We just finished hosting a Level 2 Fieldwork student here at Sensational Development and it was such a pleasure to have Jenna with us! For those who don’t know, in order to become an occupational therapist, we must complete a Level 1 and Level 2 fieldwork placements or clinical rotations. Once completed with two (sometimes three) Level 2 placements, the student can move on to take their test and become certified! We thank our parents who allow us to teach students and for them to be part of our treatment sessions so we can give them the tools they need to move on and take their test to become a certified occupational therapist! Jenna was our first student to see telehealth and we asked her for some insight before leaving us! Take a look at her perspective on telehealth and how valuable it can be! Thank you Jenna and good luck!
“When I started my fieldwork placement with Sensational Development, I did not expect to be completing my final hours behind the screen of my laptop at my kitchen table. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, many occupational therapists, as well as other healthcare professionals have had to change the way they deliver services. When I was first told that we would be transitioning to a telehealth model I thought “How could that possibly work?”. We have all of this amazing equipment that we usually work with at the clinic and I was pretty sure most families didn’t have a rock wall or suspended swings in their living rooms. The biggest challenge for me was taking a step back to look at the big picture and to ask myself “What is it that this child needs to work on?” and “How can we do that at home?” Luckily, I had great role models because the therapists at Sensational Development did not hesitate. They dove head first, right into telehealth, taking all of the creativity they had with them! Instead of crash mats we are using couch cushions, we are making up our own games using just paper, pencil, and exercises, we are even creating obstacle courses with the kids via video chat. A silver lining to all of this is how much more we have learned about the children who come to the clinic. By seeing them at home in their natural environment, we are able to really take everything into consideration during our treatments and provide more accurate suggestions for parents to implement at home! My professors had always briefly touched upon telehealth in my classes, but I have never experienced it or even fully understood it until now. Although, this is a very uncertain time, I am grateful that I was able to experience telehealth as a student and to have worked under the amazing therapists at Sensational Development. I can now say that I feel confident delivering services in person and through telehealth!” – Jenna McGuffey, NYIT OT Student