Gettin' real about the challenges

One of the many purposes of this blog is to document this project, the positive outcomes and the challenges.  You have probably heard of the terms "digital natives" and "digital immigrants". Well, in this specific project, I have two audiences I am teaching, the adult participants themselves and the parents of these participants, and both would be considered 'digital immigrants'.  Unlike our youth of this generation, neither of these groups were born into a world so embedded with technology, and therefore there's a much more steep learning curve.  The learning process itself with these two audiences needs instructional steps and demonstration versus when teaching young children, there's a much more intuitive, adventurous approach.  With this population of adults with developmental disabilities, there's the challenge of modifying the learning to meet them at their cognitive level but additionally, there's the challenge of the anxiety and feelings of 'information overload' simply because in most cases, this type of learning is not intuitive.   There are a couple of exceptions to this in our group, specifically our men and women on the autism spectrum with whom technology is a special interest. I am taking full advantage of their knowledge and challenging them to help their peers, but even there lies a challenge.  When technology is easy from their perspective, they don't understand why it's not for others and they lose patience quickly. They may have the skill knowledge, but struggle with the social dynamics of being a mentor or a helper.

As an O.T., I see it as my job to find the "just right level of challenge" when I am teaching new skills. It's one thing to do this in a one-on-one therapeutic situation, but it's another thing in a group learning situation with 18 adults with technology as the subject of learning. I have to consider the cognitive level of each individual, the social needs of each individual, the frustration tolerance of each individual, and most importantly, I need to keep in mind how this project is and will be meaningful for each individual in their own unique way.  I am not accomplishing anything if they just learn to tap a screen, swipe correctly, and open and close apps.  I will only consider it a success when I see each individual apply their learning of this iPad technology in a way that helps them do what they want and need to do in their daily lives. Only then have I done my job as an effective teacher and as an occupational therapist.
This project has challenged me professionally and I love that.