thOughTs by Jess

Through this project, I gained a greater appreciation and value for creativity and imagination. Sometimes it is difficult to make sure all the pieces to the puzzle fit with a client and a homemade intervention. It needs to remain client-centered, however, depending on the object assigned, finding that “just right challenge” can pose quite the challenge for the therapist. With my client, Mr. Dennis, it was very difficult to pin point something that I thought he might actually enjoy doing. A lot of activities involving yarn, tend to be more suited for women. Then I finally thought of the idea to have a showcase of words related to gardening, one of his hobbies, and have him string yarn to matching terms. While performing this activity, he would be working on fine motor skills, having to scan both the left and right side of the board, and thinking of an activity he enjoys.  This project has given me the opportunity to think outside of the box and really put on my OT cap. Moving forwa

I have chosen to do another neuro note on ALS because the disease is just so sad, but bizarre and complex. I feel like for every question there is answered, another one pops up.  The fact that the muscle groups and body systems slowly start to malfunction and play out, but the mind and processing skills remain unshaken completely baffles researchers and health care providers. This disease traps people in their own body and that is a concept that is hard to understand unless you are forced to endure it. In the movie, The Theory of Everything, famous physicist, cosmologist, and author Steven Hawking, suffers from the handle of the progressive disorder.  Hawking was diagnosed at age 21 and in the movie there are several precursors of the disease before his diagnosis. He knocked over a coffee cup, shows several "clumsy" signs with his feet and awkward placements of his hands, and he has a serious fall resulting in a scan of his brain and the confirmation of his diagnosis. His

For this neuro note, I watched an ALS patient give a TED Talk with the help of his friends. Hiro Fujita rode a power wheelchair on the stage and wore a shirt that said end ALS. His symptoms started with tingling in the fingers and Hiro thought he was hungover from his rambunctious life style habits. When he went to the doctor, however, he was diagnosed with ALS and as he put it, "Asked to step off the field but thanked for playing the game". As far as he could see, his life was over or at least not far from it. His hands begin to slowly loose function and he began to have multiple falling episodes. He explained one time when his legs gave out in the street but no one would help him because they assumed he was a drug addict. Eventually, when it was time to make the decision on wether or not to get the tracheotomy, Hiro decided to have the procedure done because he felt that he had not contributed to life yet. He wanted to make a difference and speak out for advocacy of the dis

For this neuro note, I watched the movie Walk, Ride, Rodeo. This movie is based on a true story about a 19 year old girl, Amberley, who is an award winning barrel racer in rodeo competitions. Right before she was set to start college and advance her rodeo career, she was involved in a terrible car accident that resulted in her T-12 vertebrae being crushed. Amberley was diagnosed with an incomplete spinal cord injury and lost all function, movement, and sensation in her legs. Of course, as a 19 year old athlete, this was a hard adjustment for her and she faced many obstacles on her journey to learning her new normal. Her attitude in therapy was not the most positive, but, after weeks of improvement she gave a lot of credit to the therapist and began to have a more optimistic approach in her rehab. She battled many wars with herself and had many days where she wanted to give up and even mentioned she wished she would have died in the crash. Her mother said to her, "This chair