I've been on my peads placement for the last 3 weeks and I recently had an supivisor assesment with a child with CP. This child was seven yrs old and also had charge syndrome. This meant the child was deaf, blind and non verbal. She has an interpreter who works with her. She also doesn't like to be handled by strangers and has just started receiving growth hormone injections in her legs and thus doesn't handle anyone touching her legs.
This was my first client who I'd encountered problems with, but coupled with being nervous about the assessment, I was in for a tough time!
Initially I observer her in positions, but when I tried to test her tone and ROM in her legs she started to get very distressed. I moved to her UL's instead but still she didn't want me anywhere near her. No amount of toys or distractions could take her mind off me!
I realised that I'd need the help of the interpreter. I explained what I wanted her to do and then she tested the ROM in the childs legs whilst I measured. She was then able to get the client to move into different positions so that I could observe her movements and postures. Whilst she was doing this I tried to play as much as I could with the child to build some trust. In the end I was able to do a little treatment session with her myself.
I was unsure whether what I'd done in the session was ok seeing that I had not physically assessed her tone and ROM. It also made me realise how important the interpreter and carers are in the childs life and also how we can use their help and expertise in our treatment sessions. Once I recieved my feedback, I realised I'd done the right thing. I think me treatment would not have been very effective otherwise. I was wondering if anyone has had problems like this with clients and whether you've had to do that before or whether you employed another strategy?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi, yes I did have exactly the same problem in my paeds placement. In the end kids will be kids and once they make up their mind about something or someone then it can be pretty hard to get them to change their mind about it any time soon. I did exactly as you did and simply got the parent or in your case the carer to do all the handling whilst I aimed at building trust with the child. I actually spent the entire initial doing this and then focused on assessment and treatment in the 2nd session. I also thought this was a bit unfair as they didnt receive any actual treatment but my supervisor said it is quite common and what I did is perfectly fine.
Post a Comment