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Practicum

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I completed my 4-week practicum in one of the group homes with Canadian Deaf and Blind. I worked with two participants (ladies) who have deaf blindness. One lady is in her 30’s and the other is in her 40’s. The information below describes what I did weekly throughout my 4-week practicum. [Week one] On my first week of practicum, I mostly observed the participants’ morning and afternoon routines. First thing in the morning as soon as the ladies wake up, they reach for their cue board to feel an item (ie. Bowling pin keychain) and it tells them their morning and afternoon activities. Along with that, an intervener (I.V) has to sign how their day is going to turn out. I observed how participants take their medications, eat breakfast, brush their …show more content…

It was my first time to ever do yoga and I independently assisted the participant the entire session. Since she has slight vision and hearing, it was difficult for her to follow the instructor’s movements and so I needed to reposition her body in different kinds of poses. At first, it was difficult because I had to pay close attention to the instructor’s poses and make the participant do them at the same time. I learned that the best way to assist the participant do yoga was to reposition her body and not just tell her what to do because she does not respond well with sign language. Gladly, the participant and I worked well as partners as we finished the entire 30 minute session. On the next day, two participants, an I.V and I went shopping at Lulu Lemon. I was walking around the store with one participant while the I.V was with the other participant on the opposite side of the store. While I was walking with a participant, she pulled me towards the entrance door and suddenly she dropped down and sat on her knees. So then, both of us were in the way of people entering the store. I tried lifting her up in a standing position but she did not want to stand up. At that time, I could not ask the I.V for help, I yelled at her but she was too far away to hear me. Suddenly, someone entered the store and walked towards me to offer me some help. I knew from the …show more content…

Basically, I had to sign “do more” repeatedly to them because that’s the best way to make them clean as much as possible. We swept and mopped the floor, made their beds, wiped their windows and did their laundry. With one participant, I had to do the hand over hand method because she lacks hand mobility and strength. In the afternoon, we went to Western Development Museum to walk around and look at artifacts. On the next day, we went to Michael’s and bought a tie dye kit for the art project I had planned on doing with the participants later on my fourth week of practicum. The day after that, we had staff meeting where we talked about the participants’ physical and behavioral changes over the past month. The medication system on the computer were also updated and new sections were added that’s why the whole meeting lasted for three hours. During that three hour period, I had to watch over two participants while they eat dinner at the same time. That’s when I also got to do peri-care on both participants and change their depends on my own. On the last day of my third week, I worked a 5-12 pm shift. That evening, I went to Elmwood Lodge with an I.V and a participant to attend the “Dance Night.” We got to dance with different participants from different group homes. Later that night, I worked with a different I.V who works night shifts regularly. From there I learned about the participants’ night

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