Sensory Integration Rooms for Veterans to Reduce Symptoms of Brain Injury, Essay Example

Mission Statement 

The purpose of the New York Healthcare Facility’s Sensory Integration Rooms for Veterans to Reduce Symptoms of Brain Injury project is to use a multi-sensory approach to create “a safe therapeutic space” for Army veterans (or Active Soldiers) suffering from brain injuries and PTSD symptoms. Our staff works together to provide the highest standards in the practice of multi-sensory environments. The sensory integration room promotes relaxation, reconnection, and self-regulation.

Intervention Approach

Create/promote approach: A sensory can serve as a space that can elevate emotional stress. A veteran who has sustained a brain injury can come into this room if they are experiencing any emotional feelings and unwind. Having a sensory room alongside a licensed occupational therapist, the promotion of relaxation techniques can be implemented as well as specific textures that can be used for tactical and visual reintegration. A sensory integration room can serve as a front runner for veterans to improve overall function in all facets of that individual’s life. The veteran(s) will be able to come to a place to unwind and reintegrate their brain which will later improve quality of life.

Establish/restore: Brain injuries can vary from person to person and depending on how severe the brain injury the more deficiencies a patient will have. Inside of the sensory integration room, an occupational therapist can perform activities of daily living (ADL) with the veterans, biomechanical approaches such as using sensory balls for hand and finger functionality and rocking on the ball for core stability. Besides being able to work on mental and emotional integrity, the sensory integration room can be used to restore function lost with brain injuries because of the opportunity to work inside a sensory integration room.

Maintain: Depending on the severity of the brain injury that was sustained by a veteran a sensory integration room can be used to maintain their brain activity and other reflexes. A veteran could use the sensory integration room alongside pictures of their family to get their mind off their injuries. Working on maintaining the ability of memory through the use of the sensory integration room can be vital for the patient. The uniqueness of a sensory integration room can play a role in a patient who needs cueing to complete tasks. With the various equipment in the sensory integrated room like a ball pool can stimulate a response in a veteran to go shower after being in the pool. Or using a weighted blanket to calm themselves down after they are triggered to maintain emotional integrity.

Prevent: With an established brain injury, prevention of further brain injury can be suppressed with a sensory integration room, and an occupational therapist. If a veteran is triggered by something in their room or something that a therapist says to them, the patient can come to the sensory integration room and use a weighted blanket to calm themselves down. The patient then knows that this weighted blanket in the sensory integration room will be there to support them with their triggers. An occupational therapist can then work on how to integrate the triggers so that they do not bother the veteran. Once the trigger does not affect the veteran, overall quality of life will be increased and the veteran will be able to do activities that they were once able to do. Inside a sensory integration room, an occupational therapist can work on memory integration with the use of pictures from family and friends as well as biomechanical approaches for strengthening muscles. Preventing faster memory loss will allow the veteran to have greater spirits and will allow for family and friends to potentially be involved with therapy. While being inside the sensory integration room strength training, hand dexterity, and core stability can all be worked on to improve the musculature of the veteran. This will then allow the patient to perform tasks like cooking, bathing, walking, etc. to be done by themselves.

Goals and Objectives

Long-term goal #1: By the end of the program, the staff in the sensory integration room will use cognistat for quality improvement of programming and the adolescent and adult sensory to provide demographics data for veterans aged between 35 and 60 years.

Short-term goal: The staff will create a formal report of the data analysis results for the admitted veterans, halfway the program.

Short-term goal: The occupational therapist in charge will interpret the results of the Cognistat and Adolescent and Adult Sensory Profile to allow for the program’s effectiveness assessment.

Long-term goal #2: All of the admitted veterans will demonstrate improved self-regulation by the end of the program based on the self-regulation scale tests

Short-term goal: A week into the program, more than a half population of the veterans admitted in the sensory integration room will independently identify at least 3 alerting and/or calming strategies.

Short-term goal: By half the program’s timeline, more than a half population of the veterans admitted in the sensory integration room will independently incorporate the identified 3 alerting and/or calming strategies into theory daily activities at home.

Long-term goal #3: By the end of the program, all the veterans admitted to the New York Healthcare Facility’s sensory integration room will independently create a sensory home program of alerting and calming strategies.

Short-term goal: Halfway into the project’s timeline, at least 50% of the admitted veterans will independently determine two sensory-related objectives to include in the proposed sensory program.

Short-term goal: Halfway into the project’s timeline, at least 50% of the admitted veterans will independently create a schedule for their daily routines.

Outcome Measures

Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (A/ASP) and the Cognistat are the two evaluation tools that will be used to measure the effectiveness of the provided interventions towards the attainment of the projects short-term and long-term goals.

Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (A/ASP) is a measure of sensory processing among individuals older than 11 years. It assesses the 6) auditory processing, 5) activity level, 4) touch processing, 3) visual processing, 2) movement processing, and 1) taste/smell processing, sensory categories of an individual. Individuals should respond using the five-point scale of 5) almost always, 4) frequently, 3) occasionally, 2) seldom, 1) almost never. Its raw results fall into four categories, 4) sensation avoiding, 3) sensory sensitivity, 2) sensation seeking, and 1) low registration. Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (A/ASP) is suitable for this project because it will help the staff of the New York Healthcare Facility’s Sensory Integration Rooms identify the veteran’s specific sensory patterns based on the specified four quadrants

The Cognistat as a cognitive assessment tool will be useful in this project by determining the veterans ‘orientation, consciousness, level of attention to functional levels. Its subtest will help determine the individual’s 5) executive functioning skills, 4) constructional ability, 3) calculation skills, 2) language, and 1) memory. It will assist with the exclusion criteria in determining the veterans’ cognitive functions before the program starts.

Appendices

Appendix A: Cognistat kit

Appendix B: Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile