Observing at the High School

         Here is the entry about observing 3 high school students after I got done observing the Middle schoolers. I went straight over to the high school after getting done with the Middle school and it was really different in all the ways. It does seem strange when you know someone that works at the same place you are observing because now you feel like they are going to hold you accountable in some way or that you need to go ahead and do it because you don't want to let them down. The other reasons it seemed really different is because I saw 3 students that did have a disorder for sure and it reminded me of me.
          I had one girl that was in 9th or 10th grade and she had a disorder called "Angelman's Syndrome". She acted like she has an 18 month brain in a high school girl's body. The OT worked a lot on getting her fingers to work alone so she could type things instead of using all of her hand. She was grasping things with the her whole hand. She didn't hold the pencil right. The OT did a lot of different things with her. She got to play an Elmo Preschool game on the Ipad. It is where she could trace her ABCs with her finger using the screen. She had a hard time doing that though. The OT had to help her a lot. She tried to hit a lot when she was upset or didn't like what she was doing and she put a lot of things in her mouth like the blocks. She only stacked 2 blocks to make a tower. The way she usually plays is just opening and closing plastic tubs.
          Another student that I observed was a girl with CP. She was very outgoing and silly. She had a back brace so she could stand up straight. It helps with her posture. The OT worked with her fingers too. Her project was to pick up things like coins and while she was doing that she also added them up and found certain amounts for the OT. Her writing also looked like a Kindergarten wrote it because she couldn't hold the pencil right. She held the pencil between her fingers instead of making a circle with her fingers and keeping it in that circle. She also had problems with her visual motor. Her brain couldn't take information from one thing (computer screen) to another thing (piece of paper).
          The last student I had really brought back memories for me in a strange way. He was in the 11th grade and has CP and because of that also has bad reflexes. He was really friendly and talkative when he wasn't working. He also had a smile on his face all the time. He would jump up if you said his name loudly while he is working very hard. It was one of the reflexes that he needed to work on not to do. When he was younger, he had a problem with keeping beat but now he is in choir and loves it. The OT also told me that he is very good at singing. While writing, he jerks up his pencil, a long way, off the paper after every letter instead of keeping it on the paper or close to it. That usually slows things down because he would have to find his spot again and get start all over. He had to have his eyes really close to the paper while he was writing like he was almost touching the paper. He was doing that because his brain could only take information from a certain distant and realize it. Another thing about this student and the high school was they were so accepting of students that needed help. He was one of the popular ones yet he had little problems. That is a really good school when students with disabilities can feel safe and happy.
           We had to get this student from his AG class and that really stuck with me after I thought about it for a bit because that was me when I was in high school. Not only did the smells of welding things and planting things and doing nothing in class made back memories come back but also being pulled from a class. I was on the other end yesterday getting a student. Somewhere where I never thought I would be but I really knew how it felt. I was taken from classes all the time in school because of my speech. I had to go to speech class in the middle of things and they worked around some things but also came and got me when it wasn't a hard high school class like band. I just felt bad for that student feeling like everyone was watching him walk out of the room. Speech class was bad enough for me to walk out to what if I had to walk out for OT or PT.
          Another thing that seeing an AG class reminded me of is my AG classes and teacher. I just thought about how proud he would be of me if I do step up and get my Master's in OT. In a way, I am being that leader with my own life and the lives of others. I'm helping them get better at something so they can be better at life. I feel like this is the road I'm suppose to be on because God gave me the experience and the people to do it with. He gave me two great schools to observe so far and through those observations I did some great networking. I just feel like God gave me the talents, wanting relationships with people and not just any people but small children and youth, and creativity for being an OT. I can't wait to get going on this path God has for me.