Thursday, 23 August 2012
A meaningful lecture- Down Syndrome
One of our lecture this semester was on a topic very close to my heart- Down syndrome. The main reason why it is so close to my heart, is because i met a little boy with Down Syndrome when i was 12, and he was the reason that I got intoduced to Occupational Therapy. He was 8 years old but at the developmental age of 3. He was so loving and beautiful, he took to me very easily as we played in the garden. His mom then suggested, even though I was only 12, that I should look into OT when I finish school. And here I am, studying OT 9 years later. My childhood dream was introduced to me because of a little boy with down syndrome. We had an external lecturer come and see our class. She is from the Down Syndrome Association for South Africa and this lady has a daughter with Down Syndrome. It was a touching lecture that really opened up our eyes to these special children.
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| This beautiful little girl has Down Syndrome |
Values clarification lecture
The sinking ship game
This game was so much fun. the game involves a situation where you and a grouop of people are on a ship, and a lifeboat can only hold 5 people. There comes a very hard task of deciding who is going to go on the lifeboats to go get help, and who is going to remain on the ship to wait for help. Although it is so much fun as the members of the group argue and try to make up excuses and stories as to why they should be allowed on the lifeboat, there are very important messages that one learns as the game progresses. These lessons are centred around values clarification. Your values, what you think is important, do you value your life over others and the like. We had an extra interesting element because one of the members was married and the other has a child. The ethical dilemma comes in- does the married woman get on the lifeboat because she is married or has she already had the happiness of getting married, whereas single people should go on the lifeboat so that they canstill have that chance of happiness. It was very interesting once we sat afterwards and thought about how we handled the situation and how different our views would be if we really were in that situation. Personally, I would want to be on that lifeboat because if i did not return, my family at home would be broken. Yet, I try to be selfless. But if put in that situation, i would be tempted to save my life for the sake of my family. A tough call, and i guess we never really know how we are going to react in a very difficult situation unless we are put in that situation.
This game was so much fun. the game involves a situation where you and a grouop of people are on a ship, and a lifeboat can only hold 5 people. There comes a very hard task of deciding who is going to go on the lifeboats to go get help, and who is going to remain on the ship to wait for help. Although it is so much fun as the members of the group argue and try to make up excuses and stories as to why they should be allowed on the lifeboat, there are very important messages that one learns as the game progresses. These lessons are centred around values clarification. Your values, what you think is important, do you value your life over others and the like. We had an extra interesting element because one of the members was married and the other has a child. The ethical dilemma comes in- does the married woman get on the lifeboat because she is married or has she already had the happiness of getting married, whereas single people should go on the lifeboat so that they canstill have that chance of happiness. It was very interesting once we sat afterwards and thought about how we handled the situation and how different our views would be if we really were in that situation. Personally, I would want to be on that lifeboat because if i did not return, my family at home would be broken. Yet, I try to be selfless. But if put in that situation, i would be tempted to save my life for the sake of my family. A tough call, and i guess we never really know how we are going to react in a very difficult situation unless we are put in that situation.
Growth Games
This semester has been filled with wonderful group and growth game activities. In the strangest way, I feel that they have helped me to grow in small ways. i am more confident in front of my class, I am more comfortable with making a fool of myself and I have that innate competetitive side of me come out many times during these sessions. I have always been a competitive person but I have not been given the oppurtunity to embrace that side of me. These growth games and group activities have shown me how important and therapeutic it can be for people in a psych institution particularly in a rehab setting like the one that i have been placed in.
What are growth games?
The growth games that i particularly enjoyed were:
Talisman. Our prac group, NPC, dominated!! We knew we would ;) This is a fun game that involces thinking, thought processing, a competitive element, decision making, leaders emerge as someone is likely to try take control of the game to make sure their team won. It is a brilliant game to create cohesiveness in a group. Since we had the growth game, we have used it at NPC. It was interesting to see the different dynamics compared to when we did it in class. We had to prompt a lot more, encourage group cohesion and because at NPC, the groups were all male- the competitiveness was a lot more evident. Talisman involves:
What are growth games?
The growth games that i particularly enjoyed were:
Talisman. Our prac group, NPC, dominated!! We knew we would ;) This is a fun game that involces thinking, thought processing, a competitive element, decision making, leaders emerge as someone is likely to try take control of the game to make sure their team won. It is a brilliant game to create cohesiveness in a group. Since we had the growth game, we have used it at NPC. It was interesting to see the different dynamics compared to when we did it in class. We had to prompt a lot more, encourage group cohesion and because at NPC, the groups were all male- the competitiveness was a lot more evident. Talisman involves:
King Edward Hospital
I recently came across a few photo's of a very special time during our long July holiday.
Monique Davies, a very dear and special friend of mine had a dream. and this dream of hers she brought to life through lots of prayer, perseverance and tons of sponsorship:
THE PAINTING OF THE CHILDRENS WARD AT KING EDWARD HOSPITAL.
What an incredible experience! The amount of sponsorship we received was so amazing. We got free coloured paint, free white paint, free canvas, lots of money and the help of many kind hearts.
We spent some of our days painting and sanding, then taking off paint and re-sanding after a big hiccup. It was such a great learning experience. And now the lives of sick children at King Edward is filled with colour and love. What a beautiful project. It just shows how the passion of one person's dream can become a reality if they persevere. Well done my Mo* It was so great spending time with you as we watch the dream unfold. I look so forward to the opening at the end of the year.
Monique Davies, a very dear and special friend of mine had a dream. and this dream of hers she brought to life through lots of prayer, perseverance and tons of sponsorship:
THE PAINTING OF THE CHILDRENS WARD AT KING EDWARD HOSPITAL.
What an incredible experience! The amount of sponsorship we received was so amazing. We got free coloured paint, free white paint, free canvas, lots of money and the help of many kind hearts.
We spent some of our days painting and sanding, then taking off paint and re-sanding after a big hiccup. It was such a great learning experience. And now the lives of sick children at King Edward is filled with colour and love. What a beautiful project. It just shows how the passion of one person's dream can become a reality if they persevere. Well done my Mo* It was so great spending time with you as we watch the dream unfold. I look so forward to the opening at the end of the year.
Monday, 13 August 2012
St Thomas Children's home visit 28 July 2012
This is a post i wrote a while ago about a beautiful little place that captured my heart- St Thomas Children's Home.
On the 28th of July, my OT class visited a Children's Home. We were all very excited as we arrived to a group of smiling children all ready to hug and love us. I have been exposed to orphanages before so this was nothing new to me but to someone who had never been before, i can imagine that it is quite a shock to see such happy smiling and loving faces especially in the oung children where their circumstances are so dire.
As a class we were split up into our prac groups and were all put in charge of running a group according to the different age groups in the home. My group got the "Daisies". My group decided that we would do an interactive activity as part of a warm up and incorporate music into it as music is an easy way to get the energy levels up. It was a group of about 12 children and there were about 8 students. This proved to be quite diffeicult because we did not have a proper structure- the children dd not know who to listen to. We epitomised the saying- "Too many cooks spoil the broth." However, this was a lesson learned.
Warm up: All the children and some OT students sat in a circle and passed a ball around the cirle while the music was playing. When the music stopped, the child that had the ball had to perform a certain action. Because these children are at the age where they should know their shapes and colours, this was incorporated into the warm up. ALso, some actions included making the sounds of some animals and picking a friend in the group to high five promoting decison making and socialisation amongst them.
The activity: We decided on a crat activity where music was involved as music was involved in our warm up activity. We collected toliet rolls and brought many craft items such as stickers, coloured paper and colorful pens. The children were to make their very own shakers. We allowed them the choice of whch item they would like to fill their shakers with according to the sounds that each made. This promoted decison making. They were then allowed the oppurtunity to decorate their shakers. We then played some music and the children shook their shakers.
Analysis: It was a fun activity and the delight on the children's faces was priceless. They were so proud to show off their creations often turning to the students to show us how well they had done. Children that seemed more reserved at the beginning came out of their shells as they created their shakers. The warm up and the activity went a lot faster than anticipated so we ran out of ideas towards the end. But luckily for us, we were all children once and we were able to think bcak to when we were young and the games that we played. I think the disorganisation on our part was evident but the children were just so happy that they were having fun, listening to music, interacting with one another that it didn't really matter at the end of the day.
It was a beautiful day had by all the students. I even felt that we became closer as a class as we all did something outside of varsity on a Saturday. When the whole class came together at the end in a circle we shared our experiences for the day and we saw that not only did we bring joy to the lives of the children, but they brought so much joy to our lives.
This vulnerable population of children is hert breaking to see. The home is a place of safety for these vulnerable children. When working with them for the day, I had to dettach my feelings of heartbreak.
It was a wonderful morning at he children's home. I learnt so much about the joy of play in the occupation of children.
On the 28th of July, my OT class visited a Children's Home. We were all very excited as we arrived to a group of smiling children all ready to hug and love us. I have been exposed to orphanages before so this was nothing new to me but to someone who had never been before, i can imagine that it is quite a shock to see such happy smiling and loving faces especially in the oung children where their circumstances are so dire.
As a class we were split up into our prac groups and were all put in charge of running a group according to the different age groups in the home. My group got the "Daisies". My group decided that we would do an interactive activity as part of a warm up and incorporate music into it as music is an easy way to get the energy levels up. It was a group of about 12 children and there were about 8 students. This proved to be quite diffeicult because we did not have a proper structure- the children dd not know who to listen to. We epitomised the saying- "Too many cooks spoil the broth." However, this was a lesson learned.
Warm up: All the children and some OT students sat in a circle and passed a ball around the cirle while the music was playing. When the music stopped, the child that had the ball had to perform a certain action. Because these children are at the age where they should know their shapes and colours, this was incorporated into the warm up. ALso, some actions included making the sounds of some animals and picking a friend in the group to high five promoting decison making and socialisation amongst them.
The activity: We decided on a crat activity where music was involved as music was involved in our warm up activity. We collected toliet rolls and brought many craft items such as stickers, coloured paper and colorful pens. The children were to make their very own shakers. We allowed them the choice of whch item they would like to fill their shakers with according to the sounds that each made. This promoted decison making. They were then allowed the oppurtunity to decorate their shakers. We then played some music and the children shook their shakers.
Analysis: It was a fun activity and the delight on the children's faces was priceless. They were so proud to show off their creations often turning to the students to show us how well they had done. Children that seemed more reserved at the beginning came out of their shells as they created their shakers. The warm up and the activity went a lot faster than anticipated so we ran out of ideas towards the end. But luckily for us, we were all children once and we were able to think bcak to when we were young and the games that we played. I think the disorganisation on our part was evident but the children were just so happy that they were having fun, listening to music, interacting with one another that it didn't really matter at the end of the day.
It was a beautiful day had by all the students. I even felt that we became closer as a class as we all did something outside of varsity on a Saturday. When the whole class came together at the end in a circle we shared our experiences for the day and we saw that not only did we bring joy to the lives of the children, but they brought so much joy to our lives.
This vulnerable population of children is hert breaking to see. The home is a place of safety for these vulnerable children. When working with them for the day, I had to dettach my feelings of heartbreak.
It was a wonderful morning at he children's home. I learnt so much about the joy of play in the occupation of children.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Nikita Sweet, the Occupational Therapy student :)
My name is Nikita Sweet. This is my very first entry into my very first blog! i'm excited! :) I have never been the type of person to write in diaries even after attempting it many times. So i think this will be good for me. I love the concept of recording moments, and reminiscing back to lessons learnt. For this semester, we are in third year Psych block. I am loving it so far! Even the short space of 3 weeks, I have grown as a person through critical thinking and have just been opened up to a whole new world of Occupational Therapy. I was reminded this term about why I chose this degree. I've learnt that I didn't choose OT. It chose me :)
Happy reading! I hope to bring across what OT means to me and how much i have learnt being a part of this degree
Happy reading! I hope to bring across what OT means to me and how much i have learnt being a part of this degree
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