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Lauren Cavender

NUR 276 Fall 2017

09/13/17

Lyle Torrant Reflection

The mental health community is remarkably misunderstood and the fear of the unknown

leaves society shying away from a group of people that need and deserve every bit of care and

respect they can get. I personally have much to learn and was excited about the opportunity to

gain some exposure through our clinical experience at Lyle Torrant. While I expect to move

around and sample many areas of nursing, pediatrics and teaching have always been passions

of mine so as today was a chance to observe a new environment, it was also an opportunity for

me to see a sample of a potential future role for myself. I was able to be hands on with the

children and see the inner workings of a classroom and organization that facilitates the needs of

medically fragile kids. My day at Lyle was very successful and I will value my spent time there

for the entirety of my nursing career.

I was able to join an early childhood classroom for the day of 0-6 year olds, most of the

kids were around 4-6 years of age. My first impression of the room was that it was like any other

preschool or kindergarten classroom I’ve seen, minus a few extra pieces of equipment. I had

brief time with the usual teacher of the class but I worked side by side with the assigned RN of

the room, who had much more of a supervisory role than I anticipated, and upon introduction I

could feel the love and patience that spilled out of her. I reviewed each child’s individual

information sheet before they arrived to feel some kind of preparedness but to be honest it didn’t

help much as each child that arrived differed so much from the next and personalities began to

come out as soon as they entered the room. The info sheets told me every one of the children

were born prematurely, one as early as 23 weeks, and I noticed that a common diagnosis was
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cerebral palsy (CP). Prior to some light research I only knew as much as the name of this

disease told me, cerebral meaning having to do with the brain and palsy which relates to

uncontrolled movements and trouble using muscles. Since I’ve learned it is the most common

motor disability in childhood and it has many different presentations which was very clear at

Lyle. CP is classified by the type of movement disorder involved and the most common type is a

combination of spastic symptoms, increased muscle tone, and dyskinetic symptoms, movement

control issues. As with most brain disorders, improper development is often the cause of many

corresponding conditions such as seizures, visual impairments, and joint problems such as

contractures, all of which were also present in the classroom.

The adult to student ratio was practically one to one which seems entirely necessary for

such fragile children and the collaboration between staff members made the morning flow

smoothly. Each student arrived with their own backpack and lunch box with a set of orders from

their doctor about what, when, and how much they eat. Included with the orders was a list of prn

medications for certain events and a description from the parents about signs to help identify an

impending seizure in their child. One parent also had special requests for their child that day

that were accepted and carried out without question, even though the rest of the children

participated in a different activity during that time. This laid out agenda for each child helps them

maintain a routine while not at home in addition to helping the staff at Lyle support family

centered care, both of which we have learned are extremely critical for pediatric care.

Not only does Lyle Torrant facilitate the medical needs of these children, they also

provide social interaction and educational opportunities for their students to reach their highest

potential. I mentioned earlier that the teacher wasn’t able to be in the classroom full time due to

meetings and a training session, but the brief period she was with the children was spent in

circle time singing educational songs, practicing sign language, and an arts and crafts activity.
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She practiced using motor skills, asking the children to reach out and push a button that said

“Good Morning” and provided cognitive exercises, such as holding two pictures up in front of the

children, one was of themselves and one was of a classmate, and asking them to identify their

own picture. Observing all of these things, in addition to many more throughout the morning,

showed how beneficial organizations like Lyle Torrant are for our community. It is more than a

daycare for these children. It is a high-quality educational environment aimed at helping these

children reach their highest functioning level. An objective of Healthy People 2020 (DH-20) is to

increase the proportion of children with disabilities who receive early intervention services in

home or community-based settings and Lyle Torrant contributes to the potential of achieving

this goal. It is an organization that has worked extremely hard to be able to provide care for

such a wide variety of fragile children and allows them to experience the normalcy of going to

school like other kids their age.

I cannot express the joy that this experience has given me. I believe it has opened a new

door for me that without this experience may never have been unlocked. The thing I am most

happy to walk away with is a foundation for providing care to the mental health community that I

will be able to build upon for the rest of my career.

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References

Jackson County ISD, 2002-2017. JCISD Special Education Services.

https://www.jcisd.org/Page/569.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015. Facts about Cerebral Palsy.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/facts.html​.

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Healthy People.gov, 2014. Disability and

Health. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/disability-and-health.