When
I first heard about the Media Project assignment, I was incredibly
excited! I thought to myself, I’m
super creative, this is going to be easy!
Little did I know that that mentality would change to worry in almost an
instant; that instant, being the moment I heard what my material was going to
be: a pair of dice. As I sat there in
class and started thinking up ideas of what I could possibly make,
that’s adaptive, out of dice, I realized that I was stumped. My case report was for a woman named Susan
who was diagnosed with ALS. I racked my
brain for weeks, trying to come up with something that would work. Arts and crafts? No.
Communication board? No. I was becoming more frustrated with each
passing day, and more worried as the showcase day loomed closer. After bouncing around some ideas with my
professor, she asked me a question.
“Why not try to find something that
would help her with scrapbooking?”
Ah-ha.
The idea came forth like a tidal
wave and I instantly knew what I was going to do. See, my client, Susan, loves to scrapbook,
and hopes to create a few for her husband and children. Remembering what we learned about ALS, fine
motor control is one of the first things lost for most people diagnosed with
the condition. Since I knew that, I
figured I could create something that would help Susan turn the pages of
scrapbooks, so she could look at them herself or with her family around
her. As I started building my project, I
became increasingly happy and satisfied with my idea. I tested it out and found that, with some
tweaks and practice, someone could easily use my equipment to flip through
things, from scrapbooks to magazines, and even to books. Through this project, I learned a lot about
what I need to think of when it comes to adaptive equipment. Sure, creating things that will be useful for
the person’s impairments to come later on is great, but it is also important to
remember that creating things for the person’s enjoyments is also a major accomplishment. Knowing that I created
something to help Susan be able to turn through her scrapbooks that she will
have worked so hard on, I know that means more to her in the long run. In completing this assignment, I feel like I
have a better idea as to how to approach rehabilitation and the use of adaptive
tech for future clients. I also hope to
pass on this newly found information to anyone else who may struggle with this
project in the future or even to future therapists that I will work with once I
become a licensed OT.
No comments:
Post a Comment