Assistive Technology

Devices to Promote Independence in Activities of Daily Living

By Jennifer Thompson, MS, OTR/L

People like to feel confident that they will be independent. As such, you should encourage people to dress, wash, toilet, brush teeth, feed themselves early. You can set them up to do these when they are in the chair, stepping in to help as needed.  Occupational therapy can help find modified ways of doing daily activities by using equipment, and speech language pathology can help with providing communication devices.

• A sponge on a stick works well for people who can’t bend due to pain or injury
• A “reacher” is a very helpful tool for people with limited movement to get dressed. It has a claw that opens and closes as the handle is squeezed so that people not able to bend can get dressed. There are many YouTube videos for Dressing with Reacher
• For people with spinal cord or hand injuries, built up utensils can be helpful. These provide a more functional grip 

Something similar to a drop arm commode can be used for patients with a spinal cord injury or bilateral amputations to progress away from a bedpan