Media project-Innovators Statement

 For the media project, my assigned material was newspaper and my client's name was Susan. Susan was a 55 year old who was diagnosed with ALS. She had some trouble with fine motor function in her hands and mobility in her upper extremities. When I first read Susan’s case, I thought, “What in the world am I going to do with newspaper?” After much thought and consideration, I came up with newspaper flowers. In Susan’s file, it mentioned that she enjoyed scrapbooking and crafting, so what better way to work on fine motor skills and upper extremity mobility than crafts!

Before this project, I had not given much thought into how everyday materials could be used in Occupational therapy. Of course, I had seen therapists use tin cans and other weighted objects, but newspaper? I had never thought about using something like newspaper to come up with an intervention or activity. After completing this project, I am now aware of how useful everyday objects can be in occupational therapy. Whether you have to come up with an intervention on the fly or the materials you need are not readily available, everyday objects can come in handy.

This assignment has changed the way I think about the materials used in therapy. Before this project, I considered things like weighted cuffs, universal cuffs, and peg boards as occupational therapy materials, but now, I see that almost any material can be used in therapy with a little bit of thought and creativity.
This project also emphasized the importance of client-centeredness. It would have been easy to come up with just any activity that involved a newspaper, but the fact that it needed to incorporate something important to my client really made me think. It also showed me new ways to be client-centered. Say, for instance, that your client can not afford to order equipment from a therapy company. I now feel that I can confidently provide advice on how to use everyday materials to achieve the same goals in a more cost effective manner. 

Overall, I think this project helped make me a better future OT practitioner. It made me think outside the box and pushed me out of my comfort zone. It also taught me to look at things through an “OT lens” and emphasized the importance of being client-centere. Even when things may seem challenging, we as OT practitioners have to be adaptable and innovative, doing whatever it takes to meet our client’s needs.