This week was busy! I have just now found the time to write this blog...applying to jobs, writing case notes, coaching a soccer team and trying to finish my comps paper by tomorrow a 5pm, I'm getting very good at multi-tasking.
Anyway, this week flew by. I feel like there is no down time, if we are not seeing a client then we are either driving some where to see a client or doing paperwork about seeing the client. The paperwork is getting easier, and now I am really beginning to see the benefit of it. Now when we go to see an existing client I can go back and review what we did last time to see what they had trouble with. To me this is much more relevant that a graph or table showing the percentage of objectives met. We do rate the client on a scale of 5, one score for over all performance in the area, and one number for their skill level at the end of this particular lesson. These numbers can be charted and analyzed, but seeing the number "3" does not remind me that this was the lesson where the client completely lost their orientation when a big truck drove by, or that this was the first time they crossed at a light controlled intersection.
I am very excited about a new client we went to see this week. She is an woman in her 40s who lost her vision a few years ago, and has never had mobility training of any kind. Right now she is using a non-mobility support cane, like the kind you could buy at a drug store. She is very eager to learn. She showed us some of her current methods of getting around her home, and her "cane" technique on stairs was way better than some clients I've seen who have had years of formal mobility training. I'm excited that I get to spend the next couple of months with this woman, introducing her to all the techniques and strategies of mobility. Normally we are teaching a route and fine tuning the mobility skills of a client who was taught by someone else. I'm excited I get to be the one to teach her everything from scratch. I hope I don't mess her up! I know Amanda wouldn't let that happen... We will try to see her fairly often and I'm interested to follow her progress. She also informed us that she has seizures on a regular basis. I've never seen someone have a seizure and it kinda scares me. I'm afraid it will happen during a lesson and I won't know what to do. I'm glad Amanda will be there, she has a lot of experience with client's with epilepsy.
In other news, I have an interview with a school district in Denver in a few weeks! Hopefully I am meet up with David. I'm excited and anxious...the real world is sneaking up on me.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Week 4 - Improv
This week I experienced that being a mobility instructor requires a lot of imporv and sometimes a little 'cover up' (I know that sounds strange). Bus routes can be confusing, and finding a certain bus stop that in theory should exist, but for some reason doesn't, can be very embarrassing. This week I worked with a client in downtown Tallahassee. I know the area well from working it in my O&M II class, but I didn't really pay attention to the bus stops. So the client gets off the bus, I instruct her on how to get to our destination. Later she reversed the route perfectly, she knew what streets we were crossing, and at this point I'm feeling like a pretty good teacher. Then I realize the inbound bus stop I want just isn't there...it just does not exist. I was nervous because this is my second time teaching this client. In our last lesson I took her on a bus going the wrong direction out of the FSU stadium and ended up building some great rapport while we rode the bus full circle, which wasted about 45 minutes. So here I am with this client again, and I messed up the bus route, again. I froze, I didn't want to wander around, and I wanted the client to be involved. So that's when I had the idea to turn my mistake into a teachable moment. I explained to her that this happens sometimes, and we can't just freeze or wander around until we are lost. I asked her if she had any ideas. She suggested we call the Star Metro info line. I had given her the phone number on our last lesson. It was perfect! She was able to call the bus info line, and with some mild coaching she asked questions and lead us to a bus stop. She made a mistake when asking one of the questions, she forgot to mention we wanted an inbound bus. This was just another opportunity for her to learn something, and build her confidence. Hopefully now if she ever gets lost and we are not there, she'll know who to call and exactly what to ask. The idea of her being more empowered to get around independently really made me happy. I have another bus lesson with her in 2 weeks, I'm looking forward to see how she feels about it. Other than that, it was a fun week! I'm working hard and getting those hours!
Friday, September 10, 2010
week 3 - Lake Ella
This week my main supervising teacher was out so I got to work with another COMS at the Lighthouse. I am glad I got the opportunity to see another person's 'mobility style'. They are both excelent, caring teachers and I'm happy to be able to observe them.
This week I went to a few locations in Tallahassee to try to piece together a route for a client. One of these places was Lake Ella. Our client wanted to get from the bus stop to a near by cafe. Anyone who has ever been to Lake Ella knows that while it is very beautiful, their sidewalks are a hot mess!!! They come together a weird angles because the main sidewalk around the lake it curved. The bus stop is near the cottages, so to get past the cottages to the main sidewalk was very tricky. I thought I had a good route going until I came across a giant log laying in the middle of my path. Also, to get to the cafe from the main sidewalk was difficult because there were no permanent landmarks that I could see, and no sidewalk leading up to the cafe. I was there for about an hour walking aroung and around, taking notes, and looking for landmarks. By far the most difficult thing about this was that I had never worked with this client before. All I knew was that he was totally blind, and had some issues with focusing. I didn't know how good or bad his cane skills were, if he was okay with walking in wide open spaces with no shoreline, how good his balance was, or his orientation. That's when it really dawned on me that what I was doing was almost imposible. Our lessons should always be based on the unique needs of each individual. If I tried to make a "one size fits all" route based soley on the fact that this client is totally blind, it could be a huge waste of time. This is exactly what happened when we worked with the client the next day, he had his own route in mind and was able to travel it fairly well because it made sense to him. I know the job of a COMS is to make sure the cleint safely and efficently gets to where he needs to go. His route was both safe and efficent, so the COMS did not try to make him walk the route she had planned. Instead she tried to make his route smoother by providing information about landmarks and cues. She mentioned the noise of the cars on Monroee St., this helped the man know when and where to turn to get to the bus stop. This was just another example of stepping back, letting the student figure things out, and being there to enhance learning instead of to force learning.
Overall this week was great. I've started doing the paperwork immediatly after wotking with the client, instead of saving it all for the end of the week. This helps because my memory is still fresh, and I'm not overwhelemed on Friday with a pile of paperwork.
This week I went to a few locations in Tallahassee to try to piece together a route for a client. One of these places was Lake Ella. Our client wanted to get from the bus stop to a near by cafe. Anyone who has ever been to Lake Ella knows that while it is very beautiful, their sidewalks are a hot mess!!! They come together a weird angles because the main sidewalk around the lake it curved. The bus stop is near the cottages, so to get past the cottages to the main sidewalk was very tricky. I thought I had a good route going until I came across a giant log laying in the middle of my path. Also, to get to the cafe from the main sidewalk was difficult because there were no permanent landmarks that I could see, and no sidewalk leading up to the cafe. I was there for about an hour walking aroung and around, taking notes, and looking for landmarks. By far the most difficult thing about this was that I had never worked with this client before. All I knew was that he was totally blind, and had some issues with focusing. I didn't know how good or bad his cane skills were, if he was okay with walking in wide open spaces with no shoreline, how good his balance was, or his orientation. That's when it really dawned on me that what I was doing was almost imposible. Our lessons should always be based on the unique needs of each individual. If I tried to make a "one size fits all" route based soley on the fact that this client is totally blind, it could be a huge waste of time. This is exactly what happened when we worked with the client the next day, he had his own route in mind and was able to travel it fairly well because it made sense to him. I know the job of a COMS is to make sure the cleint safely and efficently gets to where he needs to go. His route was both safe and efficent, so the COMS did not try to make him walk the route she had planned. Instead she tried to make his route smoother by providing information about landmarks and cues. She mentioned the noise of the cars on Monroee St., this helped the man know when and where to turn to get to the bus stop. This was just another example of stepping back, letting the student figure things out, and being there to enhance learning instead of to force learning.
Overall this week was great. I've started doing the paperwork immediatly after wotking with the client, instead of saving it all for the end of the week. This helps because my memory is still fresh, and I'm not overwhelemed on Friday with a pile of paperwork.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Week 2 - frustrations
This second week went by so fast! We were very busy, seeing about three clients a day. This week we had the whole spectrum of mobility, from cane technique to bus routes and basic orientation. We are also constantly receiving new referrals, I think we added about 5 clients this week! Those case load information sheets have helped me so much. I'm so glad I took the time to dig through each clients files and put all the important info in one easy to find place. It helps with planning lessons and interacting with the clients. Now I don't have to think "oh does this client want to work on street crossings?" and then go back through a mountain of forms and assessments. I have all my clients in a binder in alphabetical order. I'm not the most organized, so I'm really trying to stay on top of things. Constantly moving in and out of the office to my car, or Amanda's car, or sometimes a rental car; just keeping up with all of my things is a challenge.
This week I taught my first lessons. I helped a student with CP get from his dorm to a dining hall. There was a lot of construction near his dorm so we decided the best way to travel was for him to use an elevated walkway that connects his dorm to another dorm that would allow him to come out very close to the main entrance of the dining hall. The student followed directions very well, he's a fast learner and has great orientation skills so it was easy for me. The only issue that we had was when he tried to enter back into one dorm to take the walkway back to his dorm. His card does not grant him access to the other dorm. I called the housing department to sort this out and was met with some slight hostility. I want to advocate for my clients, but sometimes as I learned, people can be stubborn and are afraid of making changes or exceptions. The man told me because of federal law he could not discuss the matter with me, so when I handed the phone to our client I think he was caught off guard. He then told my client it was a matter of university policy, but he wasn't exactly sure what FSU's policy was because he had just started working there. My client then showed powerful self advocacy skills by telling the housing director that maybe he should learn this universities policies. I was very proud of my client, he was firm and direct without being nasty, even when he had every right to be mad.
I'm glad to have had this interaction. At FSDB all of the teachers, social workers, OT/PT's etc. were on campus, knew each other and the students so there really was little conflict. Now that I'm in a situation where different agencies and organizations are interacting with one another I can see how things get confusing and something very frustrating.
I had another VERY disappointing incident this week because of a miscommunication and lack of a response from another group that works with one of our students. We were supposed to meet at student at his school and ride the bus to a local pizza place. He was excited, we were excited, everything was planned and then we realized he was not officially a client with the Lighthouse because all of his forms had not yet been entered into the system...so we were not legally allowed to work with him. We tried desperately to call people and have something worked out quickly, but it just couldn't be done in time. We had to call our student and cancel, he sounded really let down. I felt terrible, and of course we can't go blaming and name dropping, but I really wanted our student to know that we wanted to see him and we had everything planned on our end, it was someone else who dropped the ball. I worry that if this happened again our student will begin to lose trust in us.
Sorry this post was more a rant about people that are getting in the way of my students instruction, and less about the actual instruction. I am learning that communication with other agencies and schools is a crucial part of my job because it allows me to better serve my students.
This week I taught my first lessons. I helped a student with CP get from his dorm to a dining hall. There was a lot of construction near his dorm so we decided the best way to travel was for him to use an elevated walkway that connects his dorm to another dorm that would allow him to come out very close to the main entrance of the dining hall. The student followed directions very well, he's a fast learner and has great orientation skills so it was easy for me. The only issue that we had was when he tried to enter back into one dorm to take the walkway back to his dorm. His card does not grant him access to the other dorm. I called the housing department to sort this out and was met with some slight hostility. I want to advocate for my clients, but sometimes as I learned, people can be stubborn and are afraid of making changes or exceptions. The man told me because of federal law he could not discuss the matter with me, so when I handed the phone to our client I think he was caught off guard. He then told my client it was a matter of university policy, but he wasn't exactly sure what FSU's policy was because he had just started working there. My client then showed powerful self advocacy skills by telling the housing director that maybe he should learn this universities policies. I was very proud of my client, he was firm and direct without being nasty, even when he had every right to be mad.
I'm glad to have had this interaction. At FSDB all of the teachers, social workers, OT/PT's etc. were on campus, knew each other and the students so there really was little conflict. Now that I'm in a situation where different agencies and organizations are interacting with one another I can see how things get confusing and something very frustrating.
I had another VERY disappointing incident this week because of a miscommunication and lack of a response from another group that works with one of our students. We were supposed to meet at student at his school and ride the bus to a local pizza place. He was excited, we were excited, everything was planned and then we realized he was not officially a client with the Lighthouse because all of his forms had not yet been entered into the system...so we were not legally allowed to work with him. We tried desperately to call people and have something worked out quickly, but it just couldn't be done in time. We had to call our student and cancel, he sounded really let down. I felt terrible, and of course we can't go blaming and name dropping, but I really wanted our student to know that we wanted to see him and we had everything planned on our end, it was someone else who dropped the ball. I worry that if this happened again our student will begin to lose trust in us.
Sorry this post was more a rant about people that are getting in the way of my students instruction, and less about the actual instruction. I am learning that communication with other agencies and schools is a crucial part of my job because it allows me to better serve my students.
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