16 March 2015

We had three activities for the day: (1) a simulated patient encounter, where we instructed exercises to patients with sensory or cognitive deficits; (2) video critique on our manner of teaching on last semester’s video portfolio; and lastly, (3) learning a psychomotor skill, yoga, to simulate how being on the learner-side feels like.

I realized the complexity of our profession. Real patients aren’t as straightforward as the cases they give in class. Most of them have combinations of impairments and other factors i.e. culture, socioeconomic status, etc., which we need to factor in when instructing or when treating, in general. Since every client is unique, I think it is important that we learn and prepare, as early as now, an arsenal of cues and alternative methods of teaching we could choose from to find what works best for our diverse clients.

I admired how Ma’am Mia conducted the session. Her voice is calming and appropriate for the activity and her tactile cues are very helpful. The manner of teaching of psychomotor skills involves a lot of repetitions, gradually weaning off the cues as you progress. This is something we do not practice too much in class and it’s good to experience it firsthand. We can’t expect our clients to learn the movements or even understand on the first try, not even from the well population, as seen in the video we critiqued as well. I, myself, was dumbfounded while Ma’am Mia was demonstrating the whole routine before she broke it down.

The yoga session’s atmosphere was relaxing and set well to accommodate the stretching and the breathing exercises. One point is specifically dedicated to “Setting up the environment” in lab exams. I can now see how that is important. A good setup can make a session ten times better.