Future OT Megan

Being a collegiate swimmer and have been swimming my whole life, I think knowing how to swim is one of the most important skills you can learn how to do. I have been a lifeguard and have taught swim lessons to many children throughout the years and I have really enjoyed it.  Something that Kim Persons said that really stood out to me in the podcast is that drowning is one of the leading causes of death of children with Autism. Kim Persons and Nick Murray worked with lifeguards to educate them more about children with autism and sensory processing disorder. Sometimes teaching children how to swim can be really difficult, but if you are working with a child on the spectrum and you are not educated about ASD it can be even more difficult for not only you, but the child as well. There is so much that you need to think about when teaching a child how to swim. You need to think about their abilities, how cold/warm the water is, if anyone else is in the water, what they enjoy and do not e...

When I think about the word and idea of blissful ordinariness, the phrase "you don't know what you have until it's gone" comes to mind. Think about your daily routine and all of the small details of it.  Now imagine you cannot do that little detail. Sometimes that little detail can affect so much more in your life.  When that little detail is not something you cannot do, it could be easy to lose that joy and bliss that you used to have everyday. The magic of occupational therapy really lies in this idea of blissful ordinariness, and getting back to feeling happy doing the small details. This idea really shows how holistic in nature occupational therapy is as a profession. Occupational therapists care about these little details because they understand how much that can affect your daily life. They understand the need to feel bliss and the need to feel independent.  Occupational therapists want to get their clients back into feeling excited about the ordinary aspects of...