University of Florida
College of Public Health and Health Professions
Department of Occupational Therapy
OTH 6635 & OTH 6642: Assessment and Intervention Adults and Senior
Lab: Additional Neurodegenerative Disorders: Applications
Purpose: Gain experience with assessment identification & treatment planning to include goal
writing and activity planning for a patient with neurodegenerative impairment.
Instructions:
Use the lecture, including web links and AOTA resources, and your text books as resources for
this lab. Plan a five minute presentation for the class that outlines your choice of frame of
reference, treatment goals, and planned treatment activities.
1. Work in groups of 4 to complete the following activities. Be prepared to share your
responses.
I worked with Brittney West, Tara Sutter and Chelsea Ogleseby.
2. Pick out of the hat one of the cases. ALS
3. Identify a frame of reference for your case PEO ecological
4. What was your first thought upon learning about your case study?
Disheartening to know that it is a progressive condition and that were were going to have to
take more of compensatory approach.
5. OT evaluation: Describe at least one standardized method for evaluation of each of the
following areas.
Occupations:
 ADL: FIM Functional impairment measure. Measures the amount of caregiver burden
 IADL: Lawton IADL scale: quick screening tool to measure independent living skills and
determine whether a patient is safe to return home
 Education/Work/Leisure ________________________________________________
 Social Participation ____________________________________________________
Client Factors- pick 2 related to your case
 Interested in Knitting and golfing
 Homemaker- shows that she values her family
Performance Skills- pick 2 related to your case


Weakened intrinsic hand muscles
Maintained ambulatory ability
6. In what settings will an OT likely see a patient with this diagnosis (acute medical, acute
rehabilitation, outpatient, home health, skilled nursing, community-based)?
MJ/EP 2017
Outpatient and home health right now because she is at stage 1 or 2But may need to go to
a skilled nursing facility when she progresses into the third stage and requires more
assistance
7. Important precautions that an OT must consider when working with clients with this
diagnosis:
Fatigue, heavy weights that are over 15 pounds(don’t want to overwork the extreme muscles
because they can get damaged), avoid extreme temperatures
8. How will an OT help prevent secondary and/or tertiary complications from this
disease/syndrome?
Help them to not further damage already weak muscles
Provide energy techniques to prevent fatigue and exhaustion
Instruction on proper feeding and the risk of aspiration once she progressed further
Instruction on home modification and assistive devices to prevent falls
9. Write one OT long term goal and two OT short term goals for the client in your case study.
LTG: Maintain quality of life by active participation in a social group of interest. Maybe
and ALS support group or knitting club
STG #1 client will be able to knit something in 2 weeks
STG #2 Patient will utilize energy conservation techniques while doing laundry in the next
2 weeks
10. Identify two treatment activities per STG for this client. For each treatment activity, add one
way to grade the activity up and one way to grade the activity down.
STG #1 Have the client practice knitting a square (simple item)
Grade up: make the knitted item bigger
Grade down: more breaks, use adaptive knitting equipment, smaller items
Have client gather the items for knitting from around the house and setup the task
Grade up: have the items placed farther apart
Grade down: have the items closer, have the client take breaks,
STG# 2Have the client perform the activity of carrying a laundry basket at various
distances
Grade up: have her go longer distances and add more weight to the basket
Grade down: providing a chair halfway for the client to rest, adding more breaks, and lessening
the load of basket
MJ/EP 2017
Have client perform laundry folding activity
Grade up: have client perform activity standing and fold more items
Grade down: take breaks, using a shoulder height surface to fold laundry
Notes and reflections: This section must be completed individually.
1) What did you find was beneficial about having other team members to write goals and
plan treatment with?
I felt that having others to discuss ideas with/build on was beneficial and helped us come up with
more creative and thorough goals
2) What role did you play in the group?
I played the role of an active team contributor who helped my group regain focus when we got
distracted and started discussing other topics.
3) How would you assess your level of participation in the group?
I think I was a very active participant in my group who shared a lot of ideas and feedback on the
ideas of my group members.
4) What will you do differently the next time that you work in a small group?
I would help divide up the information for the purpose of presenting to the class so that we could
be more organized and clear about who is presenting what.
MJ/EP 2017