My senior year of my undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama I started a job as a therapy aide at a local outpatient clinic. I loved the atmosphere and the fast pace as it was a very busy clinic with often times 10 patients an hour between 3 therapists and 2 PTAs. Often times every client's session started with preparatory exercises such as the arm/leg bike, pulleys, fluidotherapy machines, and more. As I was working there I saw the purpose to these exercises to warm up the muscles before therapy sessions. Now that I have spent three months in OT school, I see there might be better activities to engage the clients in and make their hour sessions more worthwhile and motivating. I wonder if the therapists used these preparatory exercises because they were so busy and could not work the entirety of the hour one-on-one with the clients, forcing them split their time between themselves and prep exercises. I thought the busier the clinic was the better business they were running. However when that is the case, are they keeping the client's needs first and maintaining a client-centered practice? I respect and admire the therapists I worked under for that year, and I always wanted to work at a clinic with the same values and atmosphere myself one day. However, I can now reflect on that experience and hopefully take the knowledge I have learned since then to take with me to my future practice that might be a little different from their practice.
" The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. " - Mark Twain People with disabilities are just like every other human being. Person-first language puts focus on the individual and not the disability. We should not identify individuals based on their functional or mental limitations. For example, a practitioner should refer to someone as "a man who had a stroke" instead of a "stroke patient." I believe it is important to understand and practice person-first language to be an effective practitioner. First, it allows the client to feel more comfortable, and you will make more progress together if the client feels like an individual and not a disability. Second, occupational therapists are trained to help people as a whole, not just the disability, so it is important for us to look past the disability and focus on the client, as well. There are countless mo...
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