Media Project Reflection

Background:  In our Neuroaspects class, we were given a media project assignment. In this project, we were given a low-cost item that most people can find around their house and told to create a therapeutic, OT intervention for a hypothetical client that was assigned to us. The media I was assigned was buttons. 

Reflection:     

When I first started this project, I felt excited!  I felt like there were so many therapeutic activities that could be created with buttons. I went home and made a list of interventions. However, when I received my hypothetical client and realized that my client has a Complete C5 Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), I struggled with coming up with a creative, client-centered idea. 


This assignment was definitely out of my comfort zone. Something I have to fight against is wanting to stay in my comfort zone all the time. This is not because I don'tt want to learn, but rather because the thought of failure is sometimes terrifying. OT school has helped change my perspective. Still, it's a process and I have to remind myself to have the right perspective. Because I know this about myself, I decided to try something different when starting this project. Instead of sitting in one place and thinking about this project for hours at a time, I decided to spend fifteen to twenty mins every day or couple of days just thinking about the assignment and trying to come up with ideas. This was sometimes done on my drives home from UTHSC.   If I didn't think my ideas were good enough, I would continue to try to make it better. If I still couldn't get it, I would just revisit the topic another time. This made this assignment a lot less stressful and a lot more enjoyable. When there's not as much pressure, it's so much easier to be creative!  While I realize that I'm not always going to have the same amount of time I had for this project to complete other OT-related assignments, I learned to just take everything one step at a time and to continue to work on things through the process of trial and error. 

Not only did I learn how to have more of a grit mindset throughout this process, but I also learned how to think more like an OT. I loved the process of learning about the client's interests and then comparing it to what he needs to get better physically, mentally, and emotionally. This project made me use the same type of creative thinking OTs use in the field. This made me feel more competent in my abilities as a future OT and even more excited to learn more about how to be a good practitioner! 

These are my final products:

A couple challenges I experienced throughout this project (aka. trial and error): 

• In the beginning, I couldn't figure out how to create something out of buttons that appealed to my client's Korean culture. I searched the internet several times for arts and crafts or games that I could modify by sliding the buttons. However, I wasn't able to find anything. It wasn't until a week ago that I remembered that elephants are admired in Asian cultures for their intelligence and good memory; elephants tend to symbolize wisdom. This led me to create the magnetic elephant puzzle. Just a few days later, I realized that music is also part of one's culture. Since my client owned a music retail store, I realized I could make a magnetic music board for him so that he can slide the notes onto the staff to compose music. It all started coming together when I realized this would help motivate him to sit up for longer periods of time and help him gain the strength and endurance necessary to withstand therapy in a rehabilitation center. 

• When I finally decided I was going to create a magnetic button puzzle, I couldn't find magnets that would work-either the magnets were too strong or they didn't fit the button properly. This made the puzzle look awkward. The solution was to use the magnets that were very strong and place several sheets of paper between the magnet and the cookie sheet to decrease the strength of the bond. 

Overall, I think this has been my favorite project in OT school. While it took a lot of work, it challenged me in the best ways possible! My biggest take away from this project  was learning how to go through the process of figuring out a unique intervention for my client and learning to have a grit mindset throughout the process.