Critically assess the claim that market research is essential to Essay

Critically assess the claim that market research is essential to small, family owned firms. Do you think that the research aims, methods, tools, outcomes, and e - Essay Example Family owned business market research is usually discussed by the family members who are member of the company. While in big organizations, market research is discussed by high ranking personnel and a team of marketing personnel. We will discuss the importance of market research in a small family owned business. Family businesses have their own special set of challenges. Not only are you in personal relationships with a number of the people you are working with, which can complicate those relationships and those with your other employees, but you also need to deal with leadership roles and how ownership is passed to future generations. (www.smallbusinessnotes.com). Market research deals with the gathering of information, analyzing data and recording. Its uses include helping create a business plan, launch a new product or service, fine tune existing products and services, and expand into new markets. Market research can be used to determine which portion of the population will purchase the product/service, based on variables like age, gender, location and income level. It can be found out what market characteristics a target market has. With market research, companies can learn more about current and potential customers. (www.wikipedia.org). Like any other business the small family owned business needs to have a market research to be able to ... Family members who are involved in the business usually have contradicting ideas and sometimes resulted in misunderstanding because emotions interfere. This is a market research should enters. The family members should put in mind that in market research the success and growth of the business is possible. Market research will also reduce the risk at the earliest stage. Small and big companies start the market research by gathering market information to ensure that they can serve their client by: remaining current with trends, keeping ahead of their competitors and seeking out new markets. Market Research There are several steps that need to be done in order to have a successful market research. The first thing that we need to identify is the problem involve in the company. A family owned company usually have problem in concluding in several things. One of the dimensions that need to be overcome by the family owned company is involvement of emotion during decision making. In a market research it is a waste if you proceed into something without identifying the problem first. Like any other business the family owned business should be able to identify the problem of their business correctly. Market research also helps companies develop information regarding new products or product lines and learn how well new items will be received. It can also help businesses learn how the public responds to a comparable product already on the market. In this way, business can stay in the loop, keeping in touch with the wants and needs of potential consumers. They can halt production of a product that the public shows little or no interest in, or change it, improve it, or

IT Professional Presentation Essay Example for Free

IT Professional Presentation Essay Presentations are meant to be professional with a lot of effort required in the structuring of speech and the assurance of putting across the right message. Professionals in any field or walk of life need to have a good speech which would make them better presenters and hence a noticeable being among all the other employees. An organization has hundreds and thousand and sometimes even more than that employee in number. To make oneself noticeable in the eyes of the one that matter, makes a lot of difference in the career growth. Hard work is something that everyone does but few are those who are able to present it in a manner that enables the top officials to notice you. There are many ways to present and presentations are becoming increasingly common in today’s world. PowerPoint and Flash are the most utilized of all but written means of assistance and even plain verbal speech is also presentation. All these means of presenting are justified depending on the situations and the matter to be presented. Hence, it is not the material that matters to a large extent but it’s what you say right at the right time is what matters. Introduction Information system can be any organised combination of people, hardware, software, communication networks, and data resources that collects, transforms, and disseminates information in an organisation. Like any other system operates within an environment, information system and technology are very important in contemporary business, because they have become a significant component for success in any organisation, such as university, healthcare centre and company. However these are the most important and vital in internet business area because it cannot be managed without information system and technology. In addition internet business can increase their sales and profits by implicating efficient and effective e-commerce which is one of major parts of information system. There are big names that are involved with the IT industry such as the Amazon. com which is solely an internet based company. Other multinationals such as McDonalds are also involved in it despite being a fast food organization. Brief information regarding the two organizations are as follows. Critical Analysis of the Presentations ‘Things they are Achangin-1’ talk about the computer and Information Technology details. It starts off with telling the memory capacity of a computer. The different memories and the capacities that a computer and its hardware has, is explained in the presentation. Along with that it talks about the computer networking and the usage of broadband. It had become increasingly famous and popular in the current years and most of the people in the world have it. ‘Things they are Achangin-2’ on the other hand talks about other energy sources such as batteries and cars and how their mechanism works. These two mentioned sources have also become increasingly important over their years for day to day life. Along with that it has compared their mechanical sources with human body and mind and has talked about the structure of a robotic body. Delivery Channel Strategy ‘Delivery Channel Strategy’ defines the objective of delivery channel which are Projecting and representing the brand defending and developing the active consumer base, obtaining new customers and meeting essential service requirements. It also talks about the benefits of branches, which branches are used more for financial services and why. It explains self servicing and explains the benefits of automated machines which empower the customers. It takes into account the different product used by the financial institutions and their usage. Key Implications of Delivery Strategies In order to have an effective delivery strategy, one needs to take into account all the aspects that come before that as well in order to execute the plan in the most effective manner possible. The following delivery process is explained with an example of Amazon. com, the online trading place. a) Goods, products, ecommerce solution: It started off as a book store with an online presence but later on it kept on adding products in its portfolio and now they have different categories in which they divide their products into such as ‘Books, Music and Movies’, ‘Clothing and Accessories’, ‘Computer Office’, ‘Consumer Electronics’, ‘Food and Household’, ‘Health and Beauty’, ‘Home and Garden’, ‘Kids and Toys’, ‘Sports and Fitness’, ‘Tools and Automotives’, ‘Bargains’ and ‘Gifts and List’. There are further bifurcations within these categories as well which offers further variety to the customers. There services are divided into the categories of ‘Make Money’, ‘For the Community’, ‘For Developers’, ‘For Advertisers’ and ‘Partner Services’. .A9. com caters to the information content requirement which is a search engine present directly on the Amazon. com. (Amazon, 2007). b) Performance and services: The existence of the website over this long period of time indicates its efficiency and the level of customer satisfaction. The website is very well put together so that the customer can easily find their way through to their desired destination. â€Å"Amazon. com, BN. com, and Half. com aren’t getting any complaints at all because they are very simple to use and to understand. Each of these web sites are made for the computer illiterate or just plain lazy† (B2C e-commerce design and performance for Amazon. com, BN. com, Half. com, n. d. ). c) Personalization: The site lay out of the website is also user friendly and it takes no time to find where one wants to go unlike the complicated sites which are hard to browse. It offers the customer to personalize by offering a shopping cart just like an actual shopping mall to create a sense of personalization. They have many products and services and â€Å"different categories of all their items. They also have the option to make â€Å"Your Store,† this is where they store all the information that you like the best and what products you are most interested in† (B2C e-commerce design and performance for Amazon. com, BN. com, Half. com, n. d. ). This gives a sense of individuality to the customers wanting them to come back for a visit. d) Communities and Look and Feel: Amazon. com also offers chat forums for the customers in order to discuss their views and opinions. This is also one reason for the customers to visit the website. ‘Internet Chat Headset Forum’ is one of the examples of their chat forums and virtual customer online communities. The storefront of Amazon. com has been rated high as it offers a number of varieties on the page and also provides clear layout for the customer to assess where they are required to go. e) Incentives: Amazon. com offers different incentives to the customers such as bargains of Friday Sales, Today’s Deals and many more. It offers auctions and personal accounts to give the customers a sense of individuality and personalization encouraging them to visit more often. f) Security Reliability For such sites security is utmost important and therefore it can be said that â€Å"Security and Privacy Policy for these are very well put together and are very private† and one has to â€Å"go through various checks and double checks for e-mail and password verifications. This ensures that the website company and you have the right passwords and e-mail addresses for your privacy and protection. They also have protects programming on their sites to ensure that no one can get you password, e-mail address, and most important your credit card number† (B2C e-commerce design and performance for Amazon. com, BN. com, Half. com, n. d. ). g) Successful achievement One of the many highlighted features of the website is that very recently â€Å"Amazon. com is to Webcast Investor Conference Presentation Morgan Stanley Technology Conference† (Business News, 2007) which is considered to be a huge achievement for the organization along with earning million of dollars of revenue. Another one of its achievements could be the introduction of software called the Amazon S3â„ ¢ which is â€Å"a simple storage service that offers software developers a highly scalable, reliable, and low-latency data storage infrastructure at very low costs† (Amazon Web Services Launches Amazon S3, a Simple Storage Service for Software Developers, 2005). Ethics and Professionalism in the ICT discipline ‘Ethics and Professionalism in the ICT discipline’ talks about the importance of the code of ethics in the professional environment not for one’s career but for the sustainability of its moral values. It describes Ethics as Doing good, Not doing bad, Not screwing people, Only screwing the competition, Letting the competition screw you, Doing things right, Doing the right thing. Key Implications These key implications of Ethics in IT are explained with respect to the example of Amazon. com. For such sites security is utmost important and therefore it can be said that â€Å"Security and Privacy Policy for these are very well put together and are very private† and one has to â€Å"go through various checks and double checks for e-mail and password verifications. This ensures that the website company and you have the right passwords and e-mail addresses for your privacy and protection. They also have protects programming on their sites to ensure that no one can get you password, e-mail address, and most important your credit card number† (B2C e-commerce design and performance for Amazon. com, BN. com, Half. com, n. d. ). Risk Assessment of Ethics in IT Despite the existence of internet over the years, it has still not been able to gain trust regarding the transactions online. Amazon. com along with other organization based online for selling face the challenge of assurance of security to its customers. As for Amazon. com, it failed to provide trust in regard of security to e-commerce project because they did not concern about technical risks. Despite the presence of a huge customer base, a lot of potential customers are hesitant to buy from amazon. com because of this particular reason. However, there is a long procedure regarding the security of credit cards and its personal information which is utilized by many websites present today. â€Å"Many sites that accept credit cards claim they are secure when they have an encryption certificate. This is where you can see the padlock symbol at the bottom of the screen. The encryption certificate encodes the message with the credit card details when it is sent and the organization issuing the certificate (e,g, Thawte or Verisign) verify the business before they issue it. (E-commerce Security, n. d. ). Amazon. com follows the same long procedure of ensuring that the customer feels safe but even then there is a lot of chance of stealth of the information and its misutilization might lead to disastrous losses to an individual. This is the fear that stops the potential customers from entering into the market of internet. â€Å"If credit card numbers are stored on a server they are still potential targets for a hacking attack. Afferent Media protects its server with anti virus and firewall systems. Its ultimate defense though is that it does not store any credit card numbers† (E-commerce Security, n. d. ). Hence, despite the effort, due to technical risk involved Amazon. com is facing the same threat as many other online retailers. Although Amazon. com has developed a trustworthy image over the years but when it comes to monetary losses people are hesitant to take risk as the loss incurred might get too huge to counter. This technical risk can however be countered in order to gain the potential customers that are hesitating at the moment. This can be countered if â€Å"transactions are carried out in real time, in just the same way as an EFTPOS machine. The message is encoded and sent to the bank, if the card passes the checks then funds are transferred directly to the vendor. This is just like when you buy petrol or shop in a supermarket. The vendor swipes your card in and EFTPOS machine, they do not store the card details. † (E-commerce Security, n. d. ). Like every weakness, if this factor is also addressed in its early stages it might not even classify as a problem and may be included in one of the challenges but the more Amazon. com delays it, the more it might lead to disaster and reduction of customer base. It has the advantage that the solution has already been identified, therefore the company just needs to incorporate this procedure in its security e-commerce procedure and keep proper checks and balances over a period of time and the job is done. Once the authenticity of the procedure is verified, it would not be hard for customer to develop trust in the online services. Despite the overall success of the organization, there are still factors that it needs to counter before the issues convert into real threat to the existence of the organization. The security factor is always vital in e-commerce as no customers would want to risk their monetary gains for shopping online. Lean Thinking ‘Lean Thinking’ is a presentation which defines the importance of customers with the help of practical examples taken from different scenarios. It also takes into account the impact of value on customer’s choice and the importance of value in a product. Key Implications McDonalds is a world wide known brand and hence it is famous and loved all around the world for its customer hospitality. A fast food chain, so customer friendly has also made use of the IT sources which is explained as further. The company is a fast food chain across the world known by the name of McDonalds. It is world renowned and is among the top most fast food chains across the globe. It has different kinds of fast foods in its menu ranging from rapid on-the-go burgers to healthy breakfasts and other food items. The organization is known for its quality and variety in food across the globe along with paying its full due to the corporate and social responsibility to the members of the society. Our organization not only is concerned about regular people who are health or weight conscious but also make sure that people with certain individual problems are also given attention to. The entire nutrition information is available on its website and can be completely relied on as it is taken from â€Å"from testing conducted in accredited laboratories, published resources, or from information provided from McDonald’s suppliers. The nutrition information is based on standard product formulations and serving sizes. All nutrition information is based on average values for ingredients from McDonald’s suppliers throughout the U. S. and is rounded to meet current US FDA NLEA guidelines† (McDonalds – USA, 2006). Despite of enjoying the top most notches in most of the countries we are present in; it is made sure that the organization does not lag in its due responsibility towards its customers, employees or the society it caters to which is evident by the brochure of Corporate Responsibility by McDonalds. This brochure is known as ‘The McDonalds USA Corporate Responsibility Brochure’ and another third worldwide corporate responsibility report has been published recently in 2006. It has the ability to adapt to country to country environment and culture. It pays utmost importance to kids and their meals and therefore because of that reason we have specialized meal for children as well. These meals are set with kids preferences in mind and offers incentive such as toy gifts which children can enjoy along with their respective meals. Capabilities and Potential with Risk Assessment McDonalds is known for its customer service and for increasing indulgence in the technology sector as well. McDonalds has some of Information technology involved in its procedures as well as to offer to the customers. As a Manager it is very important to be well equipped and well informed regarding the knowledge of the on-going dynamics in the information technology sector of the country. The advancement of the organization in the information technology sector is indicated by the fact that it offers one of the most novel technologies of the information system which is the McDonald’s Wireless Connectivity. It offers Wi-Fi service to its customers so that they can even bring their work to McDonalds along with enjoying a good meal. Its not just limited to United States which is one of the most technologically equipped country of the world but 7,000 outlets around the globe. We believe in giving the best to our customers and Wi-Fi is a part of it as â€Å"We believe in bringing you innovative and convenient services that enhance your McDonalds restaurant visit, and Wi-Fi is a perfect example. As McDonalds continues to deliver fast and friendly food service at more than 30,000 convenient locations around the world, you can now enjoy the possibility of staying connected with friends, family and co-workers† (McDonalds Wireless Connectivity, 2006). Apart from this, our organization has even stepped in introducing a technology that would bring into use the real time network used by huge and well-known places such as Wal-Mart. In order to manage its hardware and software in different location across the globe, it took help of the Fujitsu Philippines Incorporation to implement a system the system. The system is called Help Desk which enables in the monitoring of the inventory system and the management of the SMS and documents. Due to Help Desk the technical support service now take half the time it previously did. (McDonalds Philippines improves customer service via technology, 2007). Due to high volume of sales of McDonalds around the globe, the manual or low level storing data system is not anymore a product of efficiency for the organization. Therefore, it has moved a step forwards and â€Å"The PC POS system replaced proprietary computer registers that delivered information to in-store processors. These computers are a McDonalds restaurants black box, recording information on operations such as an individual stores total sales for the day, and the number of patties, buns, cups and other products used, and delivering it back to the McDonalds mainframe systems in Oak Brook each night over a modem connection† (Food, Folks and Forecasting, 2006). We as Managers also make use of this technology to place orders to the suppliers for replacement as well, hence making tasks easier for everyone of storing the large bulks of information everyday. The Future of Business Information System ‘The Future of Business Information System’ talks about the consultancy by Dennis Keeling. It takes into account the trends in business cycle, the types of business applications and the industry changes. It talks about different operating systems and system designs and data file structure. Key Implications of The Future of Business Information System The most upcoming trend in the future is outsourcing. Outsourcing is a trend that has recently become very popular among the multi-million and multi-billion organizations around the world. Outsourcing â€Å"often refers to the delegation of non-core operations from internal production to an external entity specializing in the management of that operation† (Wikipedia, n. d. ). There are various functions of an organization that are not the main operations and therefore can be outsourced to other parties such as â€Å"Business segments typically outsourced include information technology, human resources, facilities and real estate management, and accounting. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions, manufacturing and engineering† (Wikipedia, n. d. ). There are several reasons why one would outsource their operations to an outside party, which might include the purpose of exploiting cheap labor in case of third world countries or utilizing the efficiency of specialized expertise in a particular field of work. Outsourcing might also involve reducing the cost even it effects their quality to a slight extent. IT outsourcing helps improve the efficiency of IT department as after outsourcing there is special attention given by an entire group people to only one operation, hence in return increasing its importance and therefore its efficiency. IT outsourcing might also be done due to cost reduction by utilizing brains that are willing to work for less as compared to the human resource that is present domestically. Along with a lot of benefits in outsourcing, there comes a bucket full of criticism as well. The critics believe that outsourcing reduces the quality of the operation outsourced hence reducing the overall performance of the organization. Hence, it is believed that organizations reduce their cost by compromising on their quality and exploiting cheap labor by outsourcing. On the other hand â€Å"proponents of outsourcing believe that arguing that outsourcing leads to lower product quality is pointless because if it were true, consumer demand will force firms to shift back to producing the good or service in-firm rather than out-firm† (Wikipedia, n. d. ). Risk Assessment regarding Future of IT With respect to outsourcing, the possible risk or problems that IT could face in the future are as explained further. There are different outsourcers depending to where they are located. They include three kinds that are outsourcing, offshore outsourcing and offshoring. Although these terms are used as a replacement of the other but their meaning is different from one another. Outsourcing is the allocation of an organization’s operation to another responsible party. Now the difference lies in the presence of this third party, that is, if the third party is located outside the host country, it is known as offshore outsourcing. While on the other hand, offshoring is when an operation of an organization is taken to another country without transferring control to the third party. Hence the difference is of transfer of control to another party, that is, the power remains within the organization in case of offshoring while in offshore outsourcing it is transferred to the third party. In case of IT offshore outsourcing, the main country that receives the majority deals is India due to its IT success in recent years with able IT graduates and world-renowned IT universities present in India. Different problems might occur due to the location of the outsourcer, that is, in case of offshore outsourcing, the cost of checks and balances, transportation, dealing across distances might end up being equal or surpassing the cost cut that is the purpose of outsourcing. Hence, nullifying the effect of outsourcing with the cost incurred for distant dealing. â€Å"One issue offshoring of technical services has brought more attention to is the value of education as an alleged solution to trade-related displacements† (Wikipedia, n. d. ). The foreign location of the outsources in case of offshore outsourcing and the exapanding of business globally in case of offshoring might also be subject to crticism due to the reason that it causes the host country to suffer with opportunities travelling to other countries rather than being available to others. Hence, along with certain positive outcomes, outsources is subjected to a sufficient amount of criticism as well. In order to counter the crticism, it would have to scrutinze itself and remove such drawbacks. Weaknesses in Current Information Technology Capabilities However, the McDonalds journey may be rapidly moving towards the success ladder but there are several pitfalls that have occurred in its Information System and its capabilities. For us as managers, it is very important to identify those pitfalls and rectify them as soon as possible in order to avoid any forthcoming problems or issues. The technological world is an extremely rapidly evolving environment, with information becoming obsolete after a certain period of time. Hence, it is very important for the Managers to take that into account and be on the constant guards to protect their image. Wi-Fi is a very innovative and healthy technology but in those countries that are well equipped to support this kind of technology and the citizens prefer to have it in a restaurant. As per a management’s perspective, to implement it in a country like Bangladesh or Pakistan, where there isn’t much knowledge of technology among the masses, would not only be unfeasible but also irrelevant expenditure. As for the PC POS System implemented, it does save time but being a Manager it is very important to receive the detailed information to further process it for other uses which it failed to do. â€Å"The data that is batch-dumped to the McDonalds mainframe system in Oak Brook every night doesnt offer the detail McDonalds executives needed and, worse, took as long as a week to be compiled analyzed and distributed to managers who would then order more patties, buns, etc. from McDonalds vendors†. Hence, it needs to take that into account as well. Professional Presentations Requirement of Soft Skills All the organization of such calibre are required to have high aptitude personnel in it with the presence of hard skills as well as soft skills. In order to sell your product, one has to make sure that its presentation and the its communication is up to the mark. The more the people are convinces the more is the popularity of the product or service meant to be. It is very important for a professional to possess the skills of speaking well and hiring such professional can be a tedious process but all the effort is worth it. Hiring is a very difficult process; it takes a lot of time, patience, and money. Gone were the days when management only looks for technical skills alone, now, they are more focused with soft skills referring to non technical skills of an individual. What are soft skills? According to Mannering (1998) they are considered to be harder to identify, to distinguish. Ironically, for many managers, the soft skills are the hard skills. Ask anyone who has had to manage change, deal with organizational politics, or build a disparate group of people into an effective team (Holbeche, 2006). Platinum skills are developed through training and delegation, active listening, giving and receiving feedback, and creating a motivational environment. (Topchik, 2004). Companies Who Values Soft Skills Fujitsu Here’s an excerpt from an article â€Å"Hi-tech soft skills† IT Training; Jan2007 Fujitsu Services has set up an international Management Academy, headed by Paula Graham (right), to help IT professionals brush up on their interpersonal skills As they progress up the career ladder, many IT professionals could find themselves at a crunch point. They have been hired and valued primarily for their technical and engineering abilities, but as they become more senior they will be expected to adopt more custodial and managerial responsibility over junior colleagues. But where, along the way, were they supposed to have picked up these managerial and interpersonal skills? IT giant Fujitsu Services is tackling the problem of helping the technical person be a better people manager with a new company-wide experiment in delivering soft skills training at leadership level. This programme is about raising the bar on the organization’s people management skills, adds Jeremy Hill, London-based managing director of training partner DIEU. Fujitsu employees are comprised mostly of IT professionals, yes they have all the various technical skills that needed to become one of their programmers, and they keep on giving other technical trainings in order to stay competitive and knowledgeable on diverse IT trends. And yet, management feels they lack something, they need to brush up with communication skills. Employees needed to be more effective communicators; they need to get their message across clearly with the people they are dealing with. Communication is very essential and powerful tool not everybody has the knock off communication skills, and essentially improvement on this part will have a big impact both for employees and their company.

Placement Reflection With Memory Service Health And Social Care Essay

Placement Reflection With Memory Service Health And Social Care Essay This essay will include an introduction providing an overview of the placement undertaken and the relevant client group who access the service, a critical evaluation of three assessments that have been used within the service, one being Occupational Therapy specific, a discussion and examples given of how risk is assessed and managed within this practice setting, a discussion of the models of practice used, one intervention plan used with a particular client with an analysis of how the interventions were identified and prioritised, appraisal and justification of other potential intervention strategies, identification and evaluation of the impact of relevant legislation upon service provision within the practice setting, finally an evaluation of own performance as a student Occupational Therapist, and a conclusion. The practice placement setting was a city-wide Memory Service situated in North Yorkshire. The Memory Service is made up of a multi-disciplinary team of mental health professionals, working alongside the Alzheimers Society. The service facilitates early detection, diagnosis, and assessment of needs for older people with a memory problem, as well as giving support to their carers. Group support is also provided. Clients who are referred to the Memory Service are generally older adults who are experiencing early-stages of dementia. This essay will focus on one service-user who has been referred to the service diagnosed with Alzheimers Dementia, we will call him Max. The NHS website defines Alzheimers as being the most common form of dementia, which is a group of symptoms associated with a decline in mental abilities, such as memory and reasoning (NHS.uk, 2010) Max is in the early/forgetfulness stage of dementia (Schneck, Reisberg, Ferris, 1982) This includes mild impairment in memory and language, personality alterations, increased depression and anxiety, although there is no significant deterioration in ADL and is still able to live independently, however, it is apparent that Max is in need of some support. Moniz-Cook Wood (1997) suggest that psychosocial interventions are more effective in the early stages of dementia and memory services have great potential to provide early interventions for the service user. Max is experiencing difficulties in certain areas of his occupational performance, such as cooking/social isolation ASSESSMENT Identify and critically evaluate 3 Axs that are/could be used with the client group. The first step toward intervention is to assess the cognitive level of the client. An example of a standardised assessment is the Mini Mental State Examination 27/30 (MMSE) Folstein et al (1975) but in Memory Service the Addenbrookes cognitive examination (ACE-R) is used. The ACE-R is a brief cognitive test that assesses five cognitive areas: attention/orientation, memory, verbal fluency, language and visuo-spatial abilities. The total score is 100 of which Max scored 85/100. The ACE-R is easy to administer and only takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. The ACE-R results can vary depending on the intelligence of the client and their previous education, and also how literate they are. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) was used to find out if Max was anxious or depressed. The results proved that Max was very anxious with him scoring 9/10 anxiety, however only 2/10 for depression which is not significant, therefore this score was discarded. it was highlighted that Max was anxious about beginning social contact again and integrating into the community A kitchen assessment was undertaken with Max and the Occupational Therapist to assess and observe any risks to Maxs well-being. It was highlighted that Max often left pans on the gas cooker and ended up burning them, therefore setting off the smoke alarm, worrying the neighbours. The unstructured observational assessment took place in Maxs kitchen at home which is a familiar environment and in keeping with his daily routine. Max decided to cook scrambled egg on toast as he felt comfortable making this. At the time the Occupational Therapist was also asking Max questions relevant to his daily routine and cooking, therefore also making it an informal interview. Although unstructured assessments cannot provide the reliability that structured assessments can, Kielhofner (2002) mentions several reasons that can justify the use of unstructured assessments, such as, to add to information previously gained through a structured assessment, lack of time, unacceptability of structured assessment by a client, lack of an appropriate structured assessment. The negative points of carrying out a kitchen assessment are that quite often each client has a certain time of the day when they may function a lot better, Jack functions well around midday once he has taken his pain medication for arthritis and he is more able to focus on tasks. The client may also know that they are being assessed and may do things differently to how they would if they were alone. The evidence gathered from these assessments showed the Occupational Therapist that Max is only slightly cognitively impaired and is still able to function relatively well and therefore it is important to support Max as much as we can in his own home. Discuss relevance of risk AX and provide examples of how risk is assessed and managed Risk assessment and management is an important part of professional processes in Occupational Therapy practice. Legislation and policies have been implemented to guide practice such as Alzheimers Society The risk profile section of the Functional Assessment of the Care Environment (FACE) assessment and outcomes system (Clifford, 1999) is used to allow the Occupational Therapist to assess and document any clinical risk that an individual may pose. FACE provides outcome data that enables a patients progress to be followed and also compared with other individuals. The FACE risk profile comprises of a front sheet that summarises a patients contact details, and ratings of risk which are placed on a five-point scale ranging from 0=no apparent risk, through to 4=serious and apparent risk. The second sheet is a checklist of historical and current indicators of risk grouped into categories e.g. clinical symptoms indicative of risk and treatment-related indicators of risk. The third sheet comprises free text boxes where a description of the specific risk factors, both current warning signs and risk history, can be fully describes and individualised for the patient. The fourth sheet comprises r elapse and risk management plan which can be specified and tailored for an individual. Some specific events from Maxs past were documented: Social isolation and exclusion. Max hardly ever left the house apart from to do a weekly shop on a Saturday morning; his wife died two years ago and has since been living alone. Max had very few leisure interests apart from painting, and there was no close family support. As the course of Alzheimers progresses, the global function of individuals with Alzheimers decline. (Kuo, 2009) Max may therefore become increasingly unable to look after himself which could pose a risk in the future i.e. self-neglect? Thom and Blair (1998) describe the role of Occupational Therapy in identifying actual risks to the individual through the use of functional assessment based on observation and interview. (MENTION ABOVE AX) It was observed that Max has limited mobility due to arthritis in his knees, this poses a physical risk of falls. Max is aware of his limited mobility, however does not walk with a stick unless outside as he feels a stick inside is a hindrance. All loose rugs have been removed and the access to Maxs house is flat. He is aware of falls prevention techniques but has requested a pendant alarm from Telecare, as he feels this is appropriate in case he has a fall at home. The furniture is placed so that Max can use this as an aid for walking from the lounge into the kitchen if he feels the need. It was also highlighted that there was a risk operating household appliances safely after the Occupational Therapist carried out a kitchen assessment with Max. It was noted that once Max had started cooking he left the pans on the hob and went off to watch television because he got bored and then consequently forgot about the pan. From the kitchen assessment the Occupational Therapist was able to intervene and reduce the potential risk by suggesting Max engage himself in an activity in the kitchen whilst the food was cooking. Therefore Max could watch over the food but also read a newspaper, or do a jigsaw puzzle to keep himself entertained. Explore application of a model of practice and a therapy approach that were/could be used The Model of Human Occupation (Kielhofner, 1995) is founded on the belief that meaningful occupation is central to our well-being and that human occupation can best be understood as a dynamic system. (Duggan, 2004) This looks at physical and social environments, habituation, skills, and personal causation. As dementia is a progressive disease, the physical environment may become less accessible. Dementia may also cause disorientation, making it harder for the individual to make their way around places they are not familiar with. Occupational Therapists focus on Occupational performance, therefore we are interested in how individuals function on a day-to-day basis with their work, leisure, domestic life, and personal care. We follow a person-centred approach A person-centred and holistic approach.; A holistic approach:leisure, personal care and occupation in relation to the physical, psychological, social, economic spiritual aspects of life, (Reed Sanderson, 1992) Creek, 2002. Kitwood describes: Personhood promotes older people as having the same basic rights to dignity, privacy, choice, independence fulfilment as people of any other age group. Social interaction will help maintain well-being (Kitwood Bredin, 1992), preventing deterioration of mental function. People in a state of well-being are active occupationally engaging by nature (Turner, 2001). . INTERVENTION PLANNING Provide 1 intervention plan which you have implemented and justify this with evidence and clinical reasoning Following Maxs assessment, an occupational strengths and needs list was drawn up for Max and from this an intervention plan was made based on Maxs desired aims, including long-term goals. Goals are targets that the client hopes to reach through involvement in occupational therapy (Creek, 2002, p.129) STRENGTHS NEEDS Insight into condition Socially isolated although Max is very easy to get on with Enjoys drawing/painting-expresses interest in joining a local group Lost wife 2 years ago-feels as though he has lost his role in life Physically functions quite well apart from arthritic knees Burnt Pans Identifies positive qualities: kind, talkative, sense of humour Appears anxious about social involvement Prioritising the plan involved negotiating with Max and other members of the mental health team e.g. community support team, and making sure that Maxs goals were realistic in terms of being achieved within the 6 weeks. Cox (2007) states that symptoms of dementia can significantly disrupt a persons ability to set or meet realistic goals, therefore it is important to make sure each goal is achievable within the six weeks. By prioritising which goals Max wishes to achieve first this highlights the use of a person-centred approach, although risk factors must be taken into consideration e.g. Maxs top priority is to be able to make an evening meal safely and independently without burning pans, this is obviously a potential risk to Max and should be carried out with a member of the mental health team first. To meet the following goals, SMART (specific, manageable, achievable, realistic and time specific) objectives were also established. Long-term goal 1 Max to make some of his historically favourite meals safely and independently. Week 1: Max and the Occupational Therapist will meet on Monday morning at Maxs house, to discuss the risks of cooking with a gas cooker and write these down. Week 2: Max and Occupational Therapist to discuss whether Max would like some reading material in the kitchen to engage Max whilst his meal is cooking, therefore allowing Max to be occupied but also to check his food regularly to prevent burning pans and potential fire hazards. Week 3: Max and Occupational Therapist to walk to the local shop on Monday morning, to gather ingredients for the meal Max has chosen and Occupational Therapist to write down basic instruction for making of the meal. Week 4: Max and Occupational Therapist to make the meal together at 5.30 pm on Tuesday, using the gas cooker and ingredients that were previously bought Due to the nature of dementia, cognitive abilities decrease over time, the environment must be adapted accordingly. People with dementia may be unable to learn new skills; however old skills and habits remain deeply ingrained, and these can be used long into the disease Basic Living skills can be of more purposeful and value to the older person than leisure, PADL skills have been found to be important in the goals of treatment with early onset dementia as they value their independence, dignity privacy (Willard Spackman, 2001) It is important to facilitate plenty of praise and encouragement, through positive reinforcement. It is easier for Max to complete a cooking task when it is broken down into sections, so putting out the ingredients on the worktop in the order they need to go in the pan. Achieving only one or two steps of a task may help to give Max a sense of achievement. Max has a short attention span and finds it hard to remember instructions, so writing down a list of short instructions on how to make his favourite meal will facilitate him in the cooking process. When making the meal for the first time the Occupational Therapist gave tactful verbal reminders and simple instructions to encourage Max. Long-term goal 2 Max will attend creative community based activities and social groups every week for 10 weeks. Max is a friendly and sociable person once he is around people, and he shows a strong interest in art and has many paintings around the house. Aims of the art group: to meet new people and develop social interaction through art work. Week 1: Provide Max with information about his local neighbourhood network, available Memory Service groups, and provide transport information so that Max can attend. Week 2: Accompany Max to attend a local art gallery, and establish a therapeutic relationship with him. Allow Max to socialise with other people at the Art Gallery and start to build up his confidence whilst getting him to talk about his favourite interest. Week 3: Support Max to access the service for the first time; attend a Memory Service lunch club on a Wednesday morning for two hours accompanied by the Occupational Therapist. Week 4: Max to attend a local Memory Service Open Art group for service-users once a week on Monday morning for two hours for 10 weeks. Week 5: Max to continue attending the open art group and aim to achieve a higher level of occupational performance, by grading activities. For an occupation to have any therapeutic benefit it must have purpose, value and meaning to the individual (McLaughlin-Gray, 1998). For Max, this is taking part in Art based activities, in his past he was a strong artist and spent most of his free time outside painting, therefore attending a local art group with similar people with memory loss this is an ideal chance for Max to express his creativity and becoming more socially integrated into the community. It is important that we find out what Max wants to do and what he would enjoy, otherwise there will be little therapeutic benefit. This is an example of Person-centred care: we look for the client to lead us into an understanding of what is good and right for them. Perrin May (2000, p.77) Research is beginning to indicate the value of providing educational and supportive memory groups for people in the early stages of dementia. This can be seen as a cost effective, successful intervention that provides an alternative treatment for people in the early stages of dementia (Knapp, 2006) When looking at the College of Occupational Therapists online dementia clinical forum, there was evidence by Graff et al, 2006, for community based occupational therapy for people with dementia and their caregivers. It found that ten sessions of community occupational therapy over five weeks improved the daily functioning of patients with dementia. Creative activity in groups has also been shown to reduce depression and isolation, offering the power of choice and decisions. Non-verbal therapy methods, such as painting, are able to influence the well-being of the patients positively. (Hannemann,2006) The role of the OT with general goals is in promoting occupation, health well-being taking into consideration that dementia is progressive when making intervention plans (Pedretti, 2001). Analyse how the interventions implemented were identified and prioritised Appraise and justify other potential intervention strategies Another potential intervention strategy was to install Just Checking, a web-based activity monitoring system that provides a chart of daily living activity via the web, allowing the Occupational Therapist to track (via sensors in each room) where the individual has been, for how long, and at what time. A Just Checking system could be used for Max to establish his daily routine and activity levels during the day/night. Max states that he is anxious and sits on the sofa most of the day, Just Checking can monitor what he gets up to on a daily basis for 2-3 weeks and then the Occupational Therapist can be sure that the care plans and interventions that they put into place are based on objective information, rather than on supposition. They can be confident that the plan more closely meets Maxs needs. It may highlight that Max needs extra support which can be provided by the Community Support Team. It was suggested to Max that he try a dosset box for his daily medication, as it was noted that Max was not always compliant with his medication. However, Max refused this idea as he was happy taking his medication from the packet, and he felt that a dosset box would upset his daily routine. Another suggestion for Max could be for him to keep a diary so he can note down everything that is important like taking medication at a certain time, and attending any necessary appointments. The Occupational Therapist also gave Max some information about a Reminiscence group that is starting in the New Year. On nearly every visit Max would get round to talking about his past or photographs that he had on the wall, so it seemed like a good suggestion for Max to attend this group. When searching the Cochrane Library database, Woods et al (2005) looked at the effects of reminiscence therapy for older people with dementia and their care-givers. The results were statistically significant for cognition (at follow-up), mood (at follow-up) and on a measure of general behavioural function (at the end of the intervention period). The use of reminiscence therapy with people with dementia has been linked with improvements in behaviour, well-being, social interaction, self-care and motivation (Gibson 1994) Although there is little specific evidence for the effectiveness of reminiscence in dementia care (Carr, Jarvis and Moniz-Cook 2009) Max has expressed an interest in joining because he feels as though he would gain some therapeutic benefit being able to talk about past events with people of a similar age and with memory problems. The Cochrane review concluded that there was inconclusive evidence of the efficacy of reminiscence therapy for dementia. However, taking studies together, some significant results were identified, including improvements in mood and cognition, lessening of care giver strain and improved functional ability. No harmful effects were identified. Identify and evaluate the impact of relevant legislation, health and social policy and clinical guidelines upon service provision overall It is important that Occupational Therapists have a clear set of principles to work alongside when working with a person with Dementia. Also it is important to follow the Codes of Ethics and Professional Conduct (COT, 2010) The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) is underpinned by 5 guiding principles which all staff must follow These are an assumption of capacity supporting people to make their own decisions people have the right to make eccentric or unwise decisions where someone lacks capacity staff must act in the persons best interests where someone lacks capacity any action we take on their behalf must generally be the least restrictive option The National Dementia Strategy for England (DoH, 2009a) is a five-year plan which has three main aims: to ensure better knowledge, to ensure early diagnosis and to develop services. The strategy has put a focus on improving support for this large and growing group of people. It sets out a vision to raise the standards of care for people with dementia and is of great significance to Occupational Therapists working in the Memory Service. Occupational therapists can ensure that both the clients and their carers have a better understanding about the impact of dementia. Occupational Therapists working in the Memory Service get to see clients performing various activities that are directly or indirectly affected by memory and other cognitive functions through observation and assessment and are, therefore, able to identify early signs of cognitive impairments and raise awareness about the functional implications of memory and other cognitive impairments. In the UK, the National Service Framework for Mental Health (DoH, 1999) has been the main guide for how services should be run. It is now being replaced by the New Horizons strategy (DoH, 2009b), which aims to promote good mental health and well-being whilst improving services for people who have mental health problems. Occupational Therapists need Includes early intervention: to improve long-term outcomes, personalised care: ensuring that care is based on individuals needs and wishes, leading to recovery New Horizons sets out an intention across a wide range of agencies to move towards a society where people understand that their mental well-being is as important as their physical health if they are to live their lives to the full. It describes some of the factors that affect well-being and some everyday strategies for preserving and boosting it. It is important that Occupational Therapists specialising in the field of dementia ensure that they have a copy of the National Service Framework for Older People and use it a guide for the minimum level of service provided. EVALUATION Analyse how evaluation of interventions was completed Analyse your own performance as a student OT Having completed this 7 week placement I feel as though I have grown in confidence and learned so around the field of Dementia. I have had the chance to observe and assess many people with different diagnosis of dementia and every single person has been different and unique, with different goals they want to achieve and what they wish to receive out of the service. I have learned that communicating with a person with dementia can be a slow process, it is important to be able to actively listen not only to the service-user but to the carer as well as they provide so much valuable information and they are usually so much involved in the care of the service-user. Reflective practice has been identified as one of the key ways in which we can learn from our experiences. It helps to develop knowledge and skills towards becoming professional practitioners. (Jasper, 2003)  Ã‚   It is important that as a student Occupational Therapist I learn from my experiences on placement in order to understand and develop my practice, this involves consciously thinking about things I am doing, actively listening and making decisions. From what I have observed I can then start the reflective process and describe the experience and analyse it. I used Gibbss reflective cycle (Gibbs, 1988) that consists of six stages of the reflective process and asks cue questions to prompt the memory. CONCLUSION Provide summary of key points Every individual has certain strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, emotions and habits, needs and preferences, and this makes them unique. People with dementia are often denied these things as their disease progresses, therefore it is important to try and maintain as best as possible the individual characteristics that makes up that person. As Occupational Therapists we need to acknowledge the uniqueness of the person and realise that even if they have dementia they are still living their life. Structure and predictability are important aspects of the environment in which people with dementia live. Summarise how the interventions improved or maintained health and well being for the individual Brooker p.44 (2007) states that It is important to and appreciate that all people have a unique history and personality, physical and mental health, and social and economic resources, and that these will affect their response to dementia. There is good evidence that people with dementia can learn, and respond to their environment, and through groups they can experience an improvement in the quality of life. It may not be possible to reverse the effects of dementia, but some of the major difficulties for Dementia sufferers are caused by under-stimulation, withdrawal, depression, and anxiety, and these can be reduced. This can make a real difference to the person. Max has lost his motivation and he was anxious about leaving the house and becoming socially involved again because of his memory deficits and it took some gentle persuasion to get him involved again. However, the Occupational Therapist described to Max what was going to happen, and what he would be doing, and reminded him when to attend the group sessions so he did not need to worry. The Art Group is a closed group, and the same people meet for a number of sessions and they get to know each other and become familiar with the routine of the group. This is good for Max as he is able to make some new friends, return to a familiar environment each week, and start to establish a routine. The leaders of the group get to know the members and are able to plan activities according to each member. Max expressed a strong interest in watercolour painting, and the art group leader was able to accommodate this. The achievement of leisure goals helped Max to sustain his self-esteem and morale.

Robinson Crusoe :: essays research papers

Robinson was a young man of 18 and had a dream to be a sailor. He asked his father for permission. His father thought that he should stay home and take over the family business or study law. Robinson asked his father again to let him have just one sail. His father disapproved once more. One afternoon a shipped sailed in from the harbor. The captain of the ship was one of Crusoe’s friend’s, father. The captain invited Crusoe on a voyage to the English coast and he couldn’t resist. Crusoe ran away. He was very seasick. Soon after he set off on his second voyage. Here he would travel to the coast of Africa. He learned how to trade with the natives. On one of his voyages he was ship wrecked and picked up by another boat. The captain owned a plantation. Soon after this Crusoe bought his own plantation. When other plantation owners needed slaves to work their farms they asked Crusoe to sail to Africa. Crusoe agreed and set sail. On the way there they ran into many stor ms. Three men were killed very soon. The twelfth day was a hard one. The biggest storm hit. Its waves were giant. The ship was in very bad shape and Crusoe had to abandon it. He and the other sailors loaded into the small boat and paddled to land. All of the sudden a titanic wave crashed onto the boat. It drowned everyone but Crusoe. He was lucky to be alive. When he got the strength to walk again he found himself a safe place to sleep for the night, which was between to limbs a big tree. When he awoke the next morning he went he decided to salvage some stuff from the boat. There were so many things on the ship he had to build a raft to carry them back to land. He found carpentry tools, artillery, clothes, nails, and food. When he was on his way back a current started to pull him away from the place were he had landed. It was a creek. It pulled him to a perfect spot to unload his stuff. Crusoe found a great place to build a fort were he could see if any ships came and to protect him from any other sorts wild of beasts. Soon he learned that he should keep a calendar. He stood up a post in the sand.

Parental Corporal Punishment

In different households across the nation many parents spank, whip, swat, or paddle children in order to punish them for doing wrong or to act as a buffer against unacceptable behavior. These types of actions are acts of corporal punishment. Researchers Abraham Andero and Allen Stewart of Alabama State University define corporal punishment as â€Å"a discipline method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in response to a child’s unacceptable behavior† ( Andero and Stewart 90). Proponents of corporal punishment argue there is no harm in using corporal punishment in order to correct a child’s behavior. Corporal punishment is a controversial subject among parents, teachers, and the medical community. It is agreed among researchers that children should be disciplined for their improper behavior; however, corporal punishment is an unacceptable disciplining tool because it teaches children to use violence, causes physical and psychological damage, and there are other ways to discipline a child besides corporal punishment. Corporal punishment teaches children to use acts of violence against their peers or other members of society. Douglas Fry, a well- known anthropologist, noted that â€Å"Psychological research shows that parents or adults that use physical punishment, there is a tendency for recipient child to imitate the adult and act aggressively† (Fry 53). Fry conducted an observation on children ages three to eight years from two different communities: La Paz and San Andres. Fry recorded data on the children’s fighting and play fighting behavior. The results of his study concluded that the children of La Paz had lower levels of serious aggression and play aggression than the children of San Andres. The reason the children of La Paz had lower levels of aggression was because their parents used nonviolent techniques to discipline them (Fry 51-54). The conclusion of this particular study coincides with the social learning theory. Researchers Jennifer Lansford and Kenneth Dodge, in a similar study of cultures concluded that â€Å" the more frequently a society employs corporal punishment of its children, the more prevalent adult violence is at a societal level and the more adults endorse the use of violence† (Landsford and Dodge 265). Children are committing more and more violent crimes every day and some studies have shown a link between children that are physically disciplined and children who use violence against each other. Lansford and Dodge also noted that â€Å"an individual could become violent later on in life if their parents condone violence† (265). Parents need to be especially mindful of their behavior because children tend to model their parent’s behavior. Parent’s attitudes concerning corporal punishment can affect how their children behave. A phone interview was given to 134 parent child dyads. The children that were interviewed ranged in ages from 10 to 13. The parents were asked questions in reference to their parenting style, their mental health, and questions in relation to their over all relationship with their children. The children were asked questions about being bullied and being involved in fights and how well they interact with their parents. The findings of this surveyed revealed forty percent of parents interviewed admitted that they would tell their child to defend themselves if they were hit or pushed. Two out of three children reported that they would fight another student if they became angry enough. The survey also revealed that children whose parents physically punished them had higher instances of fighting and bullying within their last school term (â€Å"Parents† 3-4). Parents are wise to tell their children what their expectations are regarding violence and children need to be taught how to handle conflict in a nonviolent manner. Advocates of corporal punishment rarely seem to take into account the physical and psychological damage incurred to children who have been physically punished. The most obvious damage done is that which can be seen by the eye. Often times, when a parent administers corporal punishment, they are angry and allow his or her emotions to get the best of them. Some parents do not know when to stop hitting their child. Elizabeth Gershoff, a researcher from Columbia University, notes in one of her studies that â€Å"if corporal punishment is administered too frequently or severely it can lead to child abuse† (Gershoff 542). Unfortunately the child suffers the most from being hit out of anger and frustration. Lacerations, cuts, welts, and discoloration of skin can be visual effects of corporal punishment. While more attention maybe given to the physical effects of corporal punishment, in no way should we not be cognizant of the psychological effects of corporal punishment. The psychological effects are not as visible and noticeable as the physical effects of corporal punishment. Although there is no definite clear cause and effect evidence, many psychologists find correlations strong enough to find that corporal punishment causes lasting harm such as low-self esteem, depression, and even suicide. Researchers at Old Dominion University conducted a study of 274 undergraduate students that concluded â€Å"respondents who experienced the highest level of physical punishment in their families of origin reported higher family conflict†¦greater family worries†¦more depressive symptoms†¦and more negative social relationships† (Leary, et al. 1). Similar research has also shown that children who have been physically punished can also show signs of stress. Researchers from the University of New Hampshire concluded that â€Å"receiving physical punishment from a parent is likely to be stressful† (Mulvaney and Merbert 390). The stress incurred to children can lead to â€Å"mental health disorders†¦including decreased emotion processing† (Mulvaney and Merbert 390). The stress can be overwhelming to a child and the affects of the stress can have a negative impact leading into adulthood. There are alternative methods to discipline a child besides corporal punishment. These methods will not cause physical harm and can be quite effective. One way to discipline a child is to â€Å"tolerate or ignore the behavior† with the hopes that the child will change his or her unwarranted behavior (Fry 23). Dr. Waterston, a pediatrician, recommends timeout which means â€Å"to withdraw attention for a period of time† and is â€Å"effective in increasing compliance† (Waterston 261). This method of discipline usually works well with younger children. The effectiveness of timeout depends on if it is used â€Å"consistently†¦for an appropriate duration†¦not excessively† (American† 725). A type of punishment that is more appropriate for older children is to remove privileges or deny them the right to participate in their favorite activity. In order for this type of discipline to be effective it is recommended that â€Å"a valued privilege or reinforcer is removed† (â€Å"American† 725). For example, instead of lashing Little Johnny with a belt because he talked back to his teacher, a parent could instead deny Little Johnny the right to attend the movies with his friends on Friday night. Denying Little Johnny the right to attend the movies with his friends will probably hurt him more than the lash of a belt. Parents can also use verbal reprimands as a form of discipline. Parents need to be especially careful of how they verbally reprimand their children, or this form of discipline can lose its effectiveness. The American Academy of Pediatrics explains that â€Å"verbal reprimands should reference the undesirable behavior and should not slander the child’s character† (â€Å"American† 725). It is best that parents are not fueled by anger when employing this type of discipline. The subject of corporal punishment will continue to be a debated topic. There are parents, doctors, and teachers that see no harm in parents using corporal punishment to discipline their children. Physically punishing a child teaches them to use violence as children tend to learn by example. Physical punishment affects children physically and psychologically which could causes problems as they enter adulthood. Clearly, there are other methods to discipline children which can be effective and will not cause harm to children. Ultimately, it is the parent’s choice whether or not they want to use corporal punishment as a disciplining tool. As more research is conducted on the effects of corporal punishment, hopefully parents will learn through education and awareness that corporal punishment is an unacceptable discipline tool.

Early History Of The Celts Essays - Celtic Studies, Celts

Early History Of The Celts Essays - Celtic Studies, Celts Early History Of The Celts INTRODUCTION The Ancient Celts were not an illiterate people, but they transferred their knowledge orally. They had an alphabet of twenty letters called Ogham. Each letter was named after a tree from the land where they lived. Ogham was used on standing stones, primarily on graves and boundary markers. The primary sources of information about the Celts are, in that light, the texts written by the Romans who were in touch with them and Christian monks, who lived in Irish monasteries in the Middle Ages. Caesar, Livy and Tacitus, wrote about their contemporaries who lived in a way different than themselves and therefore were considered barbarians, but even though they did not have a positive attitude towards them, they still left some useful information about Celtic society, religion, way of life, and so on. One of the problems that arise from this is that many things in these writings are romanised, e.g. Caesar interprets Celtic gods and calls them by the names of their Roman equivalents: They worship as their divinity, Mercury, in particular, and have many images of him, and regard him as the inventor of all arts, they consider him the guide of their journeys and marches, and believe him to have great influence over the acquisition of gain and mercantile transactions. Next to him they worship Apollo, and Mars, and Jupiter, and Minerva; respecting these deities they have for the most part the same belief as other nations: that Apollo averts diseases, that Minerva imparts the invention of manufactures, that Jupiter possesses the sovereignty of the heavenly powers; that Mars presides over wars. The second type of sources are the books written from 6th - 13th century on by Christian monks in Ireland and Celtic Britain. These books were written several centuries later, so the oral tradition might have changed and much of the information was under Christian influences. The Celts were one of the most significant and powerful peoples in Europe from fourth until first century BC, and their culture one of the most influential. From then on they had a turbulent history, and their legacy continues to live even today. The following pages will be an attempt to MAIN PART Today, Celtic is a family of languages of the Indo European group. The Celts are, by definition, all the people who spoke or speak one of the Celtic languages. A unifying Celtic language existed probably somewhere between 1200 and 750 BC, in the Bronze Age, when Urnfield culture was at its peak. This people spoke a language that would later develop into Celtic. Their ur- Celtic developed in two dialects, first Goidelic (or Q Celtic) and later Brythonic (or P Celtic). The P/Q differentiation came from the diverse pronunciations of an Indo European sound /kw/. In Goidelic it became /k/, in Brythonic /p/. Goidelic transformed into the languages spoken in Ireland, Isle of Man and Scotland; Brythonic into Welsh, Cornish and Breton. The next period of Celtic history is connected with Hallstatt culture, which existed approximately from 700 to 500 BC. The later Iron Age phase of Celtic culture is called La Tne, after a site in western Switzerland and dates from 5th to 1st century BC. The Celts almost certainly began to expand to the British Isles during this period. Their influence extended from what are now France, Spain, and British Isles to the shores of the Black Sea from the Ukraine to Turkey. When the Romans came to these territories, they ended the La Tne culture, but in the places they did not occupy, like as Ireland and Scotland, the La Tne culture prospered until about 200 AD. The word Celt comes from Keltoi, the name that Greek writers gave to these people. To the Romans, the Continental Celts were known as Galli and Galatae, or Gauls and they called those in Britain Pritanni. In the 4th century BC the Celts invaded the world in possession of the Greeks and Romans, conquering northern Italy and sacking Rome, while also conquering Macedonia and Thessaly. They raided Rome in 390 (or 387), conquered southern Italy between 282 and 272, sack Delphi in 279, and the Gauls came to Asia Minor in 278/277. After the height of