Kids & Careers!
Who would you like to meet? • James: a firefighter engineer • Ian: a provincial police officer • Scott: a county police officer • Sean: a city planner • Dave: a senior software engineer • Kathy: a customs manager • Rosie: an international sales manager • David: a process engineer • Drew: a school department head • John: a director of computer services • Steve: a paramedic • Amy: a physical therapist Kidsnewsroom would like you to meet Amy! Below are the questions (Q.)we asked about her career and the answers (A.) she gave us! Q. How old are you? A. I'm 32. Q. In what city do you work? A. I work in a variety of cities throughout Fauquier County in Virginia. Q. What type of company do you work for? A. I work for the public school system. Q. What is your job title? A. I'm a pediatric physical therapist. Q. At what times does your work day begin and end? A. When I work with high school and middle school students, my day starts at 7:15 am and ends at 2:45 pm. When I work with elementary school students, my day starts at 8:15 and ends at 3:45. Q. How many days per week do you work? A. I work 5 days per week, Monday through Friday. Q. What is your office like? A. I have an office with a desk, computer and phone, but I don't spend a lot of time there, because I'm out serving students at a variety of places throughout the county. Q. What kind of clothes do you wear to work? A. I wear comfortable, casual clothes that allow me to get on the floor and on mats and work with students doing exercise, helping them learn to walk and things like that. Q. Who do you work with? A. I travel around by myself but then work with teachers, teacher's assistants, the adminstration and students from a variety of schools. Q. Tell us about your education and how it has prepared you for this job. A. I have a master's degree in physical therapy which was a 3-year program after college. Once I became a physical therapist, I went through intensive on-the-job training with a mentor to learn more about pediatric physical therapy. I also do a lot of continual training at work. Q. What should a kid do NOW to prepare for your kind of job in the future? A. I would suggest volunteer work with a physical therapist in a variety of settings such as a hospital or an outpatient clinic to see if physical therapy is really something you're interested in. Q. Do you have any other advice for kids who are thinking about having your type of career? A. Practical experience is more worthwhile than a master's degree in this career. The fact that I have a master's degree really doesn't make me any better at the job than the other physical therapists who only have a 4-year college degree. The bottom line is, you need to do well in school, but, more importantly, you need to get experience. Q. What skills or subjects are important to your job? A. You have to love kids, for sure! In this career, you absolutely need to work well with people, to understand kids and how they develop and move. Anatomy and physiology are the most useful subjects to know; you will have to master all of the sciences to get through school. We write a lot of reports to doctors, parents and teachers, so good english skills are necessary, too. Q. What are the top ten things that you normally do at work each day? A. 1. Driving between schools to assist kids with physical challenges such as cerebral palsy or other birth defects. 2. Helping kids with special physical needs learn to sit and walk. 3. Teaching kids with special physical needs to learn new skills so that they can function better on their own. 4. Helping kids with special physical needs to access the bathroom and move from place to place. 5. Helping kids with special physical needs get their shoes, socks and braces on and off. 6. Helping kids with special physical needs get on and off the bus. 7. Helping kids with special physical needs to do modified physical fitness activities. 8. Teaching teachers, teachers' assistants and school administrators how to supervise and assist these children at school. 9. Writing quarterly reports for parents, teachers and doctors to keep them informed of the students' progress with mobility skills in the school environment. 10. Getting special equipment such as adaptive seats, leg braces, crutches, walkers and canes so that these kids can function at school. Thanks, Amy! It was nice getting to know you!