Observing an actual OT treatment session is like putting myself one step closer to being an intern. It’s nerve wracking because I can already feel the pressure of having to not just pass my subjects but also to feel and savor what it is like to be a real occupational therapist. While I was visualizing myself conducting an actual treatment session, I can’t help but wonder what frames of reference and intervention strategies will use? Will I be able to extract from my memory the appropriate intervention technique to be used?

The first group was a bunch of girls. They were seven in the group and I was assigned to assist two of them on their selling and money management task. They were able to sell their crafts as well as ‘endorsed’ their products by using the script that the interns provided them. Although sad to say, some of them were having a hard time maintaining eye contact while speaking. The good thing was they were able to finish selling all the items although some customers complained that the notebooks were not that cost – effective, or in short expensive. The second group was composed of five boys. Almost the same task with the first group except that what they were tasked to sell were cards made from specialty papers, which were actually dried leaves entrapped within a tissue paper. This time I find it a little bit difficult when being confronted with the aggressive patients. In general, aside from the fact that they were all high functioning, I have observed that they were having difficulties such as initiating spontaneous conversations, maintaining gaze when speaking to other people, sustaining speech in completing sentences, expressing appropriate affect, sharing self with others through speech, and responding appropriately to other people’s reaction whenever a peculiar behavior is exhibited.

Based on what I’ve observed, I’ve learned that there’s no such thing as an “absolute” technique for a specific case. A lot of treatment procedures can be applied depending on how confident one is on the effectiveness of his/her chosen intervention. This is where clinical reasoning comes in. In order to be effective, one should have at least a combination of the following: a rich supply of knowledge about the condition and the intervention to be applied + exuding confidence. While observing, I’m already putting myself in the shoes of the OT who is carrying out the treatment session. I’m having an imaginary “epistaxis”. I find it difficult to handle the patient at first because I think that I wasn’t that confident to handle things on my own. But I did make good use of the time allotted for me to observe and assist. Factors such as being prepared and having an ample amount of knowledge about the condition could have affected my interaction with the client/caregiver and the performance/application of the treatment intervention. I’d prepare myself for the next fieldwork by reviewing and internalizing my MRL and OT notes.