[humanser] Non-visual observational skills in therapy.

[Serena Cucco]

Hi Kaiti,

First, Karen makes a great point.  Does your disability services
office know about this?  What have they told you?


Also, do you use a cane?  Or at least carry one with you?  This would
probably also help with your prof.'s understanding how much you can't
see.

Serena

On 10/5/14, Karen Rose via humanser <humanser at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi - I am not sure but wouldn't ADA require that you're disabled student
> services program provide you with a reader/notetaker who could function as
> an observer in this situation? Karen Rose MFT
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Oct 5, 2014, at 10:24 AM, Kaiti Shelton via humanser
>> <humanser at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> As some of you know, I am an undergraduate student working towards a
>> degree in Music Therapy.  Last semester I had some issues in my first
>> practicum sequence course.  I was unable to adequately complete
>> clinical documentation because I simply did not have the level of
>> information the supervising professor wanted to see on the form.  I
>> know it was substantially less than I needed to have, and she has told
>> me the information I gathered would have not been enough to
>> effectively carry out treatment.
>>
>> I am working with her and two other music therapy professors of mine
>> to solve this problem, because although my musicality and
>> therapist/client interaction were great, I have to repeat the class so
>> I can get better at observing, gathering data, and completing
>> documentation.  Much of the problem seems to stem from a lack of
>> understanding of what I can and cannot see from my professors.  I had
>> a meeting with them this past week in which I actually demonstrated
>> what I could see my professor doing from 4 feet away, so that they
>> would get an idea of what I realistically can tell using sight.  That
>> seems to have helped.
>>
>> One of the problems last semester was that my group was quite large.
>> My partner and I had between 10-20 people in each session, but as both
>> of us were responsible for completing our own documentation, this
>> proved to be a challenge for me.  The first accommodation we came up
>> with, at least for the time being, is that I will be able to focus on
>> 3-4 clients per session and focus on providing quality information on
>> them.  This way I will have a lower quantity of clients to
>> specifically target, but can get the information and the depth of what
>> my professors are looking for.  I will also do other things like use a
>> rolling stool like what doctors use to keep myself on eye level with
>> the clients, and I will have documentation time immediately following
>> the session.  To help me document things I didn't see, my team will
>> meet for 15-20 minutes to do basic documentation together and discuss
>> what we individually noticed.  This way, although I won't see visual
>> elements of the session, I can document that someone else did.
>>
>> I am also setting up a conference between my professors, myself, and a
>> music therapist I know who is blind.  My hope is that by bringing us
>> together on a call, the professors who know the standards I need to
>> reach, the student who knows the challenges I have in practicum, and a
>> professional who knows practically how to mediate the two, we can find
>> more solutions.
>>
>> I am curious to get as much input on this topic as I can though, so
>> I'm wondering how some of you in other fields use nonvisual techniques
>> to observe for documentation.  If you haveparticular experience doing
>> this for things like range of motion improvement, that would be great.
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti
>>
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