Wednesday, October 14, 2009

We Did It! Hooray!!

Working with young children and having several of my own, daily achievements are often celebrated Dora The Explorer style by singing "We did it! We did it! We did it! Hooray!" This is one of the first things that came to mind when I discovered that a client of mine, a 12-year-old boy with ASD, had learned to shower and toilet with minimal intervention.

My last blog post focussed on a particular therapy session, spent role-playing the steps involved in wiping after using the toilet. I had mentioned this particular client to help explain the many ways in which OT's work with people to improve their ability to participate in daily living activities.

This last session was one of many that had been spent developing and introducing schedules for daily self-care tasks. Weeks before had been spent discussing the steps involved in tasks such as showering and toileting, role-playing each step, and perfecting posters for actual use, in addition to coaching the child's mum on how best to introduce these concepts at home.

Mum had been particularly worried about this last point. After years of developing a routine that worked, this was a big step for both of them. It was bound to cause some stress as any change in routine often does, and it was going to be a time consuming process.

I never expected to be so excited and proud when I discovered that my client had learnt to both shower and wipe himself when toileting with only minimal supervision required for each activity. Only months beforehand, he had been completely dependent and showed little interest in changing that fact. We now have new goals for therapy based on other daily tasks and I can't wait to see what else this amazing kid can do. Hooray!

9 comments:

  1. Woo Hoo Nicole!! Yes it is amazing how excited you get over small things that we all take for granted when it comes to people with ASD!! Job well done!

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  2. You are amazing Nicole - I love reading your posts and about the fantastic progress of your clients. Really inspirational, thank you :)

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  3. Wow, thanks Monique. I appreciate you reading my blog!

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  4. Thanks very much Jo. I never thought that this would ever be something I would get so excited over. These actions, that we give very little thought to, are major things for people with ASD aren't they?! It is an achievement for the child, but life changing for the mum who thought she would be doing this for the rest of her/ his life. She has gained a little bit of independence herself.

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  5. This is a great story! Your work must be very satisfying and rewarding when you see this kind of progress. Well done!

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  6. It's immensely satisfying Carole, and such a relief. Everyone involved puts in so much hard work. Thanks!

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  7. Thanks for dropping by my blog the other day. My daughter is thinking about becoming an OT - she is working as a tutor with dyslexic teenagers and really enjoying herself. She doesn't want to be a midwife like me cos it's too bloody, and she doesn't fancy teaching. So she's thinking OT would suit her.

    Have you meet Merrolee: http://oteducation.wordpress.com/

    and

    OTs at Salford Uni:
    http://frederickroad.blogspot.com/

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  8. Thanks Sarah. I would love to follow some other OT Bloggers. I hope your daughter pursues OT. It is a great profession to be in. It sounds like she is very patient - a great skill to have :)

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  9. what a great achievement for you all

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