Amanda Griffith

FW LEVEL II
Assignment 3
Rehabilitation Innovations
Supervisor: Dr. Sharon Gwinn

Assignment 3: Describe how your supervisor is helping you develop your

clinical reasoning skills.
Response:
Sharon is helping me develop my clinical reasoning skills by questioning my
reasoning for treatment and evaluation choices I make, providing me with ample
literature and assessments to read regarding topics of pertinence, and
provides discussion time with me if I do not understand something.
First, Sharon will observe my treatment sessions and ask me what certain
things mean. For example, she questioned by MMT score and I gave her the
appropriate answer during the first week. She asks me questions regarding
spasticity vs. strength, order of manual therapy vs. modalities, reason for
doing a certain activity, etc. I like being given the chance to verbalize my
thoughts for treatment, and it also reassures me that I have made or have not
made the correct choice.
Next, Sharon has provided me with visual perceptual, neuro, pediatric,
geriatric, etc. literature to take home and complete informal lit. reviews.
It is very helpful because it gives me a method to double check my prior
knowledge and also re-learn the information while there is a patient I am
treating with the deficit. She also has a hard copy of about every OT
evaluation known to man, so that is SUPER useful when I am trying to decide
which evaluations I would like to administer with my patients. In fact, she
recently took a suggestion of mine on which eval. To use during re-evaluations
with a certain population because she thought I had good clinical reasoning
behind my choice.
Finally, Sharon and I have an ongoing dialogue throughout the day. She has
been practicing for many years and is able to answer all of the questions I
may have regarding my own judgment. If I dont understand something she is
happy to reiterate or explain it in a different way, because she wants me to
be a fabulous entry-level OT.