Media Project

           This assignment definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. While this is usually where the greatest amount of learning occurs, it can be uncomfortable or daunting at times. When I was first assigned my material, yarn, I was thrown for a loop. How am I supposed to use yarn to help someone who is recovering from a spinal cord injury? I thought of a few good examples after thinking on it for a little while, but they were all better suited for pediatrics. Since my client, Harris, is 22 years old like myself, I tried putting himself in his shoes. What would I be motivated by that involved yarn? I eventually realized that I was heading in the direction of some kind of craft. While I initially thought that a craft wouldn't be motivating to a young adult, I came to realize that this could actually benefit Harris both physically and mentally. I love that this activity lets him be as creative as he wants, and that there is no "right" or "wrong" design to choose. I thought that this "yarn writing" activity could benefit his mental health by getting his mind off of other things going on in his life, while also strengthening his fine and gross motor skills he needs in order to dress and feed himself and use the computer.  What struck me the most was how simple and innovative OT can be, and I love that about this profession.

           I started by trying to narrow down 2-3 specific things that I might be able to address. I think I was overwhelmed by trying to think of one activity that could address all of his challenges. I ended up coming up with a yarn activity that involves tracing out shapes or letters using tacks, corkboard, and of course yarn. One can place the push pins into the corkboard in any design they want, such as the outline of a star or in the shape of the letters of their name. The more tacks used, the more fine motor skills required. The bigger the design, the more gross motor skills and endurance needed as well. I like that this activity is really up to the client to choose what to create.

           I learned a lot more about how activities can be graded up and down. While we addressed this in class before, I had never given one activity this much thought. The more I thought about it, the more ideas came to be that could make it more challenging as Harris improves. Harris could start with something simple, like the outline of a shape. As he progresses (and gets his right arm out of a cast), he could progress to more complicated outlines or even writing out words. Because he is engaged, I thought he could even make a countdown to his wedding if he wanted to. I have a countdown to my wedding on a letter board at my house, so this could be his version of a letter board. It’s really up to him to decide what to create, and it can be easily changed based on his mood that day. Because he has such a supportive family, they could help Harris with this yarn activity. They could hold the corkboard up higher to make him reach to push in the tacks or wind the string around them, thus strengthening his UEs and their endurance.

           I think that this activity really opened my eyes to being able to adapt. Being given a simple household item and having to create something purposeful out of it for a specific client was challenging, but I think also very rewarding. This experience will likely help me when I am on fieldwork (and later on in my OT career as well) in being creative and client-centered. This project is very OT (creative, purposeful), and I am glad to have been given this challenge.