Re: bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk!

[bobbie silk <bsilk@keller.clarke.edu>]

On Tue, 13 Oct 1998 snewmann@sfasu.edu wrote:

> Bobbie, Are you taking us back to that medical metaphor again here. :)
> stephen

Hmmmm.  I suppose I am--and I'm not.  Some of my own recent encounters
with the medical establishment as well as some of the points my Physical
Therapy colleague made in his dissertation remind me that there's often a
difference between what healing requires and the medical response to an
illness or injury.  (For example, someone pointed out to me recently that
the medical response to cancer is "slash, burn, or poison," referring to
surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy.  While these "cures" may be an
inevitable part of cancer treatment, they don't reflect all that must be
done to *heal* the person and return him to some kind of wholeness.) 

My P.T. colleague made the point in his dissertation that a "medical
evaluation" differs significantly from a physical therapy evaluation.  His
topic is broken hip treatment.  The medical evaluation stops with what is
necessary to stabilize the break and give it the opportunity to heal.  The
therapist is concerned with the actual healing and with returning the
patient to as near full function as possible.

I might accept an analogy between physical therapy and writing center work
before I'd accept the medical analogy.

I think one thing we have to remember about the medical analogy is that
the people who use it--our faculty colleagues and sometimes the students
themselves--is that it serves their self-interested perception of the
situation.  The faculty member wants someone else to cure this writer's
ills so that s/he can be more efficient in grading what s/he thinks is
important (the old misconception of separating content and articulation).
The student may want a "cure" because it implies a "magic bullet," a
simple and painless adjustment that doesn't take much time or tinker with
the student's mind.  Let's face it, in some ways we are very much like
physical therapists, who (according to someone I know with a serious
sports injury) are brutes who force people to do very painful things.

  --Bobbie

> 
> 
> On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, bobbie silk wrote:
> 
> > When Katie told me this morning about the offer of family counseling in
> > exchange for writing assistance, I told her about the unexpected
> > payment-in-kind I had recently. 
> > 
> > I've been helping a member of the Physical Therapy faculty with his
> > dissertation.  At our first meeting he asked me if I was having knee
> > trouble.  (Indeed, I am--sometimes causing a serious limp.)  I said I was,
> > but he didn't say anything else at that time.  Then, at the end of our
> > last session, he gave me photocopies of sheets describing exercises to
> > strengthen leg muscles that support the knee.  He also brought me long
> > rubber bands/strips (called Dynabands) to use to create resistance for
> > some of the exercises.  And he gave me a demonstration. 
> > 
> > Since he responded so well to my suggestions and proddings regarding his
> > writing, does that mean I must give the same diligence to strengthening
> > my leg muscles?  If so, then I'm beginning to develop more sympathy for
> > our most reluctant-to-improve clients in the Writing Lab.
> > 
> >   --Bobbie
> > 
> > 
> 
>