Media Project

 

    When I was first brainstorming for this assignment, I had a few different ideas. One idea I had was to cut small holes into the top and have Dennis pick up popsicle sticks and place them into the bottle through the hole. Initially this seemed like a useful task because I could incorporate many of his challenges into this one task. (left neglect, right & left discrimination, fine motor skills) However, my whole thought process changed when I asked myself “is this meaningful for my client?” Although it addresses multiple issues that Dennis struggles with, it could be boring and seem useless to my client. It was in this moment, I had to rethink how I could address these skills while also making the intervention interesting and purposeful. I had my “ah-ha” moment when I read that he sometimes goes grocery shopping with his wife. The ability to manipulate change is an essential task because we will always use money. 

     Going through this process reminded me that in occupational therapy, we do not strictly focus on a person’s dysfunction. It is our job to determine what our client does on a daily basis and correlate meaningful activities in our attempt to treat the dysfunction. For someone who typically does not define themselves as creative, this assignment has helped me to feel more confident in my creativity.I find creativity to be an extremely useful skill for an OT to have, and I hope to continue to challenge myself and grow in this area.