Authored by Wren Smith for Dr. King

Occupational Therapy Assistant Program

Keiser University – Melbourne

When asked to develop the Occupational Therapy board as Keiser, under the supervision of Dr. King, we led a discussion on what the theme of the board or what our premise should be. Out of those themes mentioned, we decided to implement two different ideas. The first idea was to use comic book like characters to represent Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapy Assistants as ‘Superheroes without capes’. The second idea, was to make the board interactive, implementing sensory awareness cues, such as scent (olfactory), touch (tactile) and visual cues.

For our Superheroes Without Capes theme, we developed Team OT, a group of superhero Therapists each honing different skills, for instance Doc Ot, the leader of the group was given the power of telediagnosis, a power which grants him the ability to diagnose any mental or physical ailments just by looking at someone. Another extremely important member of Team OT, Gaitbot, is a one-wheeled hero whose purpose is to be the keeper of tools for team OT, keeping track and supplying the team with gaitbelts, goniometers and dynamometers. For our villains we focused on those things that would make rehabilitation difficult for some of our patients and clients, such as depression, anxiety, anger and/or fear.

The entire board itself is a tactile and visual aid implementing sensory awareness by giving passers by something to look at and feel. The background is a painted silhouette of a city scene, painted on canvas, giving the entire piece a textural feel. We implemented toys such as balls with different textures and scented aids for olfactory awareness, which also helped to catch the attention of those walking by.

Intro to Occupational Therapy, class of May 2015: Justin Booska, Nick Bearman, Laura Connely, Wren Smith, Gina Lopez, Elliott Morgan, Mary Lyons, Brian Thompson, Cheri Pelton, Rachel Tate, Rene Rubiella, Kyrsten Johnson, Patty Staples, Jennifer Stump, Cynthia Brown, Briana Pardi, Hannah Blair, Robin Gehrig, Shakale McGriff

OTA board Aug. 2015 (2) OTA board Aug. 2015 (1)