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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Light Box Insertion Activity

 These light boxes are great. The handle can be adjusted to make the light surface flat or various angles. Unfortunately, the nurses told me not to use them because the  bright lights might cause a seizure.

I made this insertion activity hoping that the light would not be too bright but bright enough to be fun and attract attention to the box opening during a simple insertion task.  

The nurses approved!! Hooray !!

The top photo shows how I covered a box with sticky back felt and used velcro to attach to the light box.

The other photos show a white box that still needs to be covered with felt to create some color contrast. But you can see the inside light is covered with some translucent stickers. I cut openings on the bottom and top of the box so that the light shows through.   

The man in the video is legally blind but he turns his head toward light so I think that this adaptation helps him to  find the box opening.


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Enlarging Handle for person with Spasiticity



I recently adapted this cup holder for an elderly lady with spasticity. She was unable to open her hand enough to grasp the cup and was gripping it by the rim instead.  So I am sharing a simple adaptation that involves attaching a handle cut from a detergent bottle to a  cup-like plastic container that the drinking cup is inserted inside. The client drinks out of the regular red drinking cup. The white cup that holds it is a bottle used for contact lens solution. I have no idea whether that white plastic container is safe for consumable liquids but the white cup holder never touches her lips.

I also show a sponge holder that I made years ago so that people with spasticity can grasp the handle to paint.

I cut into the green handle to make the cup holder- in the same way I cut the tab shown in the yellow handle below. I cut a notch into the white bottle (holding the red cup) and pushed the green tab through it and secured with the gray duct tape. It works quite nicely and nothing wiggles while she drinks.


The tab of the sponge holder is pushed through 2 notches in the sponge.

The last picture shows another way to attach a handle to a plastic container like the green coffee one. I cut long notches to insert the handle flaps into and secure inside with tape. I use these in a variety of ways for insertion tasks with very young children and all ages of adults with developmental disabilities.
I use a variety of lids with different types of openings to create shape sorters.













Source: How to Make an Adapted Handle for Sponge Painting by RecyclingOT on Rumble

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Sensory Play with Light Box


I recently received these wonderful light boxes to use at work but the nurse said that I should not use the lights because they can cause seizures. First she said that I should just not use it with people who have a seizure disorder but then decided it was too risky because even if a person without a disorder used it someone else can walk over and look at it.

So I am looking at ways to use it without any batteries, electricity or lights.... I like how the carrying handle moves to change the viewing angle. The light box cover is this white plastic and pretty bright even though not lit up. It looks cool when I put the striped plastic sheet over it.

 I  cut the plastic fruits to have an extended piece on the bottom that can be pushed into slits cut into the striped plastic. I am still experimenting with how I will use this.


But the fun news is that I was in a program room all set up for a 
Holloween sensory activity with cute  skeletons and pumpkins and other things to touch and look at, including  a container of goopy stuff (looks like blood)..... Nobody wanted to touch it until I put clumps on the light box screen. The video shows one of the individuals enjoying using it in a fine motor task of removing it to put in the container. He needed the structured way of manipulating it rather than just holding it in his hand to feel.