Module 6 - Seating Made Easy: Solving a Puzzle
What do seating and a jigsaw puzzle have in common?
A jigsaw puzzle requires the assembly of small, oddly shaped, interlocking pieces. Each piece has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture. The term "interlocking" means that adjacent pieces are connected, so that if you move one piece horizontally you move all.
- Seating assessment provides us with a wide range of information about the client's individual needs. It is often a challenge to know where to start.
- As the goals for postural alignment, pressure care, functional capacity and access to the environment are interacting and interdependent within the seating mobility system, clinicians should be aware of the "interlocking" relationship when modifying and prescribing seating and mobility systems.
Keys to solving a jigsaw puzzle
- Keep the big picture in mind
- Be systematic in threading key components, themes and patterns together
- Team work - share puzzle pieces to obtain the final outcome when working in a group
- Work to make up most of the puzzle, identifying size and shape of puzzle pieces to get the best fit
- To finish the puzzle, sometimes a trial is needed to fit the 'not-so-obvious' pieces
- Persevere!!!