Innovation and Reflection

      Throughout this course, we have learned about various neurological conditions and the symptoms, stages, incidence/prevalence, occupational therapy’s role, and much more. Occupational therapist’s play a large role in each individual case and this can be seen through various techniques such as education, strategies, and occupation based activities. It was interesting to learn about this in our Neurological Aspects of Occupational Performance class, however, it is very different when you are actually putting into practice. Although each case study may not have been one of our real clients, through this project we were able to use creativity and practice creating an innovation that is client-centered and an occupation-based activity.  

      For me, the most meaningful and significant thing that I learned from this project is what you can do with just a little. Each of us were assigned random household items and we each turned them into something significant. I was able to turn a toilet paper roll into an occupation-based activity that an individual will find meaningful and will help them improve skills and return to their daily life. When I was actually creating my innovation, or bird feeder, I had my  “ah-ha” moment. I thought to myself “how cool” this is and how if I had looked at a toilet paper roll a month ago, it would have never been more than just that. This is something that really stood out to me.  

    After further research on my client and completion of this project, I was able to learn a lot about cerebral vascular accidents (CVA) and the barriers, challenges, or problems someone might experience after this diagnosis. This was very eye-opening to me because before this project I mainly knew about the issues related to spatial neglect as a result of CVA. My client had various deficits identified after his evaluation which included left neglect, fine and gross motor incoordination, weakness in left LE and UE, increased tone in muscles, reduced attention span, reduced safety awareness, and more. Reading about my client’s various deficits allowed me to see the bigger picture, which in turn helped with my creativity and coming up with an innovation that would help improve many of his barriers and challenges. Additionally, knowing more about this diagnosis and problems that may come along with it will benefit me in my future career as an occupational therapist. 

     Lastly, there are many aspects to this assignment that will impact me in the future but the main aspect I am taking away from this are the creativity skills I have established. I have never been put to the test to create something with an object and I was pretty proud of what I was able to come up with and how I was able to create an occupation-based activity from it. I have never found myself to be very creative but now I know that I can be and this is a great quality I am able to take into my future career. Figuring this out about myself is going to benefit me in the future and I am very grateful to have had the experience.