When I grow up...

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Since being about 15 years old, I have always wanted to work with children. I spent all of my extra time babysitting, continuing this through college to make extra money. When I got to college I decided to major in therapeutic recreation in hopes of eventually becoming an OT. As I was doing my TR internships I always gravitated towards pediatrics. I was lucky enough to be able to shadow an occupational therapist who worked in a pediatric setting for 120 hours and absolutely fell in love, and fell even deeper after attending camps for children with disabilities. 

This being said, I would absolutely love to get board certified in pediatrics. After looking farther into this, I see that the prerequisites are five years of experience as an OT, 5,000 hours in certification area within the past five years, 500 hours of delivering OT services within the past 5 years, verification of employment, and an application process including a portfolio. I like that this process equips practitioners with the ability to better care for their patients and be an expert in their subspecialty. This is something I can see myself doing and loving when I graduate OT school and in turn making me a more proficient practitioner. 

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