Week 5 Entry

Situation
PT/OT groups are run weekly for children that require multiplinary discipline treatment and may benefit from group settings to learn the correct behaviours when playing with peers.

Task
To run a group with 4 children who have different ranges of gross and fine motor development delays, all with different personalities.


Action
Arrange the gym into a friendly and easily followed obstacle course on the outer perimeter of the room and mats with fine motor tasks in the middle. The children come in with their caregiver and play with their child. The clinicians try to spend soem time with each child to see how they are performing and their relationship in this setting with their caregiver. The child needs to attempt to do all parts of the obstacle course so as to get a good idea of their gross motor capabilities and how they take to following instructions and packing away and activity before continuing with another.

Result
Before groups begin, the children are placed into similar age groups and how they will possibly interact with each other. This group really works well together. It is a good opportunity to let the children work on their gross and fine motor skills but also allows them to attain social skills of turn taking, following instructions and gentle play.


Evaluation
From week to week the children's behaviour changes, depending on if they had a good sleep or not, if they've been sick or not, if they have eaten yet or not. One week the child can be great and doing all the activites and behave well without any tantrums, but then the next week he could cling to mum and scream, not want to participate and throw items around the room. However because there are other kids who benefit from the session, the session continues, and the parent is advised to do what they need/ feel they need to do for their child. If there is a child that is constantly not participating or just not fitting in and benefiting from the group situation, private sessions can be arranged.


Strategies
Always plan for more activites and toys then you may need, so that you don't have to leave/ get put on the spot for more activities or toys for the children to do.
Have the room pre-set up so that it is there for them to begin when they arrive and so that it is easy for the parents and children to follow and even though there may be lots of things they can do, to have the activites one after each other it helps for them to understand they have to do this activity before the next and they also have to pack it away before moving on.