Occupational Therapy in Schools

Self Assessment: Essay 4

SEGL W 102, Sections 003 & 013                                                 Instructor T. Thomas

Spring 2013

Self Assessment

Essay 4: Proposal

Post your narrative responses to the following questions to your BLOG.  Please write your responses in complete sentence/paragraph format.

1.       What were your biggest challenges in researching and writing your Proposal?

a.      My biggest challenge when researching and writing my proposal was making sure I had enough supporting information. This was difficult for me because am personally not a great researcher, I seem to find everything interesting and not know what is valuable and what isn’t.

2.      What do you feel is the best element of your final proposal?

a.      I feel that the best element of my proposal was the fact that I could relate to the statements I was making so there was an element of my own voice in the paper. It was not strictly fact but also was personal encounters and feeling in the writing making it easier to read and flow better.

3.      What do you feel is the weakest element of your final proposal?

a.      The weakest element I think would be the information, I don’t think I gave enough or could seem to find enough information in which I found valuable. This is a difficult element in all my writing, the paper has too much of my voice in it at times.

4.      What could you have done differently to improve your overall performance with both the Literature Review and the Proposal?

a.      I think I could have put more time into the paper, I did work very hard and put time but I don’t think I allotted the correct time because I underestimated the amount of work it could take to do the paper.

Rough Draft

Briana Lanza Kyle

Thomas

Composition 102

April 10, 2013

                As you get older, progress through school and make your way through life there are certain skills that you are supposed to have in order to survive. Many of these skills are taught to us by the people around us, they have a huge influence on what you know as a skill in life. Some people know how to farm because they obtained these skills from their parents who were farmers; some know how to knit because someone they knew taught them at a young age. These are skills you obtain outside of school, but what if the skills you obtain in school is not what is needed for you to survive, what if you needed more as an individual. I have always been an advocate for people to work hard to get somewhere but people also need help along the way. My brother was one of those kids who weren’t getting what he needed as an individual in school, he needed more. My brother, Peyton was born with fluid in his years causing him to have a learning disability which affects the way that the brain processes information, making it harder for him to learn what is necessary for him to get to the next grade. This was found after a couple trips to the doctor with a constant runny nose and tests they figured out that my brother’s ears were filled with fluid; with this discovery Peyton had surgery to release the fluid in his ears. Right before my brother started kindergarten, his pre k teacher noticed that he could have a learning disability because of the fluid in his ears, and how much he struggled in the class. Now although my brother had a great teacher who would have helped my brother as much as she could, she can’t do it alone. He needed outside of classroom help which he wasn’t getting from the beginning of his years in school, but maybe if he was getting help from the beginning then he would have had the chance to be caught up and not be behind his peers. My brother, Peyton is not 14 and in the 8^th grade, he is very smart and is caught up in classes like math, and science, but in English and social studies he still struggles but with the help of the amazing teachers he has had and the people outside of the classroom who help he is doing a lot better than he once was. Just imagine where he would have been without this help.

                The surrounding people that helped my brother are people who are willing to put the effort into helping others and making sure that people live full lives. One of these many people that surrounded my brother with love was his occupational therapist in school. Occupational therapy is an essential element to the learning of children with disabilities. The resources provided for them will help them learn to the best of their ability and further themselves if this was incorporated into schools. This will need to be a group effort needed for the benefit of the adolescent children today.

                Occupational therapy is a growing field in which people are trained to help people gain the skills to live a normal life and have life’s necessary skills. In the year 2010, about 137,000 occupational therapist were in the workforce and 21.7% of occupational therapist worked in schools, this is a growing statistic and that is a great movement towards helping people but the special education classes in the countries are also growing. It is important to show these potential occupational therapists to see the benefits of having a job in the school field. Many occupational therapist work with people who need to learn how to do every day skills like hold a tooth brush, or write with a pencil correctly.  These are everyday life skills that allow people to come to the fullest live of their life. in schools occupational therapist teach students how to do things that they will need in order to be successful in school which will in turn prepare the children for life after school. Most children that need occupational therapist have trouble with things like holding a pencil, holding silver ware so that they can eat alone, tying their shoes and interactions with other people. In occupational therapy you are taught these kinds of skills without the pressures of the world to tell you to do it a particular way. In occupational therapy they find whichever way is best for your learning and how you would benefit from your sessions. The point is not to take you out the classroom to get away from learning but to help you gain skills needed in a different way.

                The amount of children being diagnosed with learning disorders is more and more prevalent which causes classes in turn to become larger. So with the increase of the classes there should be an increase in people to help these children. Being that I am in college I do see a lot of people wanting to become teachers but I have only met a few who wanted to be an occupational therapist, most not know the increased need for this production and how this could help. For instance, if my brother would have never gotten the occupational therapy he did, he would have learned many of those skills needed but it would have taken him a very long time to learn how to do it because he did not have to proper tools in which to learn. My family tried our hardest to teach my brother the things that needed to be taught but did not have the training on what muscles needed to be stretched and moved in order to help him with the way he held his pencil. I fear that if my brother would not have gotten this help early that he would not be as successful as he is. Education is the back bone of this country; it is taken very seriously both in society and in our home because it is really the only way that you could reach the levels of success that you would like to reach. With that being said it is our countries job to make sure that every child has that chance to be that successful, given the resources and the information of the need their will be people who end up seeing the need and want of the children in the world. The most important thing is that these children get what they need together, not as two individual groups but as a classroom and not only an individual. Children like to know that their peers are similar them and have the same problems that they have so when these actions are being made they need to be made as a group effort and not an individual. All the teachers, parents and students with the help of the school have to have a clear understanding of what is going on a why it is needed for them to participate in the activities during the sessions. The teachers and the parents have to have a good communication especially at a young age because learning disabilities are things that can be picked up on over time because of the actions in which the child takes and how they act in classes. Early diagnostic tests are very important for the child because early detection is very important and should be taken very seriously so that the problem can be solved earlier in their life, the earlier the learning the better it could be for the parent to know what is going on with their child and what kind of help their child will need. This is why the parents and teachers should have a good relationship so that when there is detection of this it is not a struggle to find the middle ground between the parent and the teachers. Both  of the people possibly having different views on how their child should go through occupational therapy and when it is best for them to start. This is why it is also important for the occupational therapist to have a good relationship with the parental figure in this situation the child does need occupational therapy. The occupational therapy sessions are going to have to be things the child works on possibly outside of classes so with good communication that might be able to happen and help the child more with the enhancement of their learning.

                With anything there are many different sides as to how people see a particular problem many people not seeing this as something that is a huge need but do not see the benefits of having an occupational therapist.

Outline and Thesis

Thesis:

Occupational therapy is an essential element to the learning of children with disabilities. The resources provided for them will help them learn to the best of their ability and further themselves if this was incorporated into schools. This will need to be a group effort needed for the benefit of the adolescent children today.

Introduction:

• Peyton’s story
• What is occupational therapy?
• Opposition and troubles  
• Thesis

Body 1:

• Who does this help?
•  How will it help them?
• What does it do? OPT?
• How old are these children?
• When does this need to start?

Body 2:

• Who supports it?
• Why should it be supported?
• How much would it cost?
• Where is the support needed for the progression?

Conclusion:

• Why this is important?
• What would this help?
• Children of the future

Prospectus

The problem that I am going to disucss is the use of occupational therapy in schools and how it is beneficial to the students that are able to get these resources. This is important for their learning and goals for later on in life because this will make their lives easier.  Every child deserves the chance to make it in life and to the next level of school and with this extra help from occupational therapist that is how you can work with them.

                The audience that I would like to approach would be more professional because I would be directing my paper to people in higher positions in schools so that they could make the change, but the parents and teachers could be the bigger push. So I am talk to all of them the direct people who care but also those from a distance who cannot see the effects of learning that way.

                I would like to create rhetorical appeal by using language that would be natural and conversational but yet still give people the facts that are needed to support the cause. I would use stories and personal attachment to the problem while also adding to the appeal for the people.