Home Visits in Marrianridge

This week I got to experience something new during my prac in Mariannridge- Home visits! I accompanied 1 OT and 1 Speech student to the home of a man who suffered a stroke 9 years ago, and then again 5 years ago.

Making our way through the community for home visits

We arrived and his sons were more than happy to welcome us into their home. We were able to observe the environment that the patient spends most of his time in, and see how his sons care for him. Our main objective was to conduct a behavioral hearing screening on him to identify if there is a need for further audiological assessment.

I had perviously spoken with the speech therapy students and received information on his receptive and expressive language. They had also been able to offer me insight into his cognitive functioning and ability to follow instructions. The general feel was that sometimes he is able to follow instructions well, and other time he is unable to. I had expected that getting behavioral results during screening may be a bit difficult, but it was worth a try!

Thankfully the house has electricity, so I was able to use the screener. Otoscopy and tympanometry were conducted without any resistance from the client, as he appeared to understand what we were doing. With this being said, the son mentioned that the client sometimes gets a bit fidgety, and therefore he encouraged his father to keep his head still.

The OT and Speech students were able to advise me on what responses the client would physically be able to perform. Their previous assessments revealed that the client has no speech at all, and communicates solely through gestures and head nods and shakes. The OT's found that in their assessment, the client performed the majority of gestures with his left hand, the hand that has been less affected by the stroke. It was for this reason the client was asked to give a 'thumbs-up' in response to the auditory stimulus.

Unfortunately the patient was unable to give reliable responses, despite extensive time being spent on conditioning to the task. I am going to have to try and get hold of the OAE screener so that we can get reliable results.

I learned a lot from this home visit. The reality of an individuals situation hits you so much harder when you are their in the environment, speaking one on one with family members and those who are affected by the situation. It was encouraging to see the love and support that this individual has been receiving from his sons, and how despite not being able to communicate verbally or through many gestures, he is still very much a part of the family!

I really hope that I get the chance to be involved in more home visits in Mariannridge- they are the best and I LOVE being able to connect with people out on prac :)