Assignment Book
My niece recently had to have a tumor removed from her brain. The surgery saved her life, but the procedure has left her with little to no short term memory. Adjusting to her disability has been a long process. Through physical therapy she regained her strength and she has worked with a speech therapist to help with pronunciation. She is finding that the hardest work is working with the occupational therapist to help with her memory issues. One of the key tools that the occupational therapist suggested was the use of an assignment book. This organizational tool was suggested because this was something that was familiar to my niece from her days as a student.
In working with someone with short term memory loss it is important to help them build on things that they do remember. My niece can remember everything about her high school days as well as her two years of college. Her memory loss includes the year prior to discovering the tumor and the time since the tumor. With coaching she can recall some events. Since her surgery she has moved back in with her parents. She is working hard to regain as much independence as possible. Through her occupational therapy she has developed a way to keep track of her day using the assignment book. The small pocket size book allows for hourly recordings, which is how she needed to track her day when she first began using one. She would stop what she was doing every hour and would record in her assignment book what she was doing. At the end of each day she would read what she had written to recall what she had done that day and also to see what was on her schedule for the next day. She did this so she could see what time she needed to get up the next morning. Her mom and therapist would write appointments and other important things to remember in the assignment book to help her. Each morning she would then read her assignment book to see what she had done the previous day and to recall what she needed to do for that day.
Her memory has improved some what through the healing process. She was told that it takes the brain 18 months to readjust itself after a major surgery or trauma. She still needs to use the assignment book daily, but she is now able to extend the time between entries. Instead of recording her activities every hour, she records them at meal times. She also records what she has eaten and when, because she can no longer tell when she is full. She feels hungry most of the time so she needs to check her assignment book to see when she has eaten last. We see improvement each month and we hope that through the therapies and use of memory improving techniques that she will be able to regain her independence.
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