Week 2 @ Continuum (pt.2) (plus college visit)

This weekend has been extremely busy! I just got done touring Mizzou so that I can make my decision by next Monday. I’m still quite lost when it comes to deciding between university of Illinois and mizzou. I like both the campuses. Mizzou seems a bit cleaner/put together, but it’s also more hilly than Illinois. As far as rankings, Illinois has a better psych program and club offerings, but I don’t know if that difference is really going to have a big impact on the quality of the education, and what resources are available to me. If anybody has any insight as to ways I could make that decision, that would be very helpful. 

Last week, at Continuum, I did some observing, but I also did a lot more work in the office with the administration. I spent one day pretty much cutting out and laminating pictures for different activities (they call them learning centers). I also got to learn a little bit more about some of the kids there. 

One day last week, I got to sit in and observe as one child had a feeding session. They are eight, the oldest kid I’ve seen at continuum, but they have a lot of sensory issues and OCD tendencies/problems with change. They refused to eat solid food for a long time, so continuum had been working with this child for over four years. Today, they only eat graham crackers, belvita crackers, ritz crackers, pediasure (the banana strawberry flavor) and a special protein smoothie. The therapists at continuum are working with the child to desensitize them to new tastes and textures by giving them different flavors of belvita crackers. They are always honest with the kid because if they changed something without telling the child, they would know instantly and refuse to eat anything. This would break the trust and may completely derail treatment. 
I got a little bit more involved towards the end of last week. I helped Kayla by making a patient intake form so that the company can collect data on how long it takes for each step of the intake process takes. Something continuum prides themselves on is being able to get children into therapy quickly within only a few weeks whereas at other practices, it might take two weeks for a response from the company. 

The people at continuum pretty much named me their new IT person, which is funny because I’m not nearly as skilled at computer stuff as people think. I helped Bee (an RBT) use Google docs to create a table with the new schedule on it, and I showed Kayla how to pull text out of a photo on iPhone and copy it into a document. 

One notable thing I did on Friday is that I got to read a book to one of the kids. Kayla explained to me that it was amazing that the child tolerated it and didn’t throw a tantrum or anything. Reading exposure is really important and necessary for good development. I learned that there are several stages of reading development, starting with flipping through the pages and looking at the pictures. Even that task requires fine motor development and visual comprehension. The next step is having someone read the book to the child. Having someone read and point at the pictures reinforces the association of word to object, and can also teach kids stuff that seems natural, like the fact that we read stuff left to right and top to bottom.

Overall things are still going really well at Continuum. I wish I’d planned to go to Continuum for more than just three weeks because I’m having a lot of fun and learning a lot.