OTA 2320 OT Modalities III Lecture

For our group process, we went to the daycare at Salt Lake Community College. The children we worked with were between the ages of 3 and 5, and some of the diagnoses present included ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and speech/learning delays. The goals shared by this group of clients were following two-step directions and developing a mature hand grasp. The focus of this group was to help the children follow two-step directions while completing animal walks and making a hand turkey craft. The approach we chose was the Developmental Practice Model to help clients reach milestones associated with their developmental age, which is essential for success in school and further development. Using concepts embedded in the developmental approach, such as sensorimotor activities and problem-solving, will improve function in educational occupations like handwriting and fine motor skills.

On the day of the intervention, we went to the daycare, and all the children greeted us. We started the intervention by having the children tell us their names and their favorite animals, which we turned into an animal walk. After the animal walks, to help them get ready to participate and focus on the craft, they all sat down, and Mari showed them the craft and demonstrated how to trace their hand. Most of the children needed help with this portion of the intervention, so we walked around and assisted them. After they traced their hands, we asked them to cut out one feather. As they did this, I walked around and observed what grasp they were using. Some of the children also needed help with this step, so we walked around and showed them the appropriate mature hand grasp for using scissors, with their thumbs up. After the

children completed their crafts, we had them clean up and then met in the reading corner. There, we went through the final steps by asking the children if they enjoyed the craft and if they thought they could do a two-step task that their adult asked them to do. After that, we talked about what we did that day and thanked the children for working with us.

As a leader, I believe I did a good job of keeping the children on task and helping them when needed. I was a little out of my comfort zone, as I had never run a group with that many children at the same time. Mari did an amazing job of keeping the children on task and showing them what to do. She also stepped in when things became overwhelming with the group process. As a team, I feel that we worked well together, jumping in when a child needed help or needed to be redirected back to the table. Personally, I feel that I need more experience with this age range, especially in learning how to get their attention and keep them engaged.