Summary: A Career As An Occupational Therapist Assistant

This book report is written regarding the book Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s, by John Elder Robinson; published by Crown Publishers, New York. I chose this book due to the fact it’s about Asperger’s syndrome. When I first read a brief description of the syndrome, it was defined as a social inability to interact or connect, with other people properly. As a person who suffered from severe social anxiety for most of my life, I was very interested in learning more about this syndrome. In some way, I thought I could understand the author’s point of view.

But there are also a variety of other social effects of Asberger’s that the interviewees seemed to corroborate were present in Lanza’s behavior. As the authors go on to note that students with Asbergers typically “...do not pick up on the nonverbal cues and are not sensitive to what others are thinking or expecting of them... Furthermore, the student with AD might engage in an angry outburst or tantrum that is disruptive to the classroom (Bellando & Pulliam, 2009, p.

Secondly, special educational programs are also useful when it comes to treating ASD. Because ASD affects people’s minds, special education programs must be used to teach them how to interact, communicate and work. Hopefully that would help them to acquire good jobs in the future. The third treatment that has been used a lot is behavioral therapy, and usually there are no real attempts for this therapy even with its great effectiveness. It focuses on making the autistic person’s surrounding environment, convenient, and how he or she is involved in it.

With the word spectrum, people with autism spectrum disorder may have challenges that may run the range from mild to severe, with different levels of ability and disability. Even though there are positive or advantages of having an autism spectrum disorder or ASD, there are still some disadvantages of having it. People on the autistic spectrum face many issues, from the continuous challenge of trying to be comfortable with others, to the irritation that they are not able to express how they feel, to the devastating anxiety because they cannot make sense of what is happening around them. As stated in the site of Weebly (2016), some of the disadvantages of

Final Essay Strengths First of all, I feel as if I am a very dedicated person, whether it’s related to my educational goals, current job or career goals, or personal relationships. I take dedication seriously because I believe dedication shows you truly care about that goal you are trying to attain or that person of which you are trying to maintain a good, lasting relationship. Going along hand-in-hand with dedication, I feel as if self-motivation is also a personal strength of mine. I’m currently trying to juggle a schedule of a full-time student, part-time job, extracurricular clubs and activities, and maintain a social life and being self-motivated is the only way to succeed at handling all of those things at once.

This is not likely to be the same for every individual with the disease. Asperger’s could have caused Adam Lanza to become angry and react in harsh ways, resulting in the shooting of Sandy Hook

Some characteristics of Asperger’s syndrome are social impairments, high anxiety, and difficulty with communication. Unfortunately, the combination of those mental health struggles resulted in his limited ability to participate in his education while in high school and for him to function effectively in our society as an adult. He lacked empathy, avoided eye contact, could not stand to be touched and displayed rigid thought processes. Programs were developed and medications were advised, yet Adam refused to participate in those therapies and he refused to take the recommended

Occupational therapy saved my family. Growing up with a sister with severe spastic cerebral palsy to include both cognitive and functional deficits, life existed on a day to day, hour by hour basis, as we were unsure of challenges each moment would bring. This all changed the moment occupational therapy brought quality of life back to me and my family. My very personal experience defined my purpose to become an occupational therapist, to pay the gift given my family forward.

The brain and central nervous system problems, with a child on the spectrum, will include issues such as: poor coordination, balance, memory, attention, processing speed, reasoning, intellect, judgment, mood regulation, and difficulties with hyperactivity. Even though this list of challenges is long, it is important to know that there are just as many social and behavioral problems as well. Children with FAS tend to have difficulty in school. Their ability to stay on task and set goals, such as research papers present a large challenge to children with FAS. They also have poor social skills, causing trouble getting along with others.

A psychiatrist diagnoses Autism using criteria established by the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 though observation of the child in an examining room and recording observations made by the parents. Clinicians may also ask parents and teachers to complete behavior checklists such as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised after observing the child’s behavior at home and in the classroom (Hallahan, Kauffman, Pullen, 2015, pp. 216). Clinicians look for signs in social, communication and behavioral differences. Some social differences are that a child with Autism would have little or no eye contact and do not read social cues. They do not respond to a parent’s smile or other facial expressions and often have inappropriate facial expressions.

and intrigued by the mind-body connection as well as the importance of human activity and occupation in maintaining mental and physical well-being. At the same time, my desire to work directly with people and be able to make a positive and lasting change to their lives by empowering them and helping discover their strengths and confidence in themselves to achieve their goals, led me to a realization that a career in occupational therapy would be a perfect fit for me.

Ralph Emerson once said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful … to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” I chose the profession of occupational therapy to embrace this rationale of life; to encourage others to help themselves and discover the resilience and strength they have to successfully re-integrate with their community. At Hunter College I majored in psychology and I wanted to continue to apply this knowledge through a health care career. Occupational Therapy effectively concentrates on the psychological, emotional, and physical well-being of the patient, while facilitating those individuals with illnesses or injuries to re-learn everyday tasks.

I am Cristen Sudduth, a native of Jackson, MS. Throughout my life, I have observed and encountered several accounts of resilience. Including times when my siblings and I would hurt ourselves by playing our various sports a little too rough which led to temporarily altering our daily lifestyle. These experiences allotted us the opportunity to build through some form of therapeutic exercises. Each exercise helped us gain the courage, confidence and physical strength we needed to return to our regularly life that we normally had and enjoyed so much. That’s where I believe my passion to become an occupational therapist began.

According to the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth edition). It states that an individual with Autistic Spectrum Disorder has persistent defects in the social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts. They have restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities. For a diagnosis to be made, symptoms must be present in the early developmental period. Symptoms can cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.

What I admire most in the field of Occupational Therapy is that I get to make a profound difference in people 's lives. It is one of few careers where individuals get an opportunity to assist patients interpersonally, and help them achieve their goals with activities of daily living. What brings me a feeling of accomplishment and inner enlightenment is the opportunity to give people the chance to grow or start over. This train of thought arose when my grandfather had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, perhaps one of the most lethal carcinomas in existence. This period of time was rather challenging for myself, taking on the responsibility of assisting my virtually immobile grandfather. Given the fact that my grandfather exhibited severe