain (Duncan 2006). During this task, one ball was initially used raising and lowering the
In this essay I am going to critically reflect on how an Occupational Therapist (OT) would use grading and adapting to increase the therapeutic gain for clients when using groups and creative activities. I am going look at these two skills as they focus on client centeredness and intervention. College of Occupational Therapist (COT 2010; Atkinson and Wells 2003) stated that as a therapist one has to have a continuing duty to respect and hold the autonomy of a client, encouraging and enabling choice in the occupational therapy process and do things that are meaningful. During my placement I participated in an activity based social group of elderly people with dementia. A Group is defined by Jacobs and Jacobs (2004) as individuals who are in contact with each other and are aware of some common goal. One particular activity that I can reflect on was the Parachuting exercise. According to Willet (2006), parachute games encourage cooperative, non-competitive play and reinforce turn-taking and sharing. This activity was to enable social interaction among members of the group who were lacking in confidence. It involved the sending of a ball from one client to another by raising and lowering the parachute. The therapist leading this session was the facilitator who put the environment into consideration by choosing a well-lit and spacious room where all chairs and tables were put to one side to facilitate participation. This can be identified as adaptation. Crepeau et al (2009) defined adaptation as changing tasks demands so they are consistent with the individual’s ability level either by modification, use of devices or changes in physical or social environment. The ability to grade and adapt is one core skill unique to the occupational therapist with the purpose of changing the environment of an activity for a therapeutic gain (Duncan 2006). During this task, one ball was initially used raising and lowering the