Media Project - Self-watering plastic soda bottle planter!
For my media project, I was assigned Jane. Jane is a 33 year-old registered nurse who has been recently diagnosed with Guillian-Barre Syndrome. The case study states that Jane can currently ambulate for short distances with stand-by assistance, she is experiencing mild-moderate fatigue, and she is experiencing residual signs of weakness affecting her fine motor skills. My media assigned to me was a plastic soda bottle.
When first presented with this case study, I was a little stumped on how I could use a plastic soda bottle during an intervention and best meet Jane's needs. I first focused on the fact that Jane was single, lived alone, and how she was experiencing distal weakness in her hands. I immediately thought to create some type of adaptive feeding equipment with the plastic soda bottle to compensate for the weakness in her hands so that she could independently feed herself at home. After thinking a little more, though, I realized how she was starting to regain her strength in her extremities and most likely would not need an adaptive feeding device long-term. So I then decided to focus on strengthening and rebuilding her fine motor skills rather than compensating for her current weakness.
My "ah-ha" moment was when I started to focus on the activities that she loved to and most likely missed doing. With her being in a neuro rehab facility, I knew that she must be missing her garden back home. I immediately thought of the self-watering soda bottle planter. With this activity, she would be working on her fine-motor skills in a variety of ways. Cutting the soda bottle, needling the cloth through the hole of the bottle-cap, filling the bottle with water and soil, and pinching the seeds between her fingers would be perfect! This activity could also be very functional and enjoyable because she could plant things that she could use daily in her cooking, which she also loves to do. I also love how this activity could be adapted and adjusted to fit Jane's needs, such as having her standing throughout the activity to work on standing endurance (just-right challenge!). Fine motor skills and standing endurance would also be essential in her job as a nurse, which makes this activity even more suitable.
Before starting this project, I thought that it would be extremely difficult to think of how I could make a plastic soda bottle functional. I realized, though, that there were so many possibilities that I could have used. This project taught me that a therapist does not need the latest, greatest, most expensive therapy tools to have an effective therapy session. What matters most is a therapist's creativity, determination, and passion to find and make the just-right challenge for a client. What seemed like an ordinary plastic soda bottle proved to be the perfect tool for Jane. After this project, I can't wait to think of creative ways to turn more household objects into therapy tools.
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