Skip to main content

Universal Design and Au-Some Swimmers

Universal design is something that people without disabilities take for granted on a daily basis. It is very important for us to consider though to help those around us with disabilities be able to do things independently to the fullest. Everyone benefits from universal design, with or without disabilities. Michael Nesmith stated in his TedTalk, “Disability drives innovation. The existence of disability forces you to come up with new solutions, it does not impair you.” He goes on to say that everyone has a disability, they are just displayed in different forms or for different lengths of time.

I chose to listen to the podcast “Au-some Swimmers” on swim lessons for kids with autism. The occupational therapists had a couple main objectives when designing this program: to see the needs of the sites and lifeguards, to teach the lifeguards how to communicate with kids on the spectrum, and to increase the general knowledge about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). By educating the lifeguards about ASD, they were then better able to communicate with the child and adjust how they provided swim lessons to those children when needed. One thing that was implemented that I think was most beneficial would be the student log. In the student log, the lifeguard would write down what was done in the lesson that week, what the child did not like to do, and what stimuli triggered the child negatively. This made it easier for a substitute to complete the swim lesson and know what skills the child was working on, even if they had never worked with the child before. Additionally, it kept track of the progress the child had made during the sessions. Kim Persons, one of the occupational therapists interviewed, stated that drowning is one of the leading causes of death for children with ASD. It is important that children are taught swimming skills early to be confident in the water to increase safety.

Comments

Post a Comment


Logan and I on our first day of OT school.

Popular posts from this blog

Parkinson's and Deep Brain Stimulation

   I watched a TED Talk called “Parkinson’s, depression and the switch that might turn them off” by neurosurgeon Andres Lozano. I chose to watched this because I was unfamiliar with deep brain stimulation until we discussed it in class. I wanted to further my knowledge on this subject and the diagnoses that it can be effectively used. Neurosurgery has been around for 7000 years. Originally, people with psychiatric and neurological problems were thought to be possessed by evil spirits. In order to release the spirit, they thought they needed to cut a hole in the skull.    As we have learned, different parts of the brain control different functions. If there is a dysfunction in a specific area of the brain, there are specific functions that will be impaired. Dr. Lozano became interested in this and how deep brain stimulation can help people with various disorders. Deep brain stimulation is achieved by cutting a hole in the skull to reach an area of the brain with ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Locus of Control

     Locus of control is how a person perceives the cause of their situations in life, and can be on a continuum between internal and external.  I received 13 points out of a total of 23 points on the worksheet. I fell in about the middle of the scale between internal locus of control and external locus of control. After scoring this, it did not surprise me on how I fell within the scale. I had a hard time with many questions deciding which one I agreed with more. I believe that there is a mix of things we can control and things we cannot. Some things are just bound to happen, no matter how hard you work to avoid it.      I found this topic and how it related to the client/therapist interaction very interesting. I appreciated how the article posted for our reference discussed how as therapists we can encourage an external or internal locus of control towards our treatment of clients. I also believe it is important to encourage an internal locus o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Media Project

The most significant thing I learned from this assignment is the importance of taking the client’s values into consideration when providing therapy services. If the client does not feel like the intervention is meaningful to them, they will not be invested in it. I learned that it can sometimes be difficult to find something that relates to a client’s needs. It may require extra hours, consulting other therapists, thinking outside the box, and adapting an item to best fit each individual client. You may have to try something new with a client, because they have different values and needs than previous clients.  This assignment prepared me to think outside the box. Additionally, it allowed me to look at the whole client and what are their most important needs. For Maurice, he was afraid of becoming bored and lonely. I wanted to create something that was portable and could be kept with him at all times to prevent the feelings he was scared of. The Legen-Dairy Notebook incorp...
Post a Comment
Read more

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Translate