CREATIVE MODE

I love to create and be creative. I'm an occupational therapist. I make adaptive equipment, therapeutic toys, and splints to help people function independently. In order for me to function in everyday life, I need to make things. I dabble in drawing, fabric printing, felting, painting, paper crafts and mixed media art.

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A lot of people don’t know what occupational therapy is. That’s because we do so much! One thing we do is facilitate individuals to participate in meaningful activities. Here’s one example.

This is Christine: a passionate advocate for augmentative communication devices with a big heart. She loves the 3e love heart wheelchair logo, as their mission is to change the perception of disability.

Christine also loves RAD camp, a week long summer camp for adults and children with disabilities. They have a variety of classes and activities throughout the day, including art class. Some of the art projects are personalizing projects and adding that bit of individual flair.

Even though I was not participating in camp as an occupational therapist, my brain has a difficult time looking at the world through any other lens. As an OT, I look at the activity and break down the requirements needed in order to be successful. I assess the person’s abilities and find compensatory strategies or assistive devices that can help achieve the goal of creating a meaningful camp artifact that reflects her personality and highlights her ability.

Christine and I worked together to design a stencil that she could use for multiple projects. I took a piece of construction paper, covered it in clear packing tape for stability and washability, and made a wheelchair heart logo stencil. We problem-solved the rest of the task together, so that she would be the one creating the art. We used the stencil all week long to decorate art and journal projects.

I love occupational therapy because we create solutions for everyday life!

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The Bay Area Makeathon was a 72-hour event that brought those who understand the needs of people with disabilities together with technologists, designers and makers. I was a part of a team designing a self-feeder for people who had limited use of their hands.

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Enabled by design-athon presentation.

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Guest post contributed by Clarice Torrey, occupational therapist and winner of UCP Life Lab's recent Design-athon People's Choice Award. I

Designing and making a wearable device for people with limited use of one hand.

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This family wanted the support of thermoplastic splint with the comfort of neoprene, so I combined both. 

I made the custom splint in a traditional manner by tracing her hand, melting aquaplast, and forming it to her hand. I left the forearm trough as a plastic stay to keep the wrist straight. 

I measured her forearm for the neoprene and sewed straps and d-rings to it. I attached the neoprene to the aquaplast with rivets because I thought it would be the most secure option. I lined the inside with padding to make it nice and comfortable.

I used 1/16″ aquaplast and there is a little give to them. I find a slight dynamic component is so important. The client tolerates them well and is maintaining her range of motion.

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Commercially available adaptive aids rarely work for pediatrics. I made these 3 tools to help with the difficult task of buttoning pants. Two of them are modifications to existing aids available: the button hook and the zipper pull. The third one (to my knowledge) is my own design, for these purposes I will call it the loop hook.

Primary task limitations: unable to reach button, difficulty pinching/grasping, and decreased upper extremity/grasp strength

Initially, I wanted to combine all tools into one, but it worked better for this client to use all 3 separately. I formed a triangle handle, a T-handle, and another handle that looked like an anchor. The T-handle worked the best for her. I was also trying to make it as compact as possible. I formed all of them out of Aquaplast pellets, but continually had to reheat them to make them longer. I used binder clips and heavy duty paper clips to form the metal parts. I used pliers to bend them.

For the button hook, I kept the shape of the large heavy duty paper clip because it seemed to work better with jean buttons. 

For the zipper hook, I added a straight piece of metal to help with pushing the zipper down. This piece needed to be bent on the inside of the plastic or it fell out. 

The loop hook was formed by bending a binder clip and was used for 3 purposes. When the client was zipping the zipper up, they used the loop hook to stabilize the pants at the bottom as they were unable to reach that far down. They also used it simultaneously with the buttonhook. For unbuttoning, the loop hook would hook onto the button hole and would help pull the button hole away from the button, as the button hook pulled in the opposite direction. When buttoning, the button hook would go through the button hole first, attach to the button, then the loop hook would hook onto the button hole, both tools would be pulled in opposite directions, and “voila!” pants are buttoned. Sounds confusing, but the client picked up on it right away. :)

Future implications: 3D printing could make some of these individualized adaptations quick and easy. Contact me if you’re interested in collaborating.

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I’m trying to work on utensil grasp patterns with a kiddo. My intention with these aids is not for them to use always, but to use them as tactile and visual cues on how to place their hands on the fork and knife in a more effective way. 

I made a triangle handle for a knife using Aquaplast. I formed the triangle using a cast cutting strip, which was just the right width I was looking for. I always try to find objects which can facilitate the form that I’m shaping. In this case I wrapped the knife in place using athletic tape to form a triangle. I formed the Aquaplast around it. Before it completely hardened again I removed it and massaged out any bumps. I placed 3/8″ open cell blue padding on the inside back wall and closed off the end of it to allow the knife to slide in and out.

For the fork, I melted Aquaplast pellets to form a place for the index finger to rest and attached a built up foam handle. 

I’m hoping that these tools will assist visually, tactilely and facilitate the development of the arches of the hand.

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I had the immense desire to make something. I didn't have a real plan of what I wanted the end product to be, but I used supplies that I had and started to make.

The San Francisco skyline has always been a smile-making vision to me, especially as I make the daily commute back to the city after a long day. I had already made some of these large stamps out of plexiglass and 2 layers of sticky back craft foam. I used a heated x-acto knife to cut out the details. I used a brayer to roll the paint on the stamps and then pressed it onto the material.

Now I have 4 buildings printed on material. I'm not sure what to do with them exactly. I've considered framing them individually or cutting them out to sew onto a bigger piece of material with other "buildings" made out of various fabric rectangles. But in this case, it doesn't matter. I just needed to mix color and get paint on my hands.

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Last December I organized Toy Hack SF. We took regular toys and rewired them so that they could be activated by a large, single switch. Why? For many kids with physical disabilities playing with off-the-shelf toys is not possible. Depending on their unique abilities, a toy might not be accessible. However, if a child can move their head, feet, arm, mouth or any other part of their body it is possible to use a switch to play with the toy.

You can learn more about our event at: www.hackingfortheholidayssf.eventbrite.com

I got the idea from: http://diyability.org/

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I made this toy. Then I added to it. I super glued 3 light-up balls on a piece of PVC pipe. You can put it inside the large clear ball or use it on it's own, which adds a tactile element.

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This is a therapeutic toy I made. I work with a lot of kids who have poor motor control and difficulty interacting with toys. We have a few toys in the clinic that are simple to activate. They are great for facilitating reach and active range of motion in a variety of positions. Parents always ask me where they can buy them, but unfortunately, many of them are discontinued. I wanted to make something that could be easily replicated.

I used PVC pipe for the frame. I wanted to dye the frame, but that endeavor didn’t work as well as I’d hoped (I’ll try again soon). I found a clear ball that twists together at the Party store. It works well, in that the lights can easily be replaced or you could add anything you like. I used a Dremel to make a hole on each side of the ball. Then I took LED light up balls and cut out the light. I put those and some bells inside, and voila, you have a simple, light-up, auditory toy that can be easily activated.

I brought it to work, and it surpassed my expectations. It was adorable to watch a little girl’s face light up when she realized she could make the lights turn on. It worked well for a little boy with a brachial plexus injury who unknowingly was practicing external rotation. A mother of an older girl with limited motor control was very excited to make one because most toys that her daughter could activate were “baby” toys and this looked more age appropriate.

I continue to tweak it and rework it. Because the PVC pipe and the ball are so easily changed, the possibilities and add-ons are endless.

***Disclaimer: flashing lights should not be used with persons who have photosensitive epilepsy.

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I work with a 7-year old girl who was born with bilateral absent radiuses (bones of the forearm). She was having difficulty pushing her pants down to use the bathroom. We practiced using a dressing stick, which facilitated her independence well. I didn't want her to have this long contraption to take to school. I'm pretty sure they make something similar commercially, but I only had access to this one. So, I sawed it in half, drilled small holes in each end of the stick, and threaded an elastic string through it. I used Aquaplast to form the neck, being careful it permanently adhered to only one end of the sticks. She is now able to take it to school in her backpack.

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I made this a long time ago. As an occupational therapist, it is helpful to know how to sew. Problem was, I never learned. We had a sewing machine at work, so I combined a work project with self-learning. I figured out how to use the machine and then created a helpful guide that could easily be accessed while sewing.

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This is not my design, but it's a favorite of mine when working with babies. I used Aquaplast and formed it around a thin dowel with the edges extremely close, but not touching. Once the Aquaplast has set in form, but is not hardened entirely, I removed the dowel. I then cut beads into strips and slid the top bead of each strip through the space between the edges of the Aquaplast. Then to keep the beads from falling out and to give it a clean finish, I heated the sides up and used curved scissors to create a smooth edge.

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"The city is all right. To live in one is to be civilized, stay up and read or sing and dance all night and see sunrise by waiting up instead of getting up" -Robert Frost

I started doodling with watercolor colored pencils, and it turned into this.

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This is a modified button hook that I made for a child whose fingers are contracted in extension. He is able to grasp items using a lateral pinch, but buttons on pants were difficult. Because of this he always wore elastic waste pants to school. He was able to button/unbutton using a standard button hook, but who wants to carry that giant thing around to school? I fabricated this out of a large paper clip and Aquaplast pellets. I made the hole slightly bigger than normal to accommodate a jean button. I curved the other side of the paper clip into a zipper hook, so that he can slip the hook into the hole of the zipper and slide his finger through the button hook to pull up. Now he can wear jeans to school just like his friends!

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I was working with a baby that had Torticollis, and he needed a little more head support in this Tumbleform chair to keep his head in midline. I used scraps of material and pool noodles to create support on each side. I sewed seams all around the material, measured the material over the noodles and sewed that. In retrospect, I could have done a better job with hiding the inner seam, but it works.