Erica Hackelman

Professional Interview

Wyoming Irwin

Professional Interview

For my Professional Interview, I interviewed Horona Russell an Occupational Therapist

(OT) for Redwood Pediatrics. I wanted to interview an OT because it is a potential career path

that I am considering as I finish up my undergraduate studies. I spoke with Horona on the phone

to get a better understanding of the daily roles and responsibilities of a PEdiatric OT. The

paragraphs below are some of the questions and insight that Horona gave to me.

The first questions I asked Horona was about her educational background and the

qualifications she needed to become an OT. Horona has been an OT for over 15 years. Horona

attended San Jose State after receiving a bachelor's in psychology. She then enrolled in SJSUs

masters in occupational therapy program. During this program she took a variety of classes,

including some in Neurobiology and Pre-Med classes. She also mentioned how one struggle she

had while finishing this program and getting licensed.This time was hard because she was not

able to have a job during this time, due to the program and having to volunteer at an OT center.

In addition to this schooling, she also worked towards getting sensory integration certified.

Getting this certification was helpful because she now works in a sensory center filled with

different activities and swings.

Next, I asked Horona about her daily routine. She explained how since she is only part

time and has a family her routine is a little different. On Mondays and Thursdays, she works at

the Redwood Center helping in their clinic. In addition to this on Mondays, she also helps in two

different classrooms with medically fragile children. On Tuesdays, she helps non-disabled

children that are struggling with handwriting. She told me how she likes being part time because
of her family and how it allows her to pick up her two kids from school and still be able to have

family time. She is also able to take Wednesday off to catch up on paperwork and other errands,

Being OT is a good career to be able to have a family. This was a point she made very clear. In

addition to her career letting her spend time with her immediate family, she said how after her

mother had surgery, she was able to help her mom and set her up with everything she needed

post surgery. Having this broad therapy background is something that would be very helpful for

situations like this due to OT being having a diverse education.

I then asked her about if she had any strategies for early detection of children with

disabilities. She responded, After working as an OT for so many years, you develop eyes for

what is normal and what is less normal. When observing children, she looks for the different

movement patterns to see when their muscles and neurological center are moving a different way

then they are supposed too. Being able to detect this is really important, and it is helpful to

know the normal development patterns of children and being able to see what is different.

When asked what the benefits and challenges of working with collaborative partners (co-

workers and parents) are she laughed-- Sometimes they are assholes.One of her biggest

struggles with group work is making sure that both herself and her team are able to meet their

deadlines. Working with parents is a challenge because they are on the team and have a hard

time understanding what disability means. She commented on how this creates a lot of false

anger from the parents that is pointed towards her. This has lead to Horona having more grief

and stress. Instead of taking this grief and stress home with her, Horona has to learn to keep it in

the workplace. Honora also talked about how she is prone to depression and anxiety so she really

needed to learn how to better separate her work from home life when she was starting as an OT.

One example of collaboration she talked about was an activity she did in one of Wyomings
classes. She talked about how her and her classmates were able to talk about their similar

experiences and collaborate together and how much she enjoyed being able to talk openly like

this with others.

One question I was really curious to ask was what advice Horona had to give to someone

who is considering becoming an OT. Horona responded, Visit OT in different setting, Volunteer

at an OT center. Take a look at what different OTs do for different types of therapy. One thing I

really like is how it is a really broad profession so you arent tied down to one area. She then

listed off quite a few different types of therapies that I did not realize OTs were responsible for.

In addition to this advice, Horona mentioned how it is a rather well paying career choice. She

said how she makes around $37/ hour -- which is on the lower side of the salary spectrum since

she works in pediatrics and is only a part time workers.

Finally, Horona asked me if I was considering becoming an OT. I told her how I was

conflicted between this and becoming an elementary teacher. She told me how she likes being an

OT because she feels in a classroom setting, a teacher has so many children, they aren't always

able to notice disabilities or children struggling. One other difference she mentioned was how

she does a lot of activity analysis when trying to help a child. When doing this type of analysis

you are working 1 on 1 with a child, and really spending the time to work on every part of an

activity. This allows you to better see why a child is not able to do an activity, and whether it is

due to their fine motor, an injury, developmental delay or another cause.

I am very happy I was able to interview Horona about being an OT.. I enjoyed hearing

about the benefits of being an OT, and how it seems to be a more financially stable career than a

public school teacher. However, I do not know how I feel about the all the 1 on 1 time she talked

about or working with medically fragile children. One piece of advice I plan on taking from
Horona was to volunteer in multiple different types of OT settings. It gave me comfort hearing

how broad of a career field it can be, and I like knowing that there will be plenty of career

options. Another thing that I was happy to hear was that she is able to work with very young

children. My ideal early childhood job would be to work with infants and toddlers, however I

had decided that might not be a possibility for me. Overall, I really appreciated hearing how

passionate Horona was about her career. This interview provided me with not only a clearer

picture of the roles and responsibilities of being an Occupational Therapist, but also a way of

integrating my passion of working with young children into this career path as well..
1. What is your Educational background? What were the qualifications needed for becoming
and OT?
- Bachelors in psychology
- Masters in OT at san jose state
- Pre reces. She was previously pre med. Anatomy, Physics
- Fingerprinting, CPR certified in order to get License, And volunteering --- good way to
see if that is a good career option.
- Couldnt have a job
She is sensory integration certified

2. Please describe your daily routine

Pediatric OT - Redwood
Works with medically fragile kids in two different classrooms - monday
Tuesday works with non disabled kids on handwriting
Thursday works in a clinic with 2-6th graders for medical/insurance and regional center.
All a sensory center...all mats and swings
15 yrs

3. If so do you have any strategies for early identification of these disabilities?

- Developed the eyes to see what's normal and whats a little less normal
- Look for the different movement patterns to see when their muscle and neurological
center and moving a different way
- Knowing normal development and seeing what's different

4. What do you think are the benefits and challenges of working with collaborative partners?
Some times they are assholes
Within the school you do a lot of group work to learn give and take.
The struggle of everyone doing things on time
Working with parents is a challenge because they are on the team and have a hard time
understanding what disability means, a lot of false anger pointed at me
Took me a while to not take home the families griefs and stress, she's prone to depression and
anxiety and it's hard to balance while being there for families.
Need to take care of yourself Flex it like a muscle
Talked about an activity in Wyoming how they collaborated and all the class talked about their
problems
Organization

5. Do you have any strategies for working with parents or children?

Chose this career to be able to spend time with her kids. She picks them up most days. Good
career for parents.
Suggested to have kids before I go through any Programs, mainly expensive

6. Have you had any challenges in your career that you wished you were more prepared for?
Its been a journey The first 10 years I would run into something every other month and say
what do I do
Look at you as a expert just if you have a degree, felt like she was faking it. Uncomfortable
during this period
It helped to see new therapists come out of school and seeing their creativity is very helpful for
problem solving.

Learning how to have appropriate boundaries with parents. Not taking on their grief and pain
Wishes she could have boosted her self esteem and know who she is is who she is

7. What led you to become an OT? Do you think it was the right path in the ECE field?
She wanted to be an surgeon, engineer and artist, couldnt decided so figured OT did most
things.

8. What advice would you give someone who is considering becoming an OT?
Visit OT in different setting, Volunteer at an OT center. Take a look at what different OTs do for
different types of therapy. Really Broad profession so you arent tied down to one area.

$37/ hour this is on the lower side of, skilled nursing is around $60/hour consultants get around
$120/hour

9. Does your career allow you have a balanced family life/spend as much time with family as
you would like?
Her career helped her help her mom after surgery.

Being a teacher vs OT
More 1 on 1, doing a lot of activity analysis. Sometimes groups
Breaking down an activity to figure out why a child can not do this activity (Home life, Visual
skills, fine motor skills, hurt)
When being a teacher she doesnt think you have time to carve out one child in particular