Assistive Technology. Talking Tins.

Hello again,
This weeks task has been around assistive technology. During one of our classes this week we had Trev from Star mobility in Hamilton come and talk to us about devices that can help people with their occupations and tasks.

So what are assistive devices you may ask? they are defined by Cook and Hussey ( 2000) as 'Any item, piece of equipment or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized that is used to increase or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.'

In my terms.. Assistive technology is anything that may help a person with a task or occupation and therefore make it easier.

When Trev came into visit us he brought with him switches of all shapes and sizes, keyboards with larger visual buttons, electronic talking photo albums and much more. The piece of equipment I found the most interesting and useful for a large part of the population was Talking Tins.

Talking Tins allow you to record your voice and then play it back whenever the button is pushed. This device can be used to attach to the top of food containers and the name of the food programmed in, the use of this could benefit those with visual impairments. I also feel that the use of these tins could help a number of other disabilities. They could be used with children that have learning or speech difficulties. The programmed in words could be something they need to learn and remember or the name of an object that they need to understand what it is. This device could also benefit the older population and those with memory loss. they could program in the jobs or tasks they need to do. For example a caretaker who may forget what he has to do once he leaves the shed and get to his destination could program in his jobs then push the tin when he forgets.

This piece of equipment helps people to increase in their occupations by allowing them to either understand objects or help with memory.

This is a Talking Tin...

This picture was retrieved from
http://www.starmobility.co.nz/talking-tin-yellow.html
This website is of Star Mobility, Trev and his team in Hamilton New Zealand.

Talking tins are the size of a tin or jar and light. This is a good size to fit in pockets or easily in the palm of hands.

On Trev's website they sell Talking Tins for  $59.90 for a 3 pack.
the tins can be brought as yellow ones with a single ten second message and the red ones can have sequential message of 30 seconds,

This YouTube video gives you a short and sweet overview of Talking tins and their applications.

This next video shows how Talking Tins can be used in the education sector.

Now moving on to how these devices can help out with occupational Deprivation and transition.
Occupational deprivation is 'a prolonged preclusion from engagement in occupations of necessity or meaning due to factors outside the control of an individual such as through geographical isolation,incarceration or disability.' (Christiansen & Townsend, 2010). Talking tins can help with occupational deprivation in a way that lets people preform their occupations. For example eating/ prepareing a meal, those that are vision impaired may have felt unable to do this occupation as they could not see what food they were getting out of the containers. With talking tins they can now hear what food is in the containers and complete the occupation.
Occupation transition is 'Circumstances creating a change in the nature or type of occupational engagement pursued by or available to an individual. such transitions may be the result of choice, changes in physical or mental status, life transitions, geographical change, geopolitical strife, or other factors'. Talking Tins can help in this area also. For someone who has acquired short term memory loss being asked to do a task and then going to do a task can be hard as their short term memory does not remember what was asked. this transition would be frustrating for a person who's memory was once fine. Take a farmer for instance. He may have been farming his whole life and always know what needed to be done. If he acquires short term memory loss he may forget what he has to do by the time he gets to the back paddock. with a talking tin he could programme in a message so that when he gets to the back paddock he can push the button, listen to the message and complete the occupation.

Hope this has got you all thinking about assistive devices and that there may just be one out there that could help you.

K x


Christiansen, C.H. & Townsend, E.A. (2010). Introduction to Occupation; the Art and Science of Living. (2nd. ed.) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey : Pearson
 Cook, A.M., & Hussey, S.M. (2000). Assistive technologies: principles and practice. St Louis: Mosby

Internet and online communities

This weeks task is to find three online communities that relate to a topic of interest from our fieldwork experience. My fieldwork experience was with clients that have arthritis. In this post i am going to focus on communities that may help clients that have arthritis in their hands. When looking at communities i have tried to find some that clients can post to and ask questions relating to occupations that are effected by their arthritis.

Arthritis Foundation

This website has everything anyone would need once they find out they have arthritis. There is new about research and anything outstanding to do with arthritis, forums and discussions you can join and just general information about any type of arthritis.
I think that once you look through all the pages of this site (and there are heaps) that it will talk about occupational justice, disruption, transition and deprivation.
Take a look.
http://www.arthritis.org/


On this page there is a section called community. You can join for free and share information and ideas, help others and make friends who are going through the same ordeal.
This community page is very interactive and you can set up your own blog, upload a photo and tell your story.

 http://community.arthritis.org/app/render/go.aspx?xsl=tp_community.xslt

This site would have to be the best one i found. Once you look into it a bit further you would be able to join groups that suit you and help you get what you need.


Grown ups
The first online community i have found is called 'Grown Ups'.
Have a look.

http://www.grownups.co.nz/

This is a New Zealand site that connects people from all over the country. people can post to the forums or become a member and chat to others.
This site is made for adults over the age of 50 and talks about a wide range of medical conditions. The intended purpose of the site is to connect and inform the population about any medical conditions or problems they may be experiencing. The site is very interactive and provides articles and discussion forums for the public to read. People can contribute after they have joined the site by posting to the forums and discussions and talking to other people that may be in the same boat. People contribute with their own experiences and advice for others.

The information shared on this site is helpful to those in the population that suffer from arthritis as it talks about how you can help prevent symptoms and how to help with the pain and lack of movement. There are a couple of discussions talking about occupations such as knitting and how these occupations have been effected by having arthritis in the hands. People have posted about tricks they have come across when doing these activities that help to aid them and make occupations a bit easier.
this site looks at occupational disruption and deprivation. many people talk about a time in their lives when they couldn't do certain occupations and others talk of occupations they cannot do at all due to arthritis in hands.



Playing guitar and arthritis

So this website i have found is slightly different. When looking at occupations that people do some people enjoy to play musical instruments and this is a big part of their well-being.
This website looks at a number of things all around a certain type of guitar. there is news articles and disscussions but the one discussion i found interesting was called 'Older players & sore arthritic hands'.

Have a look.
http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/stratocaster-discussion-forum/164337-older-players-sore-arthritic-hands.html

This online community is much like the one above where as it is people posting about issues they are having and remidies they have for arthritis in hands. This page is slightly different however as it is centered around guitar playing and is for all ages not just over 50. People can contribute with whatever they feel may help others or just their own experiences. Just like the above site this one also talks about occupational deprivation and disruption.



There may be a few ethical issues that arise from communities such as these. Things like lack of identity and accountability. Would you really know who anybody was or if they were safe to talk to in a community like this. And who is overall responsible for what content is put in the discussion forums. is it all shown or is there some kind of filter?
Some of the benefits of online communities such as these is that it brings people together who may not be able to under certain circumstances join a group in their town. It allows people to contact others who may have similar problems and help them seek answers. For some people making friends and knowing they are not alone is a large part of online communities. Another benefit may be that people make friends with other in other parts of the country and could go visit these people.
Some of the limitations of online communities is that people may not be getting to spend any time with other people as they are online. They lack the face to face contact that is important in socializing and can occur in traditional geographical communities. 


K x

Hand Therapy. Video production part two.

This weeks task has been to : Find five different sources of online video content that help explain, demonstrate, or provide personal experiences of your topic.These videos had to relate to one of our fieldwork experiences.


On my very first placement i was placed in a rehabilitation center for patients with severe arthritis and other chronic diseases.
One of the most interesting experiences i had during this placement was taking part in the hand therapy class. This class helped patients with stretches for range of movement and muscles strengthening exercises for their wrist and hands. There were a number of these classes where the patients were showed a different tool and or stretches, the patients joined in the classes and completed the exercises with the OT.
The patients had an overall positive attitude after this particular class as the exercises were something that could help them manage their hands and continue with at home. 


One of the first hand therapy sessions was to show patients the type of equipment they could purchase to take home that would assist in stretching and strengthening. This first video is a short one showing Therapeutic putty and a couple of stretches that can be done using it. There are a large number of exercises that can be done using the putty which comes in different resistances. 

This second video has the same concept as the therapeutic Putty using similar exercises but are completed with a ball instead. 

Another interesting exercise idea for hands that i was showed on fieldwork was the use of American Sign Language alphabet. Each letter creates a different shape with the hand and stretches the muscles and joints in different ways. 
This video is a fun little song showing the letters and the hand shapes of the alphabet. 

This next video is a lady showing hand exercises but in a way that makes you feel like you are watching a yoga or pilates clip.  Its slightly longer than the other clips but worth a watch. I have to admit i joined in and copied her when i watched this clip. 

There are a number of other ways to stretch and strengthen the hand such as useing husehold items but unfortunatly i could not find any videos of these.
The last video i did find and found interesting is of a man that has had a hand transplant and this is him during a therapy session. you can see he does not have full range back in his joint yet but that the transplant has been a sucess. 

 I feel that hand therapy is an important part of an OT's role as the hands are a main part in taking part in a large amount of occupations. If we all can understand a little bit about how hand therapy works and how people can be effected if they cannot use their hands then it may be easier for us to help our clients in the long run.

Hope you enjoy these videos guys.


K. x

Occupational Disruption. Video production part one.

This weeks task was to create a 1minute video about a chosen topic. The topics we had to chose from were:

• Occupational Justice
• Occupational Disruption
• Occupational Transition
• Occupational Deprivation

My group consisted of Craig, Eliane, Shannon and Myself. As a team we decided to work on the topic of Occupational Disruption.

Occupational Disruption is described by Christansen and Townsend (2010) as  'A transient or temporary condition of being restricted from participation in necessary or meaningful occupations, such as that caused by illness, temporary relocation, or temporary unemployment'.

Because we are students who like to think outside the box we decided not to use ourselves in this video production but add life to Shannon's old barbie dolls. 
This idea did not go down to well with Craig the only male in our group but he came around once we explained the plot.

In this movie Barbie loves to dance, but then one night as she is walking home she gets run over by a drunk driver and loses her leg.
Barbie is so upset in hospital (you can even see her tears) that she will never be able to dance again. This is when Barbie OT comes into the picture and shows her that she could get a prosthetic leg.
This delights Barbie and before you know it she is out dancing with her friends once again.

Our team worked very well together, taking turns at being barbie whilst Craig videoed the entire sequence. The filming was a lot of fun and lots of laughs. Eliane then did amazing film editing and she came up with our final video.

Hope you enjoy.

K. x

Christiansen, C. H., & Townsend, E. A. (2010). Introduction to occupation: the art and science of living (2^nd ed.). New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education Inc