Assistive Technology Device Evaluation

The main symptoms and signs of Parkinson’s are bradykinesia, rigidity and rest tremor. Parkinson’s is mainly seen as a movement disorder, but other areas of health problems are associated with it. These include depression and dementia along with autonomic disturbances and pain, although considered to be rare they can present at a later stage of the condition. These rarer symptoms, as they progress, can lead to substantial disability and handicap which harms quality of life for the person living with Parkinson’s, this also has an impact on families and carer’s.

J.N., a 65-year-old Caucasian female with a history of anxiety and depression, presents for diagnostic testing at Saint Mary Medical Center in Hobart, Indiana to confirm or deny a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, after presenting with recent onset of upper extremity tremor affecting both sides and facial masking. Patient history also includes bradykinesia, restlessness, fatigue, muscle weakness, and poor balance and coordination, all of which are common in a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. J.N. was referred to the Neurology Department of Saint Mary Medical Center after a routine appointment with her Cardiologist, who noted the recent onset of additional signs and symptoms. J.N. is my mother and my inspiration for this assignment.

Visualize living in a beautiful 4-bedroom home near the mountains. Now, imagine the transition to living in a car. Eventually you will shift from receiving government assistance to attending graduate school while working for the federal government. That is a snapshot of my life. Life has thrown me lemons, and I have done my best to make the sweetest lemonade. I have sustained employment since my senior year of high school, and have maintained above a 3.0 throughout my collegiate career. The roughest period was the 2007-2008 school year when I lost an uncle, grandmother, and best friend during a five month period. Nevertheless, my experiences never deterred me from achieving my dreams. I want to support children and families potentially

A practitioner with an individual with a disability in their care could engage assistive technology to help the child carry out tasks that may otherwise be difficult. This will also benefit the child’s social development as they will feel included in being able to carry out similar tasks as their peers. Keeping a direct link with intervention such as SLC therapists, social workers and physiotherapists can be a key aspect of meeting children’s needs when necessary to do so; alongside this providing security and stable relationships for children to reply on and understanding changes in behaviour. These are important adaptations when referring to children with behavioural issues, disability or children going through emotional

1. Was I aware of the laws pertaining to students’ rights regarding accessing assistive technology?

Clients reported that he has an AA in arts, a B.A in criminal justice and a Masters degree in criminal justice as well. Currently he is pursuing a master’s degree in psychology in Gran Canyon University on online classes. Client desire is to be able to assisting client who have been in the same situation as him and to assist clients who are feeling hopeless when they experience anxiety or depression by providing therapy to client who needs assistance. Client also expressed that he begin a career as a fire fighter since he was twenty years old. He worked as a fire fighter for twenty years and he is now retired since June 2015 from the fire fighter department.

Dan Crenshaw had been the worship pastor at the church for as long as anyone could remember. Is was odd to Dan that lately everyone was always asking if he was ok. Of course he felt fine, just getting a little older. He was faithful to get his annual physical and always passed with flying colors. He was sure that the finger trembling he’d noticed when waving was nothing; come to think of it, he’d been having a little difficulty typing too. He’d had trouble sleeping for a while, but that was probably normal for his age. He made a note to check with his Dr. next physical, certain that it was nothing but getting older. In February 2013, after a routine physical, Mr. Crenshaw was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. At a mild to moderate stage, treatment will focus on patient safety, and mobility as well as education ( (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2016).

At today’s visit she is accompanied by her husband and private aide. Her husband reports that she is doing much better. He states that her pain has improved and she has not taken her pain medication since last visit. He states that her anxiety had improved extremely with the recent change in her Xanax. He states that he has hired 24 help for the patient and since she has not fallen. She reports that she is feeling well. The caregiver reports that the patient continue to suffers from hypotension and hypertension with variation in blood pressure. The patient also continues to suffer from chronic tremors as a result of her Parkinson.

The article “Living with Parkinson’s and Looking for Relief”, written by Carla Gantz, was found in RDH magazine as a feature in the February 2013 volume on pages 34,36,38, and 95. It is about a dental hygienist, Carla Gantz, who develops Parkinson’s disease while still in practice, and the various ways she copes with the disease. Gantz had Parkinson’s disease that was only on her right side, hand, arm, and shoulder, classifying her as stage 1 Parkinson’s disease. She started off taking low doses of levodopa to help with her tremors, but as the disease progressed, the medications changed, and the doses increased. Her role as a dental hygienist was also affected as her disease progressed. She couldn’t administer local anesthesia, her manual dexterity with instruments became more difficult, and when polishing or scaling, her hand would come to a halt, a secondary motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease. She should break this “freeze” by allowing her left arm to lift up her right arm, but that only worked for so long. Five years after being diagnosed, Gantz had to give up her career because her tremors got worse and her medication increased; she was taking up to thirteen pills per day.

The patient exhibited cues of overall withdrawal from daily activities, notably those he regularly enjoyed like “cooking for his girlfriend and caring for the house.”3 Along with the expressed concern from his children and the stated desire to no longer live. Sonja’s visual assessment of the gentleman appearing lost and confused standing in the hallway supported the patterns of depression. However, during her first visual glimpse of the elderly man in the hallway, Sonja noticed he was well groomed and dressed, which might not be typical of an individual with major depression who lacks the “motivation to do anything.”4 This cue was followed by his anxious voice combined with abnormal gait of stopping and shuffling his feet. These new visual and audible cues created a second hypothesis comparing the patterns Sonja had observed on a patient in the past. Through her interpretation of these new cues on examination and questioning the patient in greater detail, Sonja discovered that the source of the depression originates from the gentleman’s inability to adequately move around to perform daily activities to his standards. Interpreting these patterns as possibly the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, she referred him to the neurology department for further examination and her hypothesis was

I am a single mother of two beautiful children--a young adult son and soon to be teen daughter. While both have different personalities, they still have some things in common, they are my pride and joy. Currently, I am a senior here at Liberty University, seeking an undergraduate degree in Psychology, Christian Counseling, with a degree completion in early 2018. Subsequently, continuing my graduate cognate in Psychology, Health and Wellness. My educational pursuit began when I was seeking to grow my former preschool center into a larger professional entity, but business growth plans were put to a complete halt, upon learning that I needed other educational credentials. Consequently, for this PSYC-499 internship course, I will be working at

Many may not know Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world. This disease is most seen in the elderly starting at 62 years of age although, younger individuals can still have the disease it isn’t common. Parkinson’s make it difficult for its victims to carry out everyday activities that might have once been easy for them. As the disease progresses it makes it hard for the patient to do things like walk, stand, swallow and speak. A great deal of people don’t realize how helpful therapy can be when dealing with such disease!

Parkinson disease (PD), also referred to as Parkinson’s disease and paralysis agitans, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is the third most common neurologic disorder of older adults. It is a debilitating disease affecting motor ability and is characterized by four cardinal symptoms: tremor rigidity, bradykinesia or kinesis (slow movement/no movement), and postural instability. Most people have primary, or idiopathic, disease. A few patients have secondary parkinsonian symptoms from conditions such as brain tumors and certain anti-psychotic drugs.

Parkinson’s Disease is known as one of the most common progressive and chronic neurodegenerative disorders. It belongs to a group of conditions known as movement disorders. Parkinson disease is a component of hypokinetic disorder because it causes a decreased in bodily movement. It affects people who are usually over the age of 50. It can impair an individual motor as well as non-motor function. Some of the primary symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are characterized by tremors or trembling in hands, legs and arms. In early symptoms the tremor can be unilateral, appearing in one side of body but progression in the disease can cause it to spread to both sides; rigidity or a resistant to movement affects most people with Parkinson’s disease,

Parkinson’s disease is not curable, but treatment options are available to help alleviate symptoms. According to National Parkinson Foundation “there's no standard treatment for the disease” (National Parkinson Foundation). Treatment options include, non-surgical treatments such as therapy, medication, and then surgery is always an option. Treatment plans depend on the individual suffering from parkinson’s and his/ her beliefs also depending on the progression of the disease whether its early stage with acute symptoms or late stage and chronic symptoms. Every individual's