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Last week I visited the New Struan Autism School in Alloa, to look at the design elements of the building and how this helps autistic pupils work within the space and manage more challenging parts of their behaviour. I took photo’s as I went so see below…
Main ‘street’ of the school. The school is designed so you can see all the way through the school and out the other side. The theory is that if pupils can see the outside world, and have the feeling of openness then they are less likely to want to leave, or abscond. The corridor in the street is purposely wide so that pupils never feel crowded or penned in, and also allows pupils and staff to pass each other while maintaining a safe/comfortable space from each other.
All the doors in the school are colour co-ordinated, each class room has a different coloured door, so that it is easy pupils to return to the correct door once they have left.
 Different coloured doors Through out the school the carpet leads you through the spaces. Dark blue carpet are moving spaces (e.g. corridors), light blue are still spaces (libraries, classrooms etc).
 Carpet that leads you to your room Doors that look like doors, so help you find them, and instinctively how to use it. Note the door frame is in contrast to both the wall and door. Door handles that are easy to locate and easy to use.
 Doors that look like doors Some pupils have difficulty getting to class, crossing thresholds and then staying in class… so the class rooms are designed to have a soft entrance which leads them into the room. When we were there one pupil only got as far as the entrance bay, so the class came out and all joined him there, allowing him to still attend.
 Classrooms that start outside The school has a number of flexible spaces to use according to pupils needs, below is one room which is currently being used a quiet space/breakaway space, where this pupil sits, works, unwinds when the class room becomes too much.
 Secret quiet place The library is open plan from the main ‘street’, unlike other schools where access to the library is limited to avoid damage, Struan finds that the open plan nature of the school actually stops damage to resources.
 The Library The photo below is the of the casing for the utilities (power supply, fire safety system etc), they have cladded it with mirrors to give the illusion that you can see all the way down the corridor, creating a feeling of space
 mirrors on walls helps increase the open feeling of space
After previous post, I worked for 6 months as a day centre officer for an Adult Resource Centre, and then secured my first OT post within learning disabilities, and started on 10th Feb 2009, almost a year ago.
This year was very busy and very quick, but finally I’m finished… Now all I need is a job.
Hi,
Just coming to the end of my second summer placement in Parkinson’s disease, and noticed I’ve not posted for months. Very sorry, I will get my act together soon… hopefully. I can’t wait for a holiday.
I can’t believe that I am now in my third week of placement, the whole thing is only 7 weeks long and I’ll be coming home soon.
However, its going really well, I am in a Community Mental Health Team that looks after over 65′s in Glasgow. It is completely different from the hospital setting that I was in before, and I think I like it more since it is seems more relevant and real, and the changes and interventions you make seem to make an real difference (or at least you see the impact of your interventions, unlike the hospital where you don’t have enough time to see the long term effect).
The OT’s in the team also seem to be a little bit more OT theory driven, although they are still not using standardised assessments or models in the way in which we are encouraged at college. Which surprised me as I had heard that mental health was much more influenced by models like MOHO. Anyway it is a real change from the hospital which was driven from a very medical/physical/functional perspective.
I’m really interested in group work, which I have been involved with since the start of this placement and I’m leading one tomorrow! However, still trying to work out, what the evidence for group work is, i.e. is it a nice fun quiz that fills an afternoon, or is it a treatment or therapy session and how? I’ll need to do some reading and find out.
So, writing my essay took much longer than I thought due to all the other things that have been going on in my life recently (weddings, family stuff, etc). However, after getting an extension I handed it last Friday.
General thoughts… It is much better referenced than my last essay, my references went from 2 pages to 9 pages. I think the argument might be slightly better, but I could have made it stronger if I had more time to think about it. Overall, I think it is probably about the same as my Christmas essay (75%)I will be happy, I’ll be disappointed if I can’t meet it because I definitely think its of a higher standard.
Points to remember for future essays… start writing earlier… make sure all your reading is done early and that you have a good system for referencing them. Must try to be more critical of other people’s arguments (I find this very hard).
Just had my viva this morning, I think it has been a success (or at least more successful than my last one) for the following reasons…
- I opened my mouth and talked
- I made up little handout sheets and gave them to my assessors
- They smiled at me in an ‘I’m impressed way’ rather than a ‘I’m only smiling so you don’t cry way’
- My lecturer has just posted on the college secure web thingy that everyone has passed and commented that one student did particularly well since they made up little handouts! (that was me if you hadn’t guessed)
So… the results are out on the 8th June, I just have to wait until then so see how I really did.
Humm, really struggling to get a good flow of work and responsibility. I’ve now talked to patients, even begun to assess them and do some intervention with them. However, every week I feel as if I’m starting from scratch again. Not too sure why, its partly because the patients have changed, partly because I’m not around all the time so interesting cases come and go while I’m away, partly because I think they only think of me on the days I’m in and they are not planning in advance. Any way I was slightly disheartened when I left today.
However, looking on the bright side of things, I think I have now chosen a case study. Last week I did two dressing practice sessions by myself, and two little assessments, and today I also did an assessment by myself. I am slowly beginning to feel more confident at doing them. I am keen to start an assessment by myself, and hopefully I might get a chance to do this this week.
I need to start my essay….. where is my motivation….?
I’m losing track of which week I am in with my placement. Time seems to be really marching on. So what have I been up to….
I spent the day with the Stroke Nurse. This was really really interesting, and to a certain extent I thought what she did was really OT-ish. Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland employ nurses to follow up on patients discharged from hospital who have a stroke. The nurse goes out about a month after the patient has returned home and gives them advice and support about how to return to their previous activities, how to manage their health, and how to prevent further strokes. It is a really good service and she spends about an hour with each patient and follows them up for upto a year after discharge.
I also spent a day in the combined assessment unit, which is reportedly the busy part of the hospital, where the OT is quick and dynamic. However I seemed to have chosen a day where there were no new patients at all. It was regardless of the slowness a really good day, a completely different area from my stroke ward.
What else, I spent a day with the physio’s, which confirmed that I don’t want to be a physio and I definitely want to be an OT (or in the light of recent experience a stroke nurse). I also had my halfway report, which was just fine, much work still to do. Alas.
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