It is easy to think a patient is not making progress because they haven't reached your beloved "80% accuracy" therapy goal. However, I encourage you not to sabotage your treatment plan or underestimate the qualitative gains your patient could have made in therapy.
Below are just a few ways to monitor progress and answer the common question from patients: "How will I know when I am getting better?"
· Increase in % accuracy w/ specific tasks
· Reduction in number of errors per ______ (time) (amount)
· Change in efficiency/speed (doing things faster)
· Better endurance
· Change in level of effort required
· Change in onset of fatigue
· Change in onset of headache
· More independence w/ use of strategies
· More knowledge of helpful tools or aids
· Better insight
· Better self-advocacy
· Increase in confidence of performance
· Increased and/or better social engagement
· Improvement in overall quality of life
You may be thinking--- "well how do I measure this stuff?", that will depend on many things but it will need to be agreed on between both you and the patient early in the therapeutic process.
Maybe ask the patient which of the above changes are MOST important to them. Think of a practical way to measure that at specific increments. THAT is your answer. It may be through a questionnaire, it may be through the minutes it takes to complete a task, or it may even be through the report of family or friends.
BE flexible! You got this!
Have a great therapy session :)
-Dana
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