Personal Narrative: My Practicum Experiences

During the last three years, I have completed 488 hours in two child life departments interacting with children and families in the hospital setting. At the same time, I kept the quality of my academic standing high (GPA 4.0 at Ozarks Technical Community College and GPA 3.88 at Missouri State University). I am currently a child life practicum student at CoxHealth Dee Ann White Women’s and Children’s Hospital. My duties include planning and implementing developmentally appropriate and therapeutic activities, such as origami, scavenger hunts, and medical play to promote physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development for patients. I can independently interact with and introduce child life services to patients and families in Pediatrics

Throughout my educational experience I noticed the discrepancies with regard to the advantages my peers possessed. In high school as I began exploring what career I wished to pursue, I experienced inferiority as my classmates who’ve taken the ACT three times, visited college campuses, and have had resumes ready since the 6th grade unintentionally mocked my lack of college-readiness. However, my ignorance wasn’t intentional, my parents never reached a high school education in Mexico, they couldn’t pass down SAT tips or acquire internship opportunities for me. I realized it's vital to pick up the pace to avoid being left in the dust akin to countless others in my situation. Henceforth, this statement resonates with my experience, I interpreted

During my two last years of high school, i've been in contact with a lot of colleges and universities. Many of which don’t get my attention. Throughout my whole high school years, there was only one college that i wanted to go to, Liberty University. I have heard so many wonderful things about Liberty and what i loved the most was that it was a christian school. Liberty had the number one thing that i am looking for in a college, that is a christian school, but many of my other things that i look for in a college where just not there. I used to live in Florida approximately 11 years ago and let me tell you, it's hard not to miss the sunshine state. Liberty is in Virginia, a state where it doesn't feel like home. When i received a brochure

1. This observation took place in the facility’s gym between the Occupational Therapist (OT) and an 8-year-old boy named Jacob. Jacob has been diagnosed with Autism. Jacob was standing on the balance beam, he had a claw in his hands picking up small been bags while maintaining his balance. The OT was standing a foot away from him and she (OT) was walking along side in case he was to fall. Jacob was telling the OT that he did not want to do it anymore, stepped off the beam and sat on the floor. The OT asked him to stand up, get back on the beam and finish what he was doing. Jacob said no and that he was tired. The OT told him that if he finished then he would pick what they were going to do next. Jacob looked at the OT smiled and asked if they could play the Wii. The OT said only if he got off the floor could they then play with the Wii. He got off the floor and then went to sit in a chair and still refused to continue the balance beam. The OT told Jacob that the session was about to be over and that they were not going to play the Wii because he did not follow directions.

I am interested in completing my practicum at Trinity Counseling Center, located in Anaheim, California. I am interested in completing my practicum at Trinity Counseling Center because I have personally received counseling and therapy at Trinity Counseling Center. I began to receive counseling services at Trinity in July of 2014 when I was going through a very difficult time in my life. Before I went to Trinity Counseling Center and began counseling sessions at Trinity, I received counseling services at another Christian counseling center. However, the counselor at this first Christian counseling center abandoned me. He gave me a list of local Christian counseling centers and then he abandoned me. After a few months of feeling very confused and hurt due to abandonment by my first counselor, I was able to begin receiving counseling services at Trinity Counseling

My study at Howard Community College has helped me pick out a major that I know I will love pursuing for the rest of my life. HCC was a great way for me to learn the introductions to pertaining to my major. Although HCC was a considerable start, it had limited programs and resources that could have guided me in the long run.

(OOH) He does this by having them walk around or exercises stressing the certain area of problem. (OOH) You then need to educate the family on what to expect and what they should be doing to help the patient during their

I went to the appointment on that Monday, and being a bigger hospital, I was even more terrified. We checked in, and luckily found a spot to sit in one of the waiting room. The room wasn’t filled with sadness or negativity, it was somehow filled with laughter. There were many children, therefore some of the parents had brought coloring book for them. I just wanted to know what these children were at the hospital for. They seemed to be the most charming children ever, and I just couldn’t understand why whatever they're going through was happening to them. My parents had left to buy coffee,

My field experience was in Ms. Felkins third grade classroom at Washington Elementary School. The class there are nineteen students total, nine boys and ten girls. There are two different ethnic groups in the class, four African American students and fifteen white students. Additionally, there are three students who go to a resource room throughout the day for academic instruction. One of the students goes to the resource room for thirty-minute increments throughout the day. Three students go to a small reading group each day to work on reading skills.

On February 10, 2016, I shadowed Michelle in the oncology department, which was an eventful day full of thought-provoking and interesting patient/family interactions. Looking back on my experience in oncology, I truly enjoyed the inpatient interactions I observed. Through my shadowing experience, I gained knowledge on how child life is utilized in the oncology department, how outside programs are incorporated, and how to build rapport in overwhelming environments. This week I was able to reflect back to my knowledge of developmental stages so that I could ask more questions geared towards relating our coursework to practicum experiences. In this journal, I will focus on two patient interactions, each which were unique, thought provoking, and

When I first think of education making an impact on my life, my immediately goes to the teacher that inspired me to pursue the field of education: Mr. Quesenberry. The truth is, I never expected to enjoy his 8th grade Civics class. Though I had many wonderful social studies teachers before 8th grade, each year history was always one of my least favorite subjects, and I expected Civics to be the same. Before I took his class, I thought that the government was just a bunch of old rich guys who made laws and ran the country, and I didn’t have the slightest idea about the many complicated issues that the United States was facing or about what I could do to get involved and fight for my values.

Next, I observed Caitlin use an “I Spy” book for diversion/distraction. This type of distraction for this patient was extremely successful and I think his developmental age played into this, since we are aware that school-age children find a sense of pride through accomplishments/social interactions (i.e., finishing a page of the book). After 3 attempts by the RN, the IV team was called and we left the room. Caitlin and I were going to go assist in another IV placement with a younger patient when the IV team arrived but chose to return to this patient’s room. This was the right decision, because the patient was a completely different kid when we reentered the room (i.e., flatter affect, less bubbly). For the fourth and fifth attempts for the IV placement, no J-Tip was used. The coping displayed by this patient was completely different because he did feel pain. The patient was tearful/fearful and sadly these attempts were both unsuccessful. I noticed that Caitlin was able to pick up on the patient’s preferences and helped to narrate and count to three during the procedure. I also noticed that Caitlin provided choice to the patient for distraction/diversion by asking, do you want to keep your music on or do you want to use the book again? The patient

Once the session began on Wednesday and I led C2 to the child therapy room I felt my pulse start to quicken, and I began to grow nervous to distribute the test. When C2 and I got situated

The main objective of this session was to work on improving K.C’s low engagement skills. K.C was 4 and a half at the time of the session, and he was diagnosed with autism at around 3 years old. K.C also had a MLU that averaged less than two. He had a lot of energy, and was very strong and aggressive as well. For example, during the fourth activity K.C would walk away from the activity and begin to push on the window. For this reason the therapy room didn’t have a lot furniture. The clinician who led this therapy session was Amber. For the most part, K.C was engaged and compliant for approximate seven activities. But, throughout the activities he became more and more disengaged, and by the eighth activity K.C started to demonstrate disruptive

In my internship, I work with a child client who is mentally delayed and has severe autism. When she comes into the office for her appointment, she is always smiling. She enjoys going into our playroom for the session. There is a communication barrier between her mom who only speaks Spanish, and I, unfortunately, don’t speak Spanish. Her sessions are very interesting to observe. We sit her down on a chair, and I sit next to her and copy her behavior and actions. Then the Dr. sits across from us and verbally repeats our actions. She seems to enjoy our time together during therapy she usually puts a blanket over her head and repeatedly, takes it on and off her head. During our last session, together she looked at me touched my face and hair.