PDFE #13 "Feedback Observation and Categorization"

Observation
Describe activity you observed:

I observed a physical therapy session with an older gentleman who had two fingers shortened in length due to an accident with tools.  The therapist was introducing different exercises to him and I observed her methods of feedback.

Feedback examples:
therapists says "move your hand further up"
"one, two, three..." counting the reps of an exercise
"You can do it, there you go!"
"push your fingers into the putty and make an impression"
"roll your fingers around the bar and roll the bar up and down"
"Good, your index finger is gripping the peg further down toward the tip"
patient hears the timer go off
therapist tells patient to keep massaging the area and how to work on straightening
therapist shows patient what exactly they are doing and how exercise is supposed to look
therapist  tells patient that we should increase the resistance, sets, and reps of an exercise
therapist says "good you put all the clothespins on the rack"
patient sees all the pegs taken out of the board

Categorization:
Intrinsic: patient sees pegs are all on the board and feels the grip of a ball being picked up
Extrinsic: therapist says "Great job using your fingers to grip that ball or the peg"  "I really liked how you got your fingers wrapped around the cone"
KR: patient counts the reps of the exercise and hears the timer go off signaling the completion of the exercise
KP: therapist says "Good job with rolling your fingers around the surface of the ball"  "I really liked how you got your index finger to pinch the closepin"
Descriptive: when therapist is working on patient's hand, she describes how to resist against her hand pushing the patient's finger and also describes how and why the patient is to straighten his fingers
Prescriptive: therapist tells patient to work on massaging a specific area for next time and how to use a finger splint with three points of contact to allow the finger to straighten

Discussion:
Motivation:  the therapist tells the patient how much improvement she has seen from last time and says encouraging words such as "awesome, you can do it!"  This is very encouraging because it provides confidence in the patients.

Reinforcement: the therapist points out exact components of the exercise that are key and when the patient performed them correctly, she makes sure to tell him "that's what you want to see".  This isolates the correct forms of the exercise that are key and desirable for the outcome.

Information: The therapist always explains what is preventing the patient from receiving the desired outcome during an exercise.  If they don't understand, then she breaks the exercise down into simpler components.  When massaging the patients fingers she makes sure he understands the correct way to work on his hand at home. 

Dependence:  The therapists makes sure to balance encouraging words with instructions on how to improve and receive the desired outcome, instead of allowing the patient to depend upon her feedback, she asks how the patient felt during the exercise and the patient often provides their own feedback as well by having a positive attitude about their performance. 

PDFE #14 "Segmentation-Part Practice"

Part practice: the way to break down the parts of a complex skill to understand its components and enhance the learning of the complex skill, such as the individual components of shooting in basketball

Whole practice: when the student or athlete practices the entire sequence of events of the performance together, such as a routine for dance or skating

LAB:  For this lab, Ehsan was my partner and he was the part practice learner.  He gradually improved slowly during the overall individual tasks of the juggling.  He showed more improvement on the first two tasks of the one ball toss and catch, and the two ball toss and catch.  It was more difficult to add the three ball toss and drop.  I was the whole practice learner and practiced three-ball juggling.  It was very difficult for me to get past a couple of catches.  I hadn't had very much practice with juggling and I do believe that the part practice would have helped me improve.

Evaluation of Conditions:
I really believe if we had more time the part practice would have been clearly distinguished as the best method of practice.  Ehsan did show some improvement.  The idea of breaking complex things down into individual simply tasks and trying to master those first is the best thing to do when trying to master a complex task such as juggling.  The results didn't necessarily match the theory due to other factors.  However, I did see some improvement among the individual tasks which did confirm my expectations.

Other factors: individual skills and abilities, distractions such as tennis balls going everywhere, noise, felt pressure for time and feelings of inferiority

PDFE #11 "Learning Time Observation"

Today I observed the Berry Women's Basketball team practice at 5:20-6:00pm.  I did not come for the beginning or end of practice.  I saw them stretch in the beginning, then they started with practicing free throws and triangle shooting.  There was only about a minute of instruction between the two activities.  Then they moved into the locker room for the coach to give about ten minutes of instruction.  There was about a minute of waiting for everyone to come back and they immediately started playing against each other in a practice game for about five minutes.  Then the coaches called out different drills such as box-in and box-out.  I left after those drills, which they were still performing.

I was thoroughly impressed by how smoothly the practice ran.  Everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing at different times.  Looking at the numbers for the different categories I observed, I believe this basketball practice was very efficient.  The majority of the time was spent moving, doing different drills and playing games.  These percentages were very appropriate because this is a team, not a class.  Everyone knew their different roles and what activities they were told to perform.  I don't really see any need for improvement in the area of activity time, because they were active most of the time.  Perhaps the only thing I could think of would be the moving from one place to the next could be faster, but it depends on what the coach needs to discuss and where the players should be.  However, I was very much impressed with how everything in practice went. 

Percentages
total number of lesson time in seconds = 525 seconds
Activity = 71.4%
Instruction = 22.8%
Management = 2.8%
Waiting = 2.8%

PDFE #12 "Self-Requested Feedback"

Extrinsic Feedback: sensory info provided to the learner by some outside source such as a coach or therapist, stopwatch, score, game film, or instant replay, other than that which normally occurs when performers produce their movements, also known as augmented feedback

Knowledge of Results (KR): the extrinsic info that tells learners something about the success of their actions with respect to the intended environmental goal, usually provided in verbal form after the action is completed, indicating something about the degree to which the performer achieved the desired movement outcome or environmental goal

Knowledge of Performance (KP): augmented feedback that provides info about the quality of the movement, such as rhythmic, smooth, mechanically efficient, beautiful, etc.

LAB: Nathan was my partner and he started out with Condition 1.  I was the experimenter and he was the participant that received Knowledge of Results 100% of the time.  After each trial I measured the distance he was off from the target (Constant Error) and reported the distance to him each trial.  There was a one minute break in between the three blocks, for a total of 30 trials.  After the third block, he rested for five minutes and then performed the retention test with no feedback.  I was in Condition 2 and only received Knowledge of Results when I requested feedback.
Results: I requested feedback 15 out of 30 trials.  Nathan did improve during his retention test.  His average for the retention test was .2 mm.  I did not actually improve for my retention test, my average was .6 mm.
Block                  100%                    Requested
1                        .325                        .312
2                        .2625                      .387
3                       .2875                       .375
RET                    .225                        .600

For the self-requested feedback condition, I seemed to have requested feedback after trials that I performed well, indicating a preference for reinforcing correct behavior.

Discussion: Although I didn't see our results match the theory of self-requested feedback, I do believe that only relying on feedback to reinforce correct behavior and judge your performance allows the learner to depend upon intrinsic feedback and only the occasional Knowledge of Results.  This is preferred due to practice and performance settings usually not allowing for constant extrinsic feedback.  I believe one of the reason our results were did not follow this pattern was due to individual differences in need for feedback.  Distractions, the lighting, and the inexactness of measurements could have affected our averages as well. 

PDFE # 10"Stages of Learning"

Constant practice- the learner only practices a single skill and only benefits from a specific association between the value of that particular target and what happens when they perform that particular way

Varied practice- the learner is exposed to many different situations and possible variations of what could happen during that task.  The learner is able to associate many possible outcomes and settings in the environment. 

The Lab- Dr. Epling was my partner.  I started behind the middle marking and threw the beanbag to the target on the ground from a constant distance.  when it was his turn, he started behind the closest, middle, and furthest markings that were various distances from the target.  He threw from the first, second, and third distances and repeated them 15 times.  We alternated and ended up with 45 trials for our respective conditions.  My practice schedule was the constant practice, while his schedule was the varied practice.  We waited after each of our three trials were completed and took about a five minute break, then completed the retention test to see how much we improved and had learned after completing the original trials. 

Evaluation- Dr. Epling did retain more.  The varied practice scheduled was evident of more retention.  His sum for the points he accumulated was 6 out of 10 possible points, while my sum was 1 out of 10 for the constant practice schedule.  Our results did match the theory of practice schedules and retention for this chapter.  Varied practice schedules help a learner generalize the different parameters to one task and enhances our schemas, which are abstract representations.  Since the varied practice learner was able to throw from varying distances, he or she could also throw from similar distance.  The constant practice learner only learned to associate the one distance and the target.  They didn't know how to adjust to different distances. 

Outside factors- distractions such as noise, the bags were hitting the ceiling, the beanbag was not a regular beanbag, all the participants in the class were not spread out and didn't have enough room, injury, and fatigue after a long time after throwing

PDFE #9 "Importance of Early Grades Physical Education"

I believe my background in PE in elementary school was pretty normal, nothing out of the ordinary.  I went to school at Blue Ridge Elementary School in Evans, GA, Columbia County School System.  I think we went every day for about an hour.  We had about 3 or 4 PE teachers who taught the different activities.  I can't remember how many students there were at a time, but I do remember that the gym where we had PE was very crowded.  There were students from many different classes.  The gym was next to the fields and playground area.  It had the normal activities and equipment provided to the students.  We played alot of four corners, four square, and basketball.  We also did hula-hoops, jump rope, and played alot of kickball outside.  I enjoyed everything except kickball.  I learned how to jump rope really well. Our school was very big on Jump Rope for Heart and I participated every year for that. 

I do not believe that the GA requirements for Physical Education in public schools is adequately preparing our students.  With the lack of physical activity that most kids receive at home and the kind of diet they consume, I believe there should definitely be a stricter requirement for mandated PE classes.  I especially believe that the strictest requirement should be for the early grades.  I really wish I had more coordination and athletic ability than I currently have.  I believe that if I had enjoyed myself more and learned more from PE teachers in my past, I may have been able to do some sports growing up.  If we don't start giving more attention to the early grades I don't believe those kids will ever come to enjoy being physically active. 

I think an ideal program would be one in which the students learn a variety of skills, not just play sports every day.  It would be beneficial to learn the movements necessary to perform the different sports.  I believe that's one aspect of alot of PE classes that is seriously lacking.  One that emphasized individual and team activities would also be helpful. 

Physical Activity is very beneficial at this early stage of life, because that's when most kids decide whether or not they enjoy subjects in school.  It also boosts confidence and makes you a more physically fit person.  Physical Education is important at this age because learning the skills behind the sports is often more helpful than just playing the sports.

Traditional approaches to PE concentrates more on the learning of the skill, more practice, and anyone can teach it.  The skill theme has an equal amount of practice, no one's singled out, everyone is active, and it requires a Physical Education teacher that is qualified to teach it. 

PDFE #8 "Stages of Learning"

During class last Monday night, we demonstrated how people move and progress through the different stages of motor learning for the simple skill of tying a bowline knot.  The first stage of learning is called the verbal-cognitive stage in which the learner is first trying to understand what is required of the skill or task.  Although Zach and myself only performed about ten trials for this exercise, I could definitely see the three stages of learning as I tried to learn the knot. 

During the first three trials I was in the verbal-cognitive stage.  I had a lot of self-talk, continued to read through the directions and looked at the pictures provided to understand the details of the steps to tying the bowline knot.  After the third trial I started concentrating more on what I was doing wrong and tried to improve.  I was now in the motor learning stage.  I was performing the knot more quickly and refining the methods I used to complete the knot.  I focused more on the position of the knot and talked less.  I was definitely less frustrated with my performance as well.  After about the seventh trial I moved more into the autonomous stage.  I wouldn't say that I actually reached this stage; however, I was able to finally complete the knot with less cognitive effort and began to remember the steps visually instead of having to read them to myself.  I spent more time in this stage adjusting the tails of the rope and focused on the position of the knot. 

My experience of this exercise definitely matched what the textbook reported. I was frustrated at first and felt very inferior because I couldn't do it.  Until I had someone demonstrate the knot, I couldn't move past the first two steps in tying the bowline knot.  Then I became more familiar with the knot, talked less, and refined my movements.  I was finally relieved when I could actually complete the knot for the first time.  My biggest challenge was the way the information was presented.  I am not a visual learner at all.  I benefit most when information is verbal or presented through physical demonstration.  I felt very inferior and frustrated when I could not just read the steps and figure the knot out for myself.  It really helped to look at what others were doing and to see how my partner was tying the knot.  Although I eventually learned how to tie the knot, I really could never quite become comfortable enough to do other tasks, such as talking at the same time.  Therefore, I could not tie the knot upside down.  I believe that knot-tying is very much a visual task, and I had to find other ways to learn the knot that would benefit me. 

PDFE #7 "Personal Ability Inventory"

Personal Ability Inventory:

Multilimb coordination---2

Control precision---4

Response orientation---2

Reaction time---3

Rate control---1

Manual dexterity---5

Finger dexterity---5

Arm–hand steadiness---4

Wrist–finger speed----5

Aiming----2

Explosive strength---1

Static strength---1

Dynamic strength---2

Trunk strength---1

Extent flexibility----2

Dynamic flexibility---1

Gross body equilibrium---2

Balance with visual cues---3

Speed of limb movement---2

Gross body coordination---1

Stamina---1

Movement rate---3

Motor timing---5

Perceptual timing----5

Force control---5

Five Skills I can perform with relatively high level of proficiency:

1. playing the clarinet
2. serving a volleyball
3. throwing on the potter's wheel
4. swimming the breaststroke
5. driving a car

Ideal Ability Profile for Playing the Clarinet:

• manual dexterity
• finger dexterity
• motor timing
• perceptual timing
• wrist finger speed
• force control

Discussion:

I chose to highlight the skill of playing a musical instrument since I have played the clarinet, along with a few other instruments, for 11 years of my life.  I would obviously categorize the skill of playing a musical instrument as a fine motor skill.  Three of the most important abilities I believe someone should acquire when trying to learn to play any instrument is wrist-finger speed, perceptual timing, and force control.

One of the first skills you acquire in band class is how to coordinate your wrist and fingers to correctly manipulate the small keys that are required to play an instrument, such as the clarinet.  If someone is more skilled at using large muscle groups to perform a gross motor skill such as running track, then they should definitely start slow with practicing to manipulate smaller object with more precision.  Learning slower, more elementary songs with just a few musical notes will definitely help with muscle memory.  Memorizing where your fingers should be placed for different notes is just as much of a cognitive skills as it is motor.  Muscle memory is very much involved with playing music.  Mastering more elementary pieces of music will surely help someone develop wrist-finger speed.  As you master the first notes you learn, you build upon those skills to perform more complex manipulations. 

The second thing I believe to be extremely important when learning an instrument is perceptual timing.  This is a highly cognitive skill that comes much later when learning to play music.  In the context of playing the clarinet in a band, the musician needs to be able to follow the conductor's direction of the musical piece.  Ways to develop this skill include working on music theory, being able to count out the beats, and understanding what the conductor's movements actually mean.  This is a very difficult skill to acquire that truly takes years of practice. 

The last aspect of playing an instrument that takes a great deal of practice to master is force control.  In the context of music, this means going beyond playing the notes on the score.  Musicians are able to evoke certain emotions through the music they play.  Having the advanced skill of controlling how loud to make your instrument sound or what section to emphasize more that others is something that is acquired through practice.  One way an unskilled person might learn this is to simply experiment with how much breath it takes for them to create varying degrees of loudness. 

The only reason my personal inventory matches the skills needed to be highly proficient in playing an instrument is because this is the one skill I have devoted most of my life to learning.  I am highly skilled at manipulating smaller objects because I have had years of exposure to different instruments and am highly proficient at the clarinet.  Most of the skills that have to do with manipulating smaller objects and other skills of perceptual movements are the skills needed to be proficient at a musical instrument.  I've noticed that certain skills I used to be extremely successful with in high school have diminished over my years in college due to the fact that I do not practice as much as I used to in high school.  Breath control is definitely affected when you do not keep up with that skill every day. 

PDFE #6 "General Motor Ability Test Summary"

The pupose of this lab was to demonstrate that no one person has an inborn motor ability that is superior to anyone else's abilities in all areas of exercise.  To illustrate this principle we devided into groups and performed 3 trials in each of the 6 exercises available to us as a group.  We took turns timing and counting for the other 5 group members, therefore we all have a group where we placed last.  There were a couple people who placed in the upper rankings of most of the exercises, but no one placed first in all 6 exercises. 

In the stork stand exercise, Nathan placed first.  Marley received first place in the diver's stand and Katie placed first in the Heel stand.  Nathan placed first in the Sideward leap as well.  We all got first in the Bass Stepping-stone exercise.  This exercise was performed toward the end  of class time; therefore we only did one trial and might have counted the second in between the step incorrectly.  In the book balancing exercise, I placed first. 

Everyone performed in an average range.  Some trials we could hardly hold the stance for even a few seconds, then other trials, it we had to just stop counting because people could hold them for a very long time.  I believe if we had had more time to perform them completely correct, we would have been more precise with our measurements.  Some people in our group were better at a particular exercise which indicated that we do not have a general motor ability that is better than everyone else.  Yes, these results indicate the idea of individualized motor abilities that are not superior in all aspects of movement.  Having more time to perform everyone would have helped with the errors we made.  We could have been more precise when counting.

PDFE #5 "Career Opportunities in Sports Related Fields"

I agree with the majority of the slides presented on the "Becoming Invaluable" slideshow.  Although I am not planning on going into a sports related field, I found the information to basically outline how I handled my college career.  I am planning on going to graduate school in the fall for occupational therapy school.  Some of the aspects I enjoyed learning from the slideshow that I wish I'd taken advantage of during my time at Berry would be my volunteer experience.  I volunteered only at random community events, and instead should have researched rehab places throughout the Rome area.  I did earn an internship position this fall, but wish I had started volunteering at places that would have benefited me as a underclassman student. 

I do believe that as students in today's economic situation, we must make ourselves that much more reputable and attractive to employers and graduate schools.  I was forced to choose graduate school as my next option, because my career choice does not allow me the opportunity to start work right out of college.  Occupational therapy requires a two-year Masters degree.  I do feel that path is the right one for me because of the current economy today.  As a freshman I wish I had started thinking about the opportunities that would have allowed me to look that much better next to my competition among graduate schools.  I was fortunate to find work experience that was quite related to the type of work I'll be doing in the future.  I have worked at a special needs camp for children with disabilities.  I've volunteered at an adult day facility and worked at the YMCA at an adapted aquatics program.  I am thankful I was able to find such excellent work experience throughout the years. 

As I think about the decisions I'm currently making that will hopefully line up the most appropriate path for me, I have to think about the living situation of graduate school.  Where I want to relocate to in the future and the region of the country are definitely important factors when making my future plans. 

PDFE #4 "Career Opportunities in Sports Related Fields"

Interview with Physical Therapist
This interview was conducted with the owner of Rome Rehabilitation Center in Rome, GA.  Her name is Tamsen Beasley and she opened this clinic in Rome about eleven years ago.  She has approximately twenty-five years of professional experience as a licensed physical therapist.  This interview was held on Thursday, September 30, 2010 around 5:00 pm. 

• What degrees do you hold in your field and what schools did you attend?

I hold a Masters of Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Masters in Physical Therapy from the University of South Alabama.  I am also a certified Hand Therapist. 

• What would you say are some of the positive and negative qualities of working in a large hospital setting?

I have found through my experience starting out in a large hospital, that a positive aspect of that setting would be the wide variety of patients that you get exposed to.  There are numerous diagnoses that you learn about and receive first-hand experience working with everyone.  A negative quality of the hospital setting would have to be the politics around the management of the hospital.  Patients are numbers to most therapists and doctors in the hospital and they push productivity as fast as they possibly can.  I would also have less time to develop relationships with my patients in the hospital, which was definitely a drawback for me.

• What is one benefit and drawback to owning your own clinical practice or just working in a smaller setting?

The benefit to owning your own practice is how much autonomy there is.  I am able to have my own schedule, spend more time with my family, and am able to work with patients on a personal level without the interference of management.  One drawback would have to be all of the financial burdens you are solely responsible for as your own boss. 

• Could you explain the main distinction, in your own opinion, between physical and occupational therapy?

It is much easier to understand the difference in terms of an example.  Physical therapists work to help a patient walk and deal more with the scientific background behind neuromuscular challenges such as bone and joint disorders.  On the other side, occupational therapists will teach a patient how to regain function in some aspect of their 'occupation' whether it be playing, writing, job-related, or daily living activities.  Occupational therapists work more on the functional end of rehabilitation. 

• What are some specializations that are available to physical and/or occupational therapists?

Physical therapists usually specialize in hand therapy, sports rehab, and pediatrics.  Occupational therapists can specialize in psych hospitals, hand therapy, geriatrics, and pediatrics. 

• In your field, are you required to get re certified or complete ongoing job training in order to still hold your license to practice?

We always have to obtain 40 hours of continuing education courses annually.  For hand therapists, we get re certified every 5 years, for physical therapists in Georgia, it's every 2 years.  Most of the courses and conferences I attend are very specific research and new curriculum being developed.  I do believe this is a positive aspect of the field, because it requires that therapists still be up-to-date on the research currently going on in the field.

• What direction do you see physical therapy moving toward in the future?

I see the field becoming more of a teaching, educational career and less of a hands-on field.  I predict less interaction with patients and the field will likely become heavily influenced by insurance companies.

• How has your field changed since you first started practicing?

It used to be more of a hands-on approach to working with patients, and now it's become a more professional field that is heavily dependent on insurance companies.  Insurance is definitely one of the problems with providing healthcare today.  In the past, doctors would have some say over which therapist should work with a certain patient, but now patients are usually a number, especially in the hospitals.  Doctors have less control and therapists spend less and less time interacting with their patients.  The co-pays for services are extremely higher today and therapy sessions are usually not one-on-one anymore. 

• What are some of the common injuries you see on a daily basis at your practice?

I usually work with orthopedic injuries of the upper extremities with the hand, wrist, elbow, shoulder, and arm.  I see mostly fractures, with some tendon and nerve lacerations. 

• Approximately how many patients do you see on a typical day?

I usually see 10-12 scheduled patients, but at my satellite office that is located outside of a hand surgeon's clinic, I take walk-ins as well as scheduled patients. 

• In what way has the current economic situation affected the patient load of your business?

Since co-pays are now much higher, patients with little insurance do not come in for physical therapy and insurance usually limits the number of visits they will cover.  I also find it difficult to hire more help and end up usually dividing more work loads between my current employees. 

• Did you learn how to work in your current job setting when you were in physical therapy school or did you learn more through the experience of your first job?

School definitely gives you a fundamental background that covers the basics of your field, but you don't actually learn how to work with patients until you just start working in the field.

Project Meeting #2 Agenda

Agenda for Next Meeting (Tuesday, September 21, 2010)

Introduction/Announcements:  review the minutes from the last meeting, remind everyone of our project topic idea

Old Business:  make changes to minutes and approve them

New Business:  develop a bullet-point summary of project timeline, with dates and completed items of the entire project, start working on the background research, start brainstorming ideas for the type of information we want to include as well as the visual aids Mandi is able to provide from her internship site, have research completed before next meeting

New Meeting:            site-

                                Time-

                                Date-

                                Review what to cover in next meeting-

Final Announcements:  review clarifications of where to meet for next meeting and clear up and questions or concerns

Adjourn Meeting Time:

Project Proposal for Mandi and Bethani

Group:  Bethani Spraggins and Mandi Haroldson

Background:  We are both interested in physical and occupational therapy within the rehabilitation field.

Possible Topic:  Our group would like to present and discuss how these two fields are different, yet the same.  Within rehabilitation, PT’s and OT’s work very closely; however, their individual focuses can be quite different.  We believe presenting information about these two fields, in relation to motor behavior, would be very beneficial to the class.  We could possibly illustrate some of the key differences by explaining the two fields through the use of a case study of an individual receiving therapy.  I am actually interning this semester at Rome Rehabilitation and believe that I could provide visual aids such as examples of common exercises in therapy as well as pictures from the clinic I intern at.  These aids, along with outside research will definitely add something extra to our project presentation. 

*Any feedback is welcomed

PDFE #3 "Movement Preparation"

I decided to attend the Berry Men's Soccer game versus Emmanuel College at 1:00 pm on Saturday, September 18, 2010.  I have always wanted to experience a soccer game, but unfortunately never had the opportunity to attend one of the games.  I've always thought the game of soccer was quite different from a lot of the other varsity sports offered and am glad I had the opportunity to watch one of the games to understand more about the game. 



I observed a couple of examples that illustrate the idea of reaction time in skilled movements in the game of soccer.  When the ball is thrown back into play from the sidelines after the ball was kicked out, there is a slight delay in time before the players get ready to advance toward the soccer ball.  In order to position their bodies in the direction of where the ball is thrown, they must make a quick judgement of what direction the ball is moving toward.  This lag in time before the players actually start moving would be an example of reaction time.  Another example was when I observed the goalie attempting to defensively block the ball coming toward the goal.  The goalie must find exactly where the ball is coming from and move his or her body in line with the ball in order to block the ball and protect his goal.  That slight delay when the goalie must make that decision of where to move toward, would be called his reaction time. 



Soccer is an excellent example of Hick's Law, which illustrates the principle that the more unpredictable an event is, the slower the reaction time will be.  The game of soccer certainly consists of very unpredictable circumstances that require instantaneous judgments that will hopefully lead to an accurate reaction during the game.  The example is observed for Hick's Law was when the goalie moves in different directions when judging where the player will kick the ball.  The breakaway player tries to score a goal and the goalie must decide what direction this player will decide to kick the ball into the goal.  The goalie's reaction time will be delayed the more directions the player tries to aim the ball, thus increasing the options for where the goalie must block.



Psychological Refractory Period was interesting to observe among the soccer players.  An instance that fit this principle was when one player who attempts to fake or psych out another player.  The first player will try and aim and kick the ball one way and then change direction quickly.  The second player trying to steal the ball will have a delay in his reaction of trying to obtain the ball due to his second response requiring a different reaction of changing his direction. 



In order to distinguish between spatial and temporal anticipation, I tried to observe two or three separate situations.  To illustrate spatial anticipation I observed the space in between the players.  When one player does not accurately anticipate the direction that another player kicks the ball, they could potentially block the ball or kick the ball in the wrong direction.  As a result, the second player could start running in the wrong direction.  For temporal anticipation I observed a player kicking the ball with their head and another player trying to receive the ball with their head and does not accurately judge the time.  Therefore the second player could miss the ball.  A second example of temporal anticipation would be when a player does not judge the time accurately, kicks the ball too early, and ends up kicking under another player's foot instead of stealing the ball. 

PDFE #2 "Movement Classification"

For this assignment I decided to attend the volleyball tournament hosted at Berry in the Cage Center around 3:00 pm on Friday, September 10, 2010.  There were 2 games going on at once and I am pretty sure that it was the best of three scrimmages.  I stayed for three of the games that Berry played against Lagrange.  Berry won all three games.



The nature of volleyball would make this type of movement a manipulative movement because the primary goal of the game is to manipulate the volleyball by using your hands to set, spike, and serve the ball.  Just as most sports involve the use of both the gross and fine motor skills, volleyball certainly requires the players to know where their body is in relation to their environment in order to be able to get the ball over the net.  Therefore, they must be able to move their entire body in a very quick, defined manner to cover the ball and play defensively.  On the other hand, they constantly use their fine motor skills when they actually hit the ball over the net.  When the volleyball players get ready for the ball to be set into motion, they do have a distinct stance, knees and back bent.  Those motions definitely require stability in these types of stances in order to control their body and balance.  I'm sure they also stretch their entire body before the game, which also requires defined stability.  I did not observe a definite beginning and ending for the game, so I would probably classify this type of movement as continuous.  One of the most interesting aspects of volleyball that I observe when seeing our lady vikings in the Cage is their ability to communicate effectively with their teammates.  It's definitely one of those sports that requires you to understand who should get the ball and where they should stand in relation to the other players.  Therefore I believe this characteristic of volleyball, along with the hand-eye coordination it demands, definitely categorize those types of movements as being somewhere in the middle of the cognitive and motor spectrum.  I  would classify volleyball movements as having somewhat of a predictable nature, while also being very unpredictable at times.  This is due to it being indoors, yet the sport definitely requiring its players to be able to anticipate the next move of the other players. 



For the two-dimensional systems:
I believe spiking required body transport as well as object manipulation, with quite a bit of environmental variation and context variation because it requires the players to no where their bodies are in relation to the ball in order to quickly hit the ball over the net.  I know in volleyball that the players must learn how to fall correctly in order to avoid injuries.  They usually attempt to keep rolling to avoid a landing that could cause them any injuries.  Tumbling/falling would be environmental and context variation with body transport, yet no object manipulation is involved unless diving, reaching, or trying to save the ball.  Running or moving quickly to get under the ball in order to set it up would require body transport, while manipulating the ball, with environmental and context variation.  The stance that most of the players take before the server serves the ball over to the other side is when they have their knees and back bent.  This movement is definitely more stable, having environmental variation (due to having to know where you need to stand in relation to your environment), but no context variation.  When in their stance, the players' bodies are stationary, but there is the potential for them to have to manipulate the ball when it comes to them. 

PDFE #1 "OBSERVING MOVEMENT"

Today I observed another hour at the clinic I intern at, Rome Rehabilitation. I've become familiarized with the inner workings of this clinic through shadowing the physical therapists there who are also certified hand therapists as well. Therefore, I am given the responsibility of taking the therapists' exercise sheets for their clients' personal therapy work-outs and supervising their exercises.

Today I observed many people and their work-outs; however, for the purposes of this assignment I will concentrate on one client. A man who cut his fingers very badly on a machine in the workplace has been coming to Rome Rehab about twice a week since his injury happened. He explained that it's been about a month now and he said that PT has helped him extremely with regaining movement and function in his fingers. He had a lot of scar tissue around his lesions but was very compliant with the exercises that he was introduced to. Because safety is an important factor in anything, this clinic does a very good job with making sure their clients are at the level where they are able to go ahead and start doing their own personal workout exercises. Where the therapists position themselves in relation to their clients can definitely influence safety. They have a very open clinic with dividing walls of plenty of windows in order to be in one room and still have complete view of their clients working on their exercises. Therefore at any time, they are able to see or hear their clients having difficulty with an exercise or needing assistance.

The activities this client performed were very suited for his injury and allowed him to gradually regain strength and endurance in his hand with a normal tolerance level of pain. It was interesting to follow where he is now in relation to how many sets, reps, and resistance he was able to tolerate in past therapy sessions. The therapists there are very aware of where they need to be and what they are capable of achieving without any assistance. His exercise log records all of his past levels of exercise as well as up to date info of what he attempted today.

I usually ask the client how he feels before and after each set of exercises in order to understand what he should be tolerating. Unless they have some other injury or their preexisting injury starts to influence their tolerance, clients usually increase their levels of exercise each session or every week. Clients were all very active. Occasionally someone might ask if they are required to do all of the exercises, because some are very repetitive, mundane activities. These exercises, while they may appear like everyday things that we commonly take for granted, when you are injured simple actions are extremely difficult to complete effectively. All of the clients I observe are always doing exercises that are developmentally suited for their age, injury, and level of pain tolerance.

Although I already am able to lead the exercises with the clients' that come in, I feel that an important thing I could attempt to do with my time at the clinic would be to develop more interaction with the clients that come in. I believe it's great way to develop those personal relationships and it would allow me to focus on finding out why they are in therapy and how to best serve them. Most of the time the exercises do feel mundane to some of the clients; however, I've found the time goes by faster when you do make it more enjoyable by talking about their day and just getting to know the patients. I believe that Rome Rehab would be an excellent place for all of the people interested in occupational and physical therapy school in the future and am looking forward to continuing my internship this semester.

My Bio

Best of Luck Class of 2010!!!!!

Hey Fellow Blogger,                                       

My name is Mandi and I'm using this blog to post assignments and keep up with my field experience for my Motor Learning class at Berry College.  I'm a senior psychology major and have absolutely loved all of my years at Berry.  I actually decided to graduate one semester early; therefore it's weird that this is the second week of the semester and I am already freaking out about leaving this place I now call home in about 3 months. 

I was born and raised in Augusta, GA and decided to come to Berry when I knew that I could just get lost in some 26, 000 acres...needless to say I love being outside.  I came to school knowing what I already wanted to do, which is occupational therapy.  I really feel that OT fits me because I'm constantly paying attention to the details of everything and love finding the most practical way to to something.  What I love about OT is that I can take my background of music and art and actually use that to help someone out.  You can do a variety of different things and there are so many job settings for OT's and PT's.  I used to want to do PT, but I've always wanted to be the one to show you how to get back to where you used to be in your daily life with the things that make people who they truly are.  I'm really looking forward to being a part of this growing field.  However, I'm so thankful that Berry shook me and said, hey slow down and really explore who you are as a person.  I tend to have tunnel vision and put all my eggs into one basket...when it comes to the future.  I still feel like I'm constantly learning so much about myself and find out where my niche is in life. 

I've had quite a bit of volunteer/work experience in the domain of working with the special needs population; however, I was very thankful to get have the opportunity to intern this semester at Rome Rehab, right up  the road from Berry.  I honestly feel that I've learned more relevant things to me and where I want my life to end up taking me, just in these first two weeks of my last time here at Berry than I have learned in my last 3 years here.  Anyone wanting a internship in whatever your interests are...I would say totally go for it and see what happens!  There's so much out there in Rome that you might not know about while in the berry bubble. 

I have no clue where God's leading me once I graduate.  However, I'm so pumped for this new year to happen, not to mention----scared to death.  Right now, I plan on applying to MCG and the University of Alabama at Birmingham to see if I make it into Occupational Therapy school.  I know it's a long shot, however I am certain that life will always be alright out in the end.  I guess if it's not alright yet, then it's not the end yet.  Who knows, maybe today is the first day of the rest of my life...I'm just the average college student, underpaid, overly stressed, but life's been fun so far.  I think I'm just ready for that next chapter in my book to start........thanks for reading  :)

Welcome to my Blog...

Hello All!


Thanks for visiting my blog.  This blog was designed for the Berry College kinesiology class, Motor Learning Behavior.  I'm excited about taking this class and think it'll be very useful toward my future career.  Any questions or comments are welcome!


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