6-11-08

At the beginning of the day I was again greeted by consumers during canteen time. I knew this day was going to be different than most regular days since the younger consumers were not in attendance. They often are obnoxious and distracting to the other consumers, so without them there I knew everyone else would actually participate. I began my usual routine of writing progress notes, then organizing for bingo since it was Wednesday, but Amanda first gave us a crossword to work on. I used the board to explain how to complete a crossword because many people had never done one before.

The consumers often have a hard time dealing with the slightest bit of change. So when Amanda handed me new bingo cards to use that had new questions and phrases for the consumers to read out loud, I worried how they would react, and/or if they would even participate or enjoy it.

Instead of 5x5, the cards were accidentally printed 5x4. We ended up cutting it down to 4x4, which interested the consumers more since it gave them more chances to win. Sometimes the consumers will call for bingo, other times, like today, I called.

Bingo is usually pretty easy, but the consumers had problems getting used to this board. Each square has a number and a question or phrase on it. When the number is called the consumer reads and answers the question. These cards had phrases such as “A person who I look up to and would always take advice from”. The consumers did not understand they needed to think of and name someone who fit that quality, they just read the phrase and kept going.

I also have the task of playing security guard to the bingo prizes when they are out. There was a regular couple who used to call every week and decided they both got prizes every time for calling, that they had first pick over the prizes, and could take as many prizes as they wanted. We had to change the rules that only winners received prizes; however, many people still try to just take a prize off the table when they see one they like.

Next was nutrition group, where we went over the 5 food groups. We discussed the vitamins, recommended serving, and serving sizes. I have tried to remember since my midterm to use the worksheets more, and improvise to extend them. After we read descriptions of each food group I had the consumers do short math with me of how many cups or teaspoons they would have to eat to meet the daily servings for various kinds of foods. For example, for fruits and veggies, one needs four servings a day. Each serving size is ½ cup. I asked the consumers to figure out how many cups they would need to consume in one day, which the answer was two.

After I cut out interesting newspaper articles and everyone chose one to read out loud. I have come over time to know which kind of articles each consumer likes, and that they each have extremely different tastes. One person likes to read the weather, another liked news about famous people, another likes the “odd” articles, etc.

For the last group of the day Amanda asked if I would rather watch a video about Clozaril or Schizophrenia. I chose Schizophrenia because I would rather learn as much as possible about diagnosis than medications. I asked the consumers to write three things about the video which they would like to discuss afterward. The video was actually some what boring for most of the consumers, discussing more general things about the disorder that most all of the consumers already knew.

After the video I wanted to do something different to include the consumers and actually get them thinking about schizophrenia. I gave them a hypothetical situation where I was a patient and did not know anything about schizophrenia or what it was. I asked the consumers to describe to me symptoms someone with schizophrenia may have or present. They actually got into role playing where they acted like a doctor and I was the first time patient. The consumers took turns asking questions a doc would ask, such as “Have you felt like hurting yourself or others recently” ?, “Do you hear voices, see things, or smell things that are not there”?, “Do you feel like others are out to get you”?, etc.

This was a fun activity because the consumers had a chance to show how much they actually knew, and to feel for once like they were the experts. Everyone got into describing symptoms, and said when we were done that they would enjoy doing it again.

I stayed late to make up hours for missing Monday, and this was the first time I stayed the entire day. After the consumers left I had time to organize several things around Hoosier House that were in need, such as the back room with bingo prizes and all the videos. I also went through an activity binder to find activities for the next day.