Media Project- Pool Noodle

https://youtu.be/grFl-fXaLkQ

For this media project I was given the case study of Dennis, a 68 year old male who suffered a CVA. Other than just having a stroke, there was so much to know and understand about Dennis. No detail was too small, although it may have seemed that way when initially reading his case. However, when it came time to actually thinking of a device or intervention, every detail ran through my head and was considered when planning. In fact, I have come to realize the more the merrier. The more I felt like I understood Dennis, his needs, his interests, his goals, and his strengths, the easier it became for me to think up an idea. I began to realize I wasn't thinking of him as a collection of problems presented in the case study, but as a person who is trying to get back to a very active life. I always wondered how difficult it would be to pick interventions for someone when you have so many aspects to work on, but now I've learned that it is possible and there are ways of picking wholistic interventions that cover a wide range of target areas, even if it means having to make the intervention yourself.

At first when trying to come up with an idea I got stuck on the idea of safety. I thought this made the most sense because a pool noodle is squishy. However, I could not think of a way to use it in that way and by being so hung up on this one aspect I was neglecting so many areas that I could be addressing with it. I finally told myself to look elsewhere and I knew there was a way I could use it to address his left neglect. A previous idea I had been experimenting with was putting items in the pool noodle and that was when I came to the idea of keeping an item in it as an intervention instead of adaptive equipment. The ah-ha was really just letting my mind be open to so many possibilities that eventually one would manifest as a combination of all the ones that didn't work. I've learned a few lessons from this project. The first is that an effective intervention does not have to be flashy, intricate, and expensive. My pool noodle addresses bilateral hand coordination as well as any expensive piece of equipment could. Sometimes simple is better. Also, I will take away the experience of viewing a clients case in its entirety and complexity and using that to come up with an intervention idea that stays within his goals, interests, contexts, and abilities. This was much to take in to account, but in the end the intervention is much more beneficial and client-centered. I was take away this lesson going forward in my career so that I may make my interventions tailored to the client instead of trying to adapt them to the activity.