The Health Occupation Technician (HOT) seniors, in Laura Vendryes class at Niagara Career and Technical Education Center (NCTEC), conducted a Teddy Bear Clinic recently with the Early Childhood Education Class’ preschool.  The intention was to help the preschool students become more comfortable when they interact with medical professionals. 

To prepare to work with preschool children, the HOT students researched and wrote a paper on growth and development of the preschool child.  They applied principle ideas of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and Erickson's Stages of Psychosocial Development.  They created a graphic organizer to visually present these ideas to their teacher. 

The HOT students then collaborated with Mrs. Koeppel’s Early Childhood Education students and planned the stations for the children to participate in such as: injections, imaging, measuring height, weight, etc. and created a patient care form, completion certificates and a parent letter for the preschoolers.  The preschoolers brought in their teddy bears and stuffed animals and participated in the “clinic”. The HOT students at the conclusion wrote a paper reflecting and critiquing both the clinic and the process of preparing this as a group.