How to HornsB an OT

The client I was assigned to for my media project is named Harris. Harris is a 22 year old male with a diagnosis of complete spinal cord injury at T3 which has caused him to have paraplegia due to an auto accident. Harris lives with his fiancé and he has a very supportive family. Harris was admitted to a rehabilitation hospital. He aims to return home, finish his degree, and graduate on time. He is in a wheelchair with lateral lower extremity supports. Currently, his right upper extremity is in a full- arm cast and his right lower extremity is in an air cast from the toes to the knee. He has no sensation in either lower extremity or his buttocks. The sensation in his upper extremity and his superior trunk region is intact. He says his main goals for rehabilitation are to “walk out of here and get on with my life.” I decided to create a sock aid. A sock aid is a device that allows for the client to be able to put on his socks while sitting down. It will serve as an adaptive device that...

In order to deepen my knowledge on Guillain Barré Syndrome (GBS), I decided to read various patient stories on the The GBS | CIDP Foundation International website. On this website, they share many stories in hopes of increasing awareness and understanding of the conditions. The main story that stuck out to me was the story about Ariana, who is a four year old girl who has Guillain Barré Syndrome (GBS).  I chose to read many patient stories on the website because I am interested in learning about people's personal experiences with GBS. From what we have learned in class, GBS can affect people in different ways. By reading multiple stories, I got to see the uniqueness of each person's experience with GBS. Ariana's story stuck out to me because she was diagnosed at such a young age. She was diagnosed in Gibraltar, which is a territory on the south coast of spain. I was interested in her story because she was the first child to be diagnosed with GBS in Gibraltar.  In cla...

In order to learn more about multiple sclerosis (MS), I decided to read about someone's personal experience living with the condition. Meg Young, a 39 year old with MS, has a blog titled "Beyond my Battle". I decided to read her entry titled "Meg Young: Beyond My Personal Battle with Multiple Sclerosis". In her blog, Meg talks about MS and how it has impacted her life.  I chose to read this source because I am interested in learning about people's personal experiences with MS. From my personal knowledge, as well as what I have learned in class about MS, I know that MS is very unpredictable. I also know that everyone's experience with MS is different. I find it interesting that each case of MS presents itself differently and effects different things. Although there are similar symptoms that people with MS experience, the disease progresses and presents itself uniquely to each individual. Reading Meg's story allowed me to see what her life is like livi...

In order to learn more about people with spinal cord injuries, I decided to read a blog post by Francesco Clark, who acquired a spinal cord injury at the age of 24. His blog post was titled "A Meaningful Life". In his post, he describes how he got the injury and his emotions during the injury and following the injury. His words give an insight to his mindset and how he views life after the injury.  I chose this resource because of how he obtained the spinal cord injury. He obtained his injury in a pool diving accident. It is crazy to imagine how drastically your life can change in one second. He probably never imagined getting an injury so severe from something as simple as diving. I go swimming all of the time and have dove off of many surfaces. In his post, he talks about how he remembers sinking to the bottom of the water not being able to move. This would be terrifying knowing that your body can not do what you need it to do to survive. This resource opened my eyes and ha...

Parkinson's disease is a chronic progressive neurological condition meaning that it happens over time and the condition continues to get worse. Parkinson's disease is the progressive degeneration and death of dopamine producing neurons, which is located in the basil ganglia. In order to further my understanding on Parkinson's Disease, I decided to read an article titled "How to Improve Gait in Parkinson's Disease". The main symptoms that are associated with Parkinson's disease are bradykinesia, tremor, rigidity, and postural instability. With these symptoms present, gait is often largely affected in someone with Parkinson's disease. This source helped further my learning because I did not know much about gait in relation to Parkinson's disease, since gait is typically addressed by a physical therapist.  This article starts by introducing two people with Parkinson's disease and their solutions to improving gait. One of these people is Mark Mason...

     While taking a Neuro Aspects course in occupational therapy school, I was required to do a clinical simulation where I administered the SLUMS, which is a screening tool used to identify cognitive impairment. The client that I gave the cognitive screening to was a 61 year old female who had a recent stroke. The client also had COVID. When working as an occupational therapist, cognition is a big part of your practice. Cognition is considered to be the ability to perceive and organize information to enable the person to process, learn, and generalize information. It is how your brain thinks and processes things for them to make sense to you. The SLUMS assessment in which I delivered assessed cognition, and also memory which is a cognitive skill. Memory is the brain's ability to encode, store, and retrieve information. Occupational therapists have a big role in working with individuals who have a cognitive disorder. A big part of this is educating the client on the disor...