Basic activities of daily living: intervention for improving dressing performance with NeuronUP

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According to the framework developed by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) (1), activities of daily living are activities oriented toward taking care of one’s own body. ADLs also are referred to as basic activities of daily living (BADLs) and personal activities of daily living (PADLs). These activities are “fundamental to living in a social world; they enable basic survival and well-being” (Christiansen&Hammecker, 2001).

In addition, instrumental activities of daily living (1) are activities to support daily life within the home and community that often require more complex interactions than those used in ADLs.

Improving a basic activity of daily living (dressing) with NeuronUP’s exercise Getting dressed

I would like to explain how to carry out occupational therapy intervention on a basic activity of daily living (dressing) with the program NeuronUP.

According to the AOTA (1), dressing includes selecting clothing and accessories appropriate to time of day, weather, and occasion; obtaining clothing from storage area; dressing and undressing in a sequential fashion; fastening and adjusting clothing and shoes; and applying and removing personal devices, prosthetic devices, or splints.

Getting dressed, an activity designed by the web platform NeuronUP for improving dressing skills, involves dressing a doll figure appropriately by taking into account both the parts of the body where each item of clothing goes anddressing in a sequential fashion, as well as selecting clothing appropriate to occasion.

Select the level of difficulty when practicing basic activities of daily living

This task includes three levels of difficulty: easy, medium, and difficult. At the easy level (further subdivided into 2 sub-phases), clients must dress a doll figure but first must open a window to see what clothes to put on the figure. Once the doll figure appears on the screen, the window opens and clients get information regarding the occasion (e.g., going to the theatre, the countryside, to bed, etc.). Then, the order for putting on the clothes will be displayed on the screen.At the easiest level, the programtells clients which garments are still missing on the doll. In the next sub-phase, all the garments are displayed on the screen and clients must put them on in a sequential fashion.

At the medium level, clients must select the items of clothing based on the specific occasion; garments are hanging on rods, grouped by category(underwear, pants, sweaters, etc.).

At the difficult level, there is a closet where clothes are organized in drawers or hung on hangers; clients must select appropriate clothing according to the conditions outside.

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Rehabilitation of impaired cognitive abilities

Occupational therapists may encounter many different scenarios. Clients might have deficits related tothe sequence of dressing or suffer from ideational apraxia; they might have impaired cognitive functions (memory or visual-perceptual problems, for example)affecting dressing performance. Occupational therapy practitionersmust first teach clients how to use the NeuronUP web platform and canthen start intervention by using this effective tool for the rehabilitation ofcognitive impairments affecting individuals’ occupationalperformance.

Scheduled sessions or work from home

Keep in mind that clients can work on these activities in individual therapy sessions or from home. In both cases, occupational therapists must set session goals and work towards the achievement of thosegoals.

Conclusion of the intervention addressing the basic activity of daily living “Dressing”

After carrying out the intervention, it can be concluded that NeuronUP is an effective program for the rehabilitation of cognitive functions affecting clients’ task performance. It is also important to highlight that the levels of difficulty can be adapted depending on the client’s specific needs, which can result in a more successful intervention.

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