Hi all. This post is currently being written by my left hand on my mobile while my right arm is held captive by the plasma-collection machine at the local blood donation centre.
I’m two weeks into my last subject for the year: Paediatrics. It’s been really fun. We’ve covered typical and atypical development (including how to hold low/high babies), early childhood interventions, autism, cerebral palsy and interventions and assessment for these plus more generally. These have included sensory processing, family-centred practice, traffic light self-regulation systems, handwriting interventions – and most recently, this interesting intervention called CO-OP: Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance.
It’s a cognition based cooperative approach which enables success (ie skill acquisition) through problem-solving. The OT guides the child to use metacognition strategies and discover the skill(s) for themselves. The child uses their own words to create goals, which are then planned, done and checked (GPDC acronym is used with a toy to help the child remember).
As part of our learning we each chose a skill to learn using this method in class. So I learnt to KNIT!
Goal: to be able to knit a row.
Plan (in my own words): I watched a classmate who knew how to knit demonstrate and talked through the steps, as I saw them, in my own words. Then a third classmate wrote them down.
(I’m right-handed.)
- Right needle goes through the thread on the left needle and then goes to the back.
- Loop the thread around the back of right needle only, it does not cross the left needle.
- Pull down the thread against the needle with right hand keeping needles crossed at back.
- Pull the needle from right hand down
- With the left hand turn the needle so the right hand pushes needle through the wool.
- With the right hand you move the loop off the left needle while the left hand holds the wool steady.
- Tighten the knot.
Or something like that.
Do: you do the plan.
Check: has the plan worked? We needed to modify a few steps to ensure everything was clear.
Finished product:
Not much. But it’s a start. Now I need some wool and knitting needles so I can practice – I borrowed those ones above.
myzania 