Week 5 - Brand New Client

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.