Fieldwork Reflection

The facility I was assigned for my fieldwork is called North Jersey Elks Developmental Disabilities Agency. It is in a school setting and provides serves to children from preschool through age 21. The children in this school have various of different medical diagnoses such as Down syndrome, Rhett’s Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, seizure disorder, and other complex developmental disabilities.

The role of my supervising OT is to help children with complex developmental disabilities improve their independence in daily living skills and help them become successful within their learning environment. Some of the task the therapist engaged in was group meetings, providing the students with direct and group therapy sessions, and helping staff bring the student into the café for lunch time. The group meetings consisted of all her fellow colleagues such as the principal, social worker, nurses, teachers, physical therapist, and speech therapist. During the meeting they discussed any concerns they had about specific students and how they could try to improve them. During direct therapy session, the therapist had to get each student from their classroom and return them back to their class. During group sessions, the OT need go to a specific classroom or the SI
Each of the occupational therapist had their own private area where they provided the children with direct therapy sessions. Within the treatment environment there was a variety of activities available for the children to engage in such board games, coloring games, a trampoline, medicine balls, a boso ball, an extra large connect 4 game, and a mini basketball hoop. In addition, the school had a SI room for treatment. This room was extremely colorful, it had 3 different swings hooked up, and it had little playhouse with a slide. During sessions in the SI room, the occupational therapists play sensory integration