ChildVoice International, Lukome Center

Suggestions for Future Improvements from an Occupational Therapy Standpoint

Written By: Mariah Anderson and Krista Tippin, February 2017

Daycare
o There is currently a large ratio of children to adults (24:2)
This large ratio can make it challenging for appropriate attention to be given to
all children for both hygiene and educational purposes

o Additional adult supervision would allow for both structure and educational opportunities
to help prepare the older children in daycare for ECD class
Greater preparation for the older children in daycare would make the transition
from daycare to ECD easier on both the children and the ECD instructor

o Suggestions for what to work on with the older children in daycare

Numbers and letters
Stories
Songs
Body awareness

o Suggestions for what to work on with younger children in daycare

Increase physical touch/sensory stimulation and proper positioning for
development (i.e. holding, rubbing back, equal time laying on each side, back,
and stomach for head development, etc.)

Early Chilhood Devleopment (ECD)

o Education for the instructor from an occupational therapy standpoint on different
techniques and strategies which can be used to provide direct feedback and errorless
learning for the students
Hand over hand techniques
Positive verbal reinforcement

o Education on overall developmental milestones and the expectations of early childhood

Vocational and Educational Classes

o Addition of another group counseling session during the week
Currently, having only one group counseling session per week has been noted to
present challenges when addressing topics in a timely manner
When issues do not get resolved or are not given enough time to discuss, they
have to be brought up again the following week, which takes away additional
time from new topics and feelings that have arose

o Body mechanics
Many tasks are done with items working at or below knee level (such as wash
bins on the ground, coal fires at knee level, etc.), which requires the girls to
excessively bend over, having long-term effects on the spine
 Although this is culturally appropriate, making minor adjustments to the
set-up would improve body mechanics and preserve the spine and other
joints in the body
o Examples: elevating the tasks to be at or above waist level (table
level), or using a chair when washing dishes or working with the
coal fire to decrease excessive bending of the spine

Structural set-up of the classrooms can increase the ease of learning

For example, positioning the chalk board directly in front of the tables
and chairs during a lecture will help the students have increased gaze
accuracy when reading the board and writing in their notebooks
o This positively improves body mechanics because it decreases
twisting of the spine and eases vision transitions between near
and far distances (from the chalkboard to their notebook)

Vocational Expansion
o As the program continues to grow, expansion appears to be very sustainable
Adding another vocational class that would do well in the labor market would be
very appropriate
Scheduling time for students to gain practical community experience with
structural support from an instructor would be a great learning experience for the
students who are closer to graduation