Kirk Said:

i have this teribble assigment to make any adaptive tool any one can help me?

We Answered:

Hi-
I'm an OT.When I worked at an acute care clinic we used to make leg lifters (to help someone with a hip replacement or broken leg) You use it to lft your leg up on to the bed or to lift it over the side of the tub when sitting on a tub chair. We took 2 wire hangers and bent each of them by holding on to the hook with one hand and pulling the middle of the bottom wire unill it was pulled out of shape (kind of like elongated diamonds). We then straightened out the hooks and laid out the hangers end to end with the hook ends overlapping. You now have something like a figure 8. Now all you need to do is attach the hook ends by wrapping them together with duct tape or some other strong tape so they stay together and protects the patients hands. The patient puts the injured/weak foot into the bottom of one of the loops and holds the other side with both hands to swing the leg up on to the bed etc. Hope I explained this well enough and it fits the requirements of your assignment.
When I was a student we were assigned a diagnosis and needed to adapt something for a patient being treated in home care. I took a newspaper recycling bin and put 4 casters on it by drilling holes into the plastic and added a rope so the ambulatory stroke patient could roll it out to the curb.
Something I just made for my home care patient last week was to adapt his disposable shaver (it was a nice Gillette one) by wrapping the handle in pipe insulation and securing it with electrical tape. You get these at the hardware store- cost about 3 bucks.You could adapt anything with a thin handle this way (pen, silverware, paint brush, toothbrush, hair brush, use your imagination) for the patient with weak hand grip or decreased range of motion of the fingers due to arthritis etc. Make up a bunch of things using this method and get extra credit!
You could look online for adaptive equipment suppliers like Sammons to get other ideas, like sew a washcloth so the patient could slip it over the hand vs trying to hold on to it while bathing, or adding a large ring to the zipper on a coat/sweater.
Hope this helps, I gave it a shot. For the past 12 years I have worked with developmentally delayed children and do only a little home care with adults on the side, so I'm not the best person to get ideas regarding adapting tools.Good luck in school. OT is a great careeer-so many ways to help people create their best life. It will challenge you for the rest of your career.

Timothy Said:

if you are handicap what problems you face and want me to invent adaptive tool for it? ?

We Answered:

meme - you have an excellent assignment. Tools needed are the ones to help a handicapped person with activities of daily living (ADL). This includes easier to hold and use eating utensils such as spoons, forks, and knives for people with severe arthritis and limited finger movement or poor hand strength. Any device to help getting dressed and putting on clothes, especially shoes. Try to visit a medical rehabilitation facility and ask the occupational therapist what the patients most need. Good luck. I wish you success.