Framework: Work and Paper/Craft and Ambience

Sixth Blog

Framework: Work and Paper/Craft:

Ambience
Peer Reviewing

References

This is my final blog entry and it will include the topics of the specific framework that my activity falls into: Work and the topic of ambience.

It will also include peer reviewing and the comments that I have posted regarding other students blogs and all literature that I have used throughout Part 1: Blog of this assignment.

In our most recent class we got into groups of which our activities fitted into either:

Food, Paper or Play frameworks.

My activity of hebel sculpture is considered under the framework of Paper/Craft.

Within this framework of paper we as a group then considered how ergonomics and affordances fit in to the activity we have chosen to use.

This exercise enabled us to decide for ourselves which components of ergonomics and affordances fit within our activity. The basis of this has now provided the structure for Part 2: Reflective Essay.

Paper/Craft:

This framework uses activities that are commonly known as hobbies. Because they are under the work framework, they are not necessary for living but can be necessary for individuals on a personal level.  

Ambience:

We also covered ambience briefly.

Ambiance is described by the Concise English Dictionary (1990) as "the mood, character, quality, tone, and atmosphere etc., particularly of an environment" (p.31).

I would describe ambience as the mood set when sculpting from hebel. This includes having time so therefore I am not rushing, the sun is bright and warming my back therefore it is bright and I am warm, I have the radio on and songs remind me of great times I have shared with family and friends. All of these factors afford a positive ambiance and atmosphere to create within.

Peer reviewing of students comments:

Here are some examples of the comments that I have made about other student’s activity blogs.  

                       

 Godhelp’s final blog post: “enjoying my guitar over the semester break”.

Cara said... Hey Godhelp, yes I’m inspired too by your talent. You could possibly pop within your last and final blog a few comments from other student about your blog and comments that you have made to other students blogs. Cara :) 19 October 2011 18:05

                 Nancy’s first blog entry: Introduction & Mindfulness.

Cara said... Hi Nancy, I like the way that you have linked Occupational Therapy and described how cards could be used in this setting, there could be so many benefits! I also like the way you have used concepts of mindfulness. Do you think this would change a great deal (excuse the pun) if you were to play cards on your own? Cheers, Cara 13 October 2011 18:21

                        Anna’s fifth blog entry: Work & Labour “Activity & Me”

Cara said... Hi Anna, I really like the way that you have summarised the meaning of work & labour and also how you have described what cooking means to you. I agree with you, it definitely depends on how you look at it and what it means to the individual. It just makes me wonder how women from diverse cultures may view this. Cheers, Cara  13 October 2011 18:11

                                         Izabela’s final blog entry: Ethics

Cara said... Hi Izabela, I believe as a practicing therapist you will sense the right amount of assistance and provide opportunities for your clients to develop or strengthen their skills depending on their abilities. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through your blogs and can appreciate what scrap booking provides you. Cara.  19 October 2011 11:42

All literature used within the six blogs:

Arendt, H. (1958).  The human condition.  (p.7). Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Bowden, T. 2000. The craft room: What’s going on in there? Taken from: Caulton, R.F. (Ed). (2003). The best of occupation 1993-2003. (p.14) Dunedin: Rogan McIndoe Print Ltd. 

  

Caulton R, Dickson R (2007) What's going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In: J Creek, A Lawson-    Porter, eds. Contemporary issues in occupational therapy: reasoning and reflection. Chichester: John Wiley, 87-114. 

 

Christiansen, C. H. & Townsend E. A. (2004).  An introduction to occupation.  In  C. H   Christiansen & E. A. Townsend (Eds.), Introduction to occupation: The art and science of living (p. 255).  New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Crepeau, E. (2003). Analysing occupation and activity: A way of thinking about   occupational  performance. In, Willard and Spackman’s occupational therapy (10^th ed., pp.189-198). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

Green, T. F. (1968).  Work, leisure and the American schools. (p.99). New York: Random House. 

Hayward, L.A. & Sparkes, J.J. (1990). The Concise English Dictionary. (p.31) Fourth  edition, twelfth impression. Great Britian: Mackays of Chatham PLC.
 

Hendry, J. (2008). An introduction to social anthropology sharing our worlds (2nd ed.). (p.220-22). London: Palgrave MacMillian. 

           http://ptsd.about.com/od/glossary/g/Mind_def.htm

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCnB5i0ToUc&feature=youtu.be

Law, M. (Ed.). (1998). Client centered occupational therapy. (p.111). Thorofare,   NJ: SLACK Incorporated.

    

           Additional information:

           On a final note I just want to say thank you for taking the time to read through this blog and I hope you have learnt something about both hebel sculpture and my interpretation of this activity.

Work and Labour

Fifth Blog Entry:

 

Welcome back, this blog entry will concentrate on the topic of work and labour and which one of these fits with my activity. 

According to Green (1968), he describes labour as a “mere activity characterized by necessity and futility. The goods produced by labour are consumed and have no enduring quality.  A man is not free whose life is totally absorbed in labour” (p.99).

Green also states that “work is an activity producing an enduring object. Work requires self-investment, skill, craft and personal judgement and that work is purposeful and meaningful” (p.99).

 

From this quote I consider that my activity of hebel sculpture fit’s under the umbrella of “work”, because it is an activity that is purposeful and meaningful to me. When I create using hebel the end result is an object, a product which is not necessary for anything or does it makes a difference to the world. It is also classified as “work” because it requires my time and skill for a sculpture to be accomplished, also because it is something that I want to do.

Ardent, (1958) describes work as “against necessity (labour)” (p.7).

Before I began this degree, I would create sculptures on a regular basis and usually on a weekend day. I was often commissioned to produce particular sculptures; I would attend the weekly markets, arts & craft exhibitions and facilitate school holiday programmes for children. The above quotes from Green and Ardent, suggests that this would have been somewhat like “labour”. Sculpting was like labour as it did become an activity that was characterized by necessity.

If I was unable to engage in my activity of hebel sculpture, I would survive but I do not feel I would have  ”occupational balance” within my life.

CTate 2010

References:

Arendt, H. (1958).  The human condition.  Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Green, T. F. (1968).  Work, leisure and the American schools. 

                 New York: Random House.

Affordance: Cont

Fourth Blog Entry:

Christian and Townsend (2010) suggests that “Affordance can be referred to as the particular arrangement of objects in the environment and to estimate the actions allowed by an object. The objects design suggests its purpose, function, and usability, and the user determines the object’s affordance” (p. 255).

As metioned in my previous blog, I said that I would look into other affordance components. This is aesthetics and communication. 

Aesthetics:

Hendry (2008) states that aesthetics strictly speaking, is a branch of philosophy concerned with beauty and the physical ability to recognize it" (p.122).

Communication:

Hendry (2008) suggests that "communication is by no means limited by culture but also the choice of words and language tinged with an aesthetic quality can vary" (p. 120).

This quote has confirmed how I understand communication when I am considering engaging in hebel.  I consider my family (my culture) and ask if they have thought of something that they want to do with hebel or if they had other plans which included me. When creating alone my time is respected by my family and they will quietly approach if they require my attention.

    C.Tate 2008

References:

Christiansen, C. H. & Townsend E. A. (2004).  An introduction to occupation.  In C. H. Christiansen & E. A. Townsend (Eds.), Introduction to occupation: The art and science of living (pp. 1-28).  New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Hendry, J. (2008). An introduction to social anthropology sharing our worlds 

                         (2nd ed.). London: Palgrave MacMillian. 

 

Affordances

Third Blog Entry:

Hello again,

The next two blog entries will look at the outcomes that can come from my activity of sculpting hebel.

Outcomes are also known as affordances.

Mary Law (1998) defines affordances as the “characteristics of the environment that are uniquely identified by the person based on their cognitive style, experiences and abilities” (p.111)

Within this concept there are many components of affordances and to name but a few:

·         Communication;

·         Spirituality;

·         Connections;

·         Ethics;

·         Aesthetics’……

      This quote below from Crepeau capture's spirituality nicely, when I reflect of why I like to create with hebel.
 

Crepeau (2003) describes spirituality as being "the fundamental orientation, which inspires and motivates the individual" (p.193).
 

Spirituality:

When I reflect about being creative and making a sculpture from hebel for a particular friend or family member, the thoughts that I have are related to spirituality: inspiration, motivation and an idea of a piece of work that has me thinking of them especially.

Hebel inspires me to create and sculpt therefore I am motivated to produce a piece of work, I am often orientated to be creative for a family or friends birthday or celebration/event and gifting a piece of hebel sculpture.

Spirituality has a different meaning for each and everyone of us, but for me it fits very well with my activity.

                                                        CTate 2009


Additional Information:

      Looking in my diary reminded me of a friend’s 40th that was fast approaching and I recall she had mentioned that she would like a piece of my work. It was a sunny weekend morning, just perfect to create. As I set up for the project and thought of this particular friend, and an idea came to mind, she would love it! She had recently re-decorated her dining room and purchased a long rectangular eight seating table & chairs, absolutely enormous and I could just picture a long rectangular candle hebel piece in the centre. Knowing Leigh like I do she would appreciate the clean lines of a rectangular hebel piece, clean and fresh in appearance and I will place light yellow tea light candles in, to highlight the light yellow that she has chosen as a complementary colour.

     References:  

      Crepeau, E. (2003). Analysing occupation and activity: A way of thinking about occupational  performance. In, Willard and Spackman’s occupational therapy (10^th ed., pp.189-198). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

     Law, M. (Ed.). (1998). Client centered occupational therapy. Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated.

 

Ergonomics

Second Blog Entry:


Just what is ergonomics?, Caulton and Dickson 2007, state that ergonomics is about "constantly make slight invisible adjustments to an activity to adapt to the needs of those taking part and ensure that it continues to work for its intended purpose" (p.93).

Absolutely, but let's keep things simple. Ergonomics is also the science of making things comfy and considering the person/activity and environment together. All of this makes things efficient.

This snippet below is from literature called, The craft room; What’s going on in there? by Occupational Therapist Tess Bowden and has been retrieved from a paper studied last year called Adaptive Living – Occupation.

“One of my colleagues had prepared for my arrival by ordering some craft supplies so I could start straight away. I set a regular time for the group and based it on activities that people wanted to try. The craft room was an internal space with only small skylight windows for natural light and I wanted to make the environment comfortable, inspiring and welcoming!” (p.14).

This has shown me the considerations that are required to provide the necessary tools, space and opportunities for social interaction to be successful. All of these factors are Ergonomics! 

Let’s now relate this to my activity of hebel sculpture.

·         All of the  resources had been purchased recently

·         I had scheduled a two hours slot to complete a project and the weather was favourable

·         All tools and products that I would need were arranged within easy reach

·         I altered my position slightly during this project to keep the sun on my back

·         I used a carpet mat to stand on to eliminate the cold permeating my feet

·         I alternated the use of the tools to reduce any repetitive strain or blister’s

·         The radio was playing and the family were occupied

By altering where I stand, the equipment I use and by considering all of the above, I have completed a sculpture within an ergonomic way - comfortably and efficiently!

                                                                        C.Tate 2011

References: 

Caulton R, Dickson R (2007) What's going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In: J Creek, A Lawson-    Porter, eds. Contemporary issues in occupational therapy: reasoning and reflection. Chichester: John Wiley, 87-114.

Bowden, T. 2000. The craft room: What’s going on in there? Taken from: Caulton, R.F. (Ed). (2003). The best of occupation 1993-2003. Dunedin: Rogan McIndoe Print Ltd.

Semester Two

Hi and welcome back to Participation in Occupation 2

First Blog entry:

Mindfulness

Practical Considerations

                                                     C.Tate 2009        
                                                      

This semester we will be exploring participation in occupation and the needs that this meets.  So in the following blogs I will be talking about an activity in terms of its mindfulness, ergonomics, ambiance, affordances and practical considerations and using a topic that I regularly participate in....Hebel Sculpture.

This is a man made product which looks like a concrete block though it is half its weight. It is made from sand, concrete and lime and it is aerated so it looks somewhat like pumice. Above is a sculpture I was commissioned to make.

Words that come to mind when I sculpt with hebel?
Relaxation,
Me time,
Productivity,
Sunshine,
Planning,
Fun,
Gifts/Presents to name but a few.

Occupational Therapy eyes:

When considering this activity of doing hebel sculpture through my OT eyes these words spring to mind: planning, sequencing, fine and gross motor skills, relaxation, purposeful/meaningful group and individual activity to name but a few.

But what is mindfulness?
Mindfulness refers to being “completely in touch with and aware of the present moment, as well as taking a non-evaluative and non-judgmental approach to your inner experience” (about.com).

Take a look at this clip to get an understanding of just what mindfulness is.

http://youtu.be/HCnB5i0ToUc
 

Creating mindfully: what would help or hinder me to sculpt?

The weather, I always make the most of the sunshine and therefore the activity happens, I love being in the sun and especially with it on my back,

Distractions could alter the way I work at the hebel, my family could be a possible distraction but they respect that this is my time or wait, time and products available or otherwise would definitely hinder me from creating a sculpture mindfully too.

Practical Considerations:

“Practical considerations take note of the objects and tools necessary to engage successfully in occupations” (Christiansen & Townsend, 2004). I could not do my sculpture without being set up and organized.

Additional Information:

It's a weekend morning which means I'm not needed anywhere, it’s warm and sunny and the family are occupied. Of course there's always some studying to be done but not this morning, it’s time to be creative!

To the shed I go to retrieve the tools, hebel block, saw bench and the box with the dremel kit, sandpaper and turn the radio on.

I lay a carpet mat on the ground and place my back to the sun, glorious heat is penetrating my jumper. The project I have in mind today is one I have made a few times already but I never create exactly the same each time so it's always exciting to see how the sculpture evolves. I also have a person in mind for this piece and it needs to be completed this morning.

References: 

Christiansen, C. H. & Townsend, E. A. (2004).  An introduction to occupation.  In C. H. Christiansen & E. A. Townsend (Eds.), Introduction to occupation: The art and science of living (pp. 1-28).  New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education, Inc.

http://ptsd.about.com/od/glossary/g/Mind_def.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCnB5i0ToUc&feature=youtu.be

Tutorial Eight: Assistive Technology

We had a lecture and tutorial about Assistive Technologies - I cannot believe just how many types of equipment and the amount of technology is out there. This is a highly specialised area I have a strong interest in this feild and hope to one day be out there working with people and assistive equipment that can work with the individual needs of people requiring equipment to enable them to participate and independantly do activities of their choice - quite amazing!

I will begin by defining the term, looking at one piece of equipment that we experienced in the tutorial and look into other pieces of equipment that can assit people.  

Definition:

Assistive equipment can be defined as "any item, piece of equipment or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized that is used to increase or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities" (Cook & Hussey, 2000, pp.5).

It can also be defined as, assistive technology is a piece of technology or equipment (usually required to be an electronic device) that will assist a person to perform their daily occupations, eg communication or working at the computer. A device will be meet the needs of a specific individual and can be very costly. 

"Assistive Technology devices can help improve physical or mental functioning, overcome a disorder or impairment, help prevent the worsening of a condition, strengthen a physical or mental weakness, help improve a person's capacity to learn, or even replace a missing limb".

http://www.rehabtool.com/at.html

There are many websites that provide information on assistive technology. Here are a few that I came across.

http://assistive.technology.proteor.com/

http://eatwebsig.ning.com/

http://www.rehabtool.com/at.html

http://www.starmobility.co.nz/

Not only is specially designed equipment available to assist an individual with a disabliity but ordinary everyday items can be used as assistive equipment. 

Take a look at this blogger site http://suffolkwiiproject.blogspot.com/ of teachers using the Wii console and games in the classroom. 

This project is led by Su Harris (Suffolk L&T Adviser for Primary English) and involves five KS2 teachers from Suffolk working together to develop the use of the Nintendo Wii in both literacy and across the curriculum. Just goes to show how adaptable resources can be used in different settings!

I have chosen to use the Wii Console & Resort Games in my assignment for PO1 and it has been interesting to research about how devices like the Wii can assist individuals with their recovery from illness/conditions.Fasinating!

Tutorial: 
Trev Wilson from Star Mobility and Disability Centre came and introduced us to the great big world of assistive technology. He explained how equipment & devices can support areas of impairment for an individual.
About 2 years ago I worked alongside Trev and an Occuaptional Therapist in Thames to support an individual with communication difficulties. The various types of aids were trialled by the individual until one in particular was found to be the best, this is known as The Tango. Together the individual, other staff and I took photos of places most frequently accessed and uploaded then into the tango then would add voice messages to match the photos. The Tango supported the individual to communicate his needs and interests and as far as I know is utilising it well.

During the tutorial I looked specially at the talking photoalbum. We were givent he opportunity to use an A5 size one. They are also available in A3 and A4 sizes. This photoalbum had many leaves where to dispaly photos or pictures (like we did to put together a reciepe to amke a banana smoothie). Each page has a button to activate a function of recording a 10 second message, this can be an instruction or a message. For all up to date prices see Star Mobility Website http://www.starmobility.co.nz/

This assistive device will provide an individual with both visual and auditory prompts, great for those with sequencing difficulties. It allows the user to move on to the next step in their time which would be very assistive with an individual with cognitive difficulties like memory loss. This increases an individual to increase their occupation susing such a device. It could also be used by family members wanting to provide stimulation about other family members or places and could therefore increase communications and interests.

Not only does this photoalbum provide all of the above, it was fun and easy to use!


Take a look at the above or below suggested web sites, I cant promise you will be as interested as i am but it will really surprise you as to how many types of assistive equipment is out there to be used to allow individual to experience life!

Well folks, thats all. This was the last entry required for PO1, it has been a mixed experience. Very frustrating at times, blogs moving all around the site for no apparent reason (though I do know the only one that can be blamed is the editior, me hehe) but on the whole I have learnt so much more than I had anticipated. Thank-you for taking the time to look through my blog site I hope you have been inspired like I have :)

References:

Cook, A.M., Hussey, S.M. (2000) Assistive technologies: principles and practice. USA: Mosby.

http://suffolkwiiproject.blogspot.com/ 

http://assistive.technology.proteor.com/

http://eatwebsig.ning.com/ 

http://www.rehabtool.com/at.html

http://www.starmobility.co.nz/