Peds lab: creating a trust in therapy

In class we were divided into two groups and were not told what was going to happen. Our professor set up the room, and had the other half of our class wait in the hallway with the doors closed. She then grabbed each participant one by one, blindfolded them, brought them into the room, and had a student in the classroom guide the blindfolded student through an obstacle course around tables, 'figure 8's', standing on a step up stool, crawling under a table and ending up on a chair. The blindfolded student (the patient), was only guided by touch cues and was not given any verbal cues on what we (the therapist) were doing or why were doing it.

The learning example helped both sides talk about how easy or difficult the process was. We talked about how information was given and interpreted. Also, with no verbal language and a lack of vision, the patient had to trust the therapist to guide them correctly, make sure that the 'cues' the therapist gave were not too little or too much. It made us think about how much we, as therapists, need to guide patients through a process and have them trust us and how much we need to slow down and collaborate with them to help them problem solve along the way. Either way, I thought it was thought provoking and made me think about how I will interact with patients in the future. Also, it helped me see with a language barrier how a patient feels that may transcend into a different verbal language, or a receptive/expressive aphasia that limits their ability to dialogue with me.

OTS thoughts: It is amazing how one touch or one bit of pressure is interpreted by the therapist and received by the patient. Too much, too little, wrong spot, wrong interpretation, lack of trust, too much trust, other senses to help problem solve or lack of senses to do so- all play a vital role in the patient/therapist success. These are all things that we understand and have faced through our course load, but it keeps me focused on making every cue and every intervention count- and hope that I do not face too many miscues that might send my patient down a different track that can lead to frustration, lack of trust, or getting hurt. thanks for reading.