I'm Going to Miss Them Tons! :(

The roommies (Ellen and Dana) and I at the company picnic (windy day).

This week was my last week at Orange-Ridge Bullock Elementary. :( The following and LAST two weeks, I will be at the office with Ellen, running a summer camp and treating our little munchkins. We planned the camp yesterday and I am pretty stoked about Angry Birds Day, Dr. Seuss Day, and Campout Day (we're building a fort!). I'll give you a synopsis next week of how everything goes. :)

On a side note: Last night El and I want to watch What to Expect When You're Expecting, and pretty much cried during this Ethiopian adoption scene--yep, can't wait to adopt one day!

I am praying for everyone and cannot wait to see you all VERY SOON!

Love, love, love,
B

"For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generation."
Psalm 100:5

A Week 9 Wrap-Up

The past few weeks have included designing obstacle courses for the kids, completing lots of end-of-the-year evaluations, and formulating fun treatment interventions. My confidence and knowledge seems to increase with every passing week. I am able to grade activities and adapt tasks to accommodate a variety of diagnoses and meet many needs. 

 The boys pictured below are triplets and the one in the middle was the one recently diagnosed with Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy. :(

I have been working with this young 20-year old girl, at the clinic, who sustained a gunshot wound to the head, resulting in a TBI one year ago. She presents as a quadriplegic and has minimal use in her right arm. I have had the opportunity to work with her and her mother (who has recently hurt her back from transferring her daughter) a couple hours each week, addressing proper body mechanics when transferring, increasing leisure activities, visual perceptual deficits, as well as inattention to tasks. Through this opportunity, I have really had the experience of addressing her holistically through taking into account all psychosocial factors. This has challenged me to become more creative when treatment planning—including the family in the treatment process, as well as challenging her to increase her engagement in leisure activities. I have to continually remind her the importance of challenging herself to help with grooming or donning her shirt when her mom dresses her every morning. I have also encouraged and advocated for her to go to school a full day instead of a half day. I am looking forward to continuing this treatment with this family and observing the gains that they will make together.

This weekend, the roomies (Ellen and Dana) and I will be going to our company picnic tomorrow at a marina and possibly taking a ride on our boss' sailboat (eek!). We are really excited and getting sad that we have to leave our jobs and FL in 3 weeks. However, we are excited to get to see you guys soon!

A Day in My Life

Fortunately for you, I decided to do a brief photo tour this week, instead of writing a lengthy blog describing the details of the week. I finally took a few pictures of the wonderful students I get to work with each week in the hope that they exemplify just a glimmer of their "awesomness."

This group below (kindergarten) is one of my favorites (shhh...). The little boy in the gait trainer was just diagnosed with Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy, a condition that is a highly degenerative muscle disease and will most likely take his life before he turns 25. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

 

They loved making cupcakes and had no idea the social and behavioral skills we were addressing--gotta love my job. :)

They were loving the oobleck...hopefully their parents did not get too upset when we sent them home with their clothes covered in it. :/

This beautiful sunset was taken about a week ago, while El and I ate our ice cream cones and dangled our legs over a pier at Coquina beach.

Another week that has come and gone in Bradenton, FL. 4 weeks until I head back to the Bluegrass State, that I call home. :)

Week 7

Summertime has officially hit. It was in the 90s this weekend and sweltering hot. Fortunately, we have this beautiful beach to relax and get away. However, be careful--the breeze and water can deceive the heat and strength of the sun. My skin always hates me by the end of the weekend. This gorgeous sunset was taken outside of the Beachhouse--it was one of the best dinners we have yet. El and I split this huge seafood dinner with delicious mango salads and cheesecake for dessert.

I had this recent conviction of my gluttonous/unhealthy lifestyle. There is so much delicious food to eat here and we always have tons of dessert at work. Subsequently, I am in need of starting to live a healthier lifestyle. I must alter my mindset in order to do this because I feel as though I am on vacation here all the time--not good. Here begins my journey to a healthier overall well-being.

Au revoir,
B

A whimsical weekend

 

Pictured above is our view from a Tiki hut off the bay of Sarasota at sunset (last night). There was a perfect breeze, not a care in the world, with some wonderful friends. Little did I know that the Lord would rock my world this morning. I was sitting in church listening to Christine Caine speak at Bayside Community Church, where I go during my stay here in Bradenton. Christine is the founder of A21 Campaign, a campaign focused on abolitioning and fighting human trafficking. She attends Hillsong Church in Australia, and is having a powerful impact on people around the world through her passion and drive to serve the Lord. As she was talking about human trafficking, and urging us to step up and embrace the calling the Lord has placed on our lives, the Holy Spirit hit me with the reality of my own resistance to His calling lately. Last semester the Lord really placed human trafficking victims on my heart. I resisted the urge I felt to contact an organization and attempt to get involved because I was scared. Scared that I may be called to serve these victims--how shameful of me. Today, I felt this urge again....in a more powerful way than I can begin to describe, except to paint you a picture of me with tears pouring down my face as we were praying and my heart yearning to know what this spark ignited in me today will turn into. I don't know where the tears came from because I was trying to control them and I couldn't--that's called the Holy Spirit. The opportunity for me to be in Bradenton, FL, at this exact church, listening to Christine Caine, when I was just researching her organization 6 months ago is called divine appointment. What a beautiful encounter today was. I have no idea what the Lord will use me and my OT education for in the future, but I am more excited than ever.

After church, El, Kayla and I visited Norma Rae's, a delicious brunch/cafe in Palmetto. I had a summer salad and chicken salad sandwich, which was very hearty. I am beginning to keep a tally and blog about the haunts and local restaurants we visit over our next few weeks to enlighten those who ever may visit Bradenton, FL in their future. Enjoy!

Oh, and for those of you who read my Friday post....our bday plans for Dana got disrupted, so we may have to find an alternate avenue to utilize our SWEET costumes. :)

Week 6

Today finished up my 6th week in Florida...that sadly means only 6 more weeks in this beautiful place with these wonderful hoodlums. With regrets, I must report that I had to assist in a restraint of one of the 4th grade boys I work with.  He can become very disrespectful and aggressive when he doesn't get his way, which was what happened. I explained to him that we have to learn to accommodate the changes in life and be flexible, but he already too worked up to reason with. I dearly love him and wish I could take him home to love on. I wish I could take home all of these children. So many need a stable environment with love and nurturing. Without these things it scares me to think what may become of them.
Earlier this week at the clinic I got to start working with this 20 year old young lady who suffered from a gunshot wound resulting in spinal cord injury (tetraplegia). She is a beautiful girl who loves to dance and listen to music. I got to know her family and I am really excited to get to work more with them in order to increase her independence and develop strategies to help ease her mom's burden. Boy oh boy, I really do have the best job in the world!

Last weekend the roommies and I went to Naples to visit Vonda, a classmate and friend of ours. We had so much fun, drove by some of the biggest houses I will probably see. Literally, they all looked like resorts on the beach. On Sunday, we enjoyed a great church service, as always. Then, Ellen, Kayla, and I found a hidden gem of a cafe called Charisma Cafe. I had the most delicious chicken salad on croissant. It was cute and hippy-ish, with local artists' work featured on their walls. We also walked through a local art studio, which was very fascinating, but entirely out of our budget.

This weekend Ellen and I are going to work a disabilities baseball game, we are celebrating Dana's birthday with a fun surprise for her bright and early tomorrow (I'll share details next week, but let's just say the pics  below are part of it...), as well as eating a delicious cheesecake I picked up from Mr. Cheesecake. Yep, we love the weekends. :)

Last night we had a late-night excursion to Goodwill to pick up some children's puzzles/games for our kiddos. We ended up finding a few gems along the way (pictured below).  :)

 Yes, these are pant suits....

We're still trying to decide what this one is exactly...it's suede, which makes it tens times more hilarious. And yes, we both had to try it on, and it was amazingly one of the most comfortable things I've ever worn. Our plans include donning this on a blind-folded Dana.

Week 5

This week was great as usual. Exhausting, but fun. I definitely had more opportunity to consider addressing psychosocial factors that influence engagement in occupation for my students.  Many of my students, specifically the ones with Autism, had aversions or combative behavior that influenced the treatment session I had originally planned. I took these moments and circumstances to think on my feet and practice grading activities or being flexible in my approach. I had to utilize preferred activities several times in order to engage and motivate them. This is beneficial to understand when working with children with disabilities. I address feeding with a young boy in the medical fragile unit, and he is able to hold the spoon and place in his mouth if it something that he likes to eat. However, if it is not something he likes he refuses to eat. Everyone gets frustrated by this, but I feel as though this is crucial towards supporting his interests and therapeutic use of self. He is non-responsive, so he is unable to do a lot on his own, and I am a firm believer that if he has control over one area of his life (feeding) than so be it. It is my role to support that as long as he is getting adequate nutrition.

Now heading South to Naples to celebrate Vonda's (another classmate) birthday, the Derby, and Cinco de Mayo! More updates to come later this weekend. :)

Blessings,
B