POSTURE MANAGEMENT FEATURE
Thinking outside the box – student engagement Some of our more creative ideas to capture the attention and abilities of our more able students included a ‘ Selfie Station ’, complete with an abundance of props , akin to a wedding photo booth .
Students were encouraged to annotate photos of themselves in either a good or bad posture with various label descriptors , such as ‘ lap strap loose ’ or ‘ bottom back ’.
Students received house / merit points for correctly annotated photographs of themselves in good or bad postures . The photographs taken were uploaded to a rolling presentation screen each afternoon and students enjoyed trying to spot themselves .
Ensuring some of the Good Posture Week messages reach groups of students with more complex learning needs is tricky and continues to be an area of evolving development .
However , some recent examples of engaging this group includes ‘ Going on a Chair Hunt ’ – looking for all the parts to build a wheelchair together , with an emphasis on naming pieces of equipment using the correct terminology .
Example aims for students were around concepts of matching , for example : Do you have a footplate ? Let ’ s check . Or looking towards items they are shown .
Our excellent music director created us a song this year based around the tune of ‘ This little light of mine ’; called ‘ This great body of mine ’. This song was used regularly in teaching sessions , supported by signing and symbol support .
Finally , we always finish a Good Posture Week event by leading the Friday afternoon assembly , which we endeavour to make a fun and uplifting affair . Last year we played ‘ Good Posture Bingo ’ and this year we played a live , interactive quiz .
The format of these was reviewed in the latest Good Posture Week event to make them quicker and easier for staff to use .
Moving on / next steps We finished our fourth event just before the coronavirus outbreak , and this has given us time to think about the next steps for the Good Posture Week project . We are currently working hard to develop a webinar training session for parents and carers of our students .
We hope that sharing an example of our work , something we are very proud of , may give occupational therapists some inspiration for how they can use it in their own workplace settings .
Our biggest learning points were to aim high if you want to instil long-term change and to be prepared to invest time and effort to make it work . A single-event will not have the same benefits as repeated input .
One of our students , when asked if good posture was important , summed it up beautifully with these powerful words : ‘ Absolutely . Good posture now will help our bodies stay healthy and strong for the rest of our lives ’.
Catherine Morse , highly specialist occupational therapist , Treloar School and College , Hampshire . Email : catherine . morse @ treloar . org . ukor visit the website : www . treloar . org . uk . * Please note , the last Good Posture Week event took place in early March 2020 , before any social distancing and mask wearing measures were introduced
Therapy staff and students of Treloar ’ s
Teaching staff During the third and fourth Good Posture Week events , student support assistants were given specific training by therapy staff .
Training covered the importance of good posture , considering it from both physical – protecting hips and spine , avoiding pressure areas , respiratory health , minimising pain and managing tone – and functional perspectives – a stable base is needed to carry out day-to-day activities , such as eating and drinking safely , communicating or using augmentative and alternative communication , being able to participate in class . Training also covered repositioning tips and tricks , with some basic anatomy regarding the pelvis and spine .
Documentation Good posture passports and posters were developed to support this ongoing work by therapists . Each of these documents includes photographs as well as written descriptors , what a good or bad posture looks like for each individual student , as well as key tips for positioning them well .
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