Tramatic Brain Injury

[DCMerkle]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have a friend that has wanted me to teach her how to crochet, but due to a brain injury many years ago we are both finding it frustrating to teach her how its done. Her brain injury has left her seeing things backwards. She is also legally blind and has to look at things right up against her nose. Its a form of dyslexia.

 

She is one of those miracle stories. She was hit by a car when she was in her 20's. It left her in a coma for 6 months. When she woke up she couldn't speak and when she started to speak again all she could remember was some yiddish and german. Her parents and grandparents spoke it. She had to learn how to walk allover again and she had tramatic spine damage as well.

 

She is now in her 60's, has gone to school and received degrees in music, psychology, and social work. You would never know that over 40 years ago she was going to classes literally sitting on the floor, in a body cast, on pillows and listening to lectures.

 

With all those degrees she frustrated to know that crochet is her one big trip up. I've tried many times to teach her, but we both can't figure out how to get around what sees backwards.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how we can get around this?

 

DCMerkle

[TCarra]

Hi ~ Your friend is indeed a miracle! Wow! I think more people should know her story to illustrate just what can be done with strength of spirit and determination (and for those believers out there, the grace of God). I'm going to ask one of my best friends who is a PhD in a medical field. I hope to post back soon.

[DCMerkle]

Hi ~ Your friend is indeed a miracle! Wow! I think more people should know her story to illustrate just what can be done with strength of spirit and determination (and for those believers out there, the grace of God). I'm going to ask one of my best friends who is a PhD in a medical field. I hope to post back soon.

 

Hi TCara,

The funny thing is that she has a daughter that is an editor for a major children's book publishing and is a published author herself. She has tried to get her mother to write a book about her experience over the years. Her mother, my friend just doesn't want to because she says that she doesn't have the time. I quess not...lol She is a member of an orchestra that travels around to different nursing homes, senior centers, and retirement communitiesto play music. She plays the flute. She also has a volunteer job at a retirement community where she is conducting a class in music history, and takes care of her 90 year old mother, who just happpens to live there also. I think that there is an article about her teaching the class. I'll look it up and post it as soon as I can.

 

For her to want to learn how to crochet, to me, says that she might just be starting to slow down. I hope your friend can give me some pointers.

 

******

Here's the article

http://www.northoakslcs.com/documents/112210NorthOaksnewletter.pdf

 

It's on the second page in the right hand column.

 

DCMerkle

[RoseRed]

Can she work in front of a mirror?

[DCMerkle]

Can she work in front of a mirror?

 

RoseRed,

We've tried the mirror, but we still didn't get any further.

 

DCMerkle

[Amy]

Is the problem with what she sees herself doing, or what she sees you doing?

 

If it's with what she sees you doing, and you're both dominant with the same hand, here's something that might work. Take some videos of what you want to show her as you're doing it. Use Windows Movie Maker (or the equivalent movie editing software on a Mac) and use the "flip" feature.

 

If she's right-handed, perhaps you can also search for some left-handed video tutorials on youtube.

 

If I've misunderstood what you meant about seeing things backwards, these suggestions may not work.

[DCMerkle]

Amy,

The film thing might work, but the trouble we were having, when we tried the mirror, was that I could sit next to her with a mirror in front of us, but because her vision was bad, she literally had to move closer to the mirror to see what I was doing. I think that her having to do that was frustrating to her for many reasons. The movie idea might pose the same problem.

I'm thinking of somethng more on the lines of brain re-training. Maybe along with the movie or mirror.

 

DCMerkle

[grannyannie]

Is the problem with what she sees herself doing, or what she sees you doing?

 

If it's with what she sees you doing, and you're both dominant with the same hand, here's something that might work. Take some videos of what you want to show her as you're doing it. Use Windows Movie Maker (or the equivalent movie editing software on a Mac) and use the "flip" feature.

 

If she's right-handed, perhaps you can also search for some left-handed video tutorials on youtube.

 

If I've misunderstood what you meant about seeing things backwards, these suggestions may not work.

That's a really interesting idea! I was going to suggest the mirror idea, but I see they've already tried that. After my brain surgery everything was upsidedown for a bit and let me tell you it was very unsettling! I can't imaging going around life with things backwards. This woman is awesome!

[grannyannie]

Amy,

The film thing might work, but the trouble we were having, when we tried the mirror, was that I could sit next to her with a mirror in front of us, but because her vision was bad, she literally had to move closer to the mirror to see what I was doing. I think that her having to do that was frustrating to her for many reasons. The movie idea might pose the same problem.

 

DCMerkle

Do you have or can you get a magnifier for her? I know that my aunt, who is legally blind had one for her tv which she used until she couldn't see at all any more.

[Amy]

What about magnifying mirrors?

 

Or can you find a way to show a "flipped" movie on a large tv screen? You should be able to get a cable that will allow you to hook up a laptop to a tv screen. Or you could just burn the videos to a DVD.

[Amy]

If she can manage to learn to play a flute as well as she has, I'm sure there's a way she can learn to crochet. We'll just all get creative and come up with something that will eventually work for her.

 

This may sound strange, but have you tried having her hold the yarn and hook, then placing your hands on top of hers, and guiding her in what she needs to do, giving her a verbal explanation of what you're doing as you're doing it?

 

Or doing it the opposite, and having her place her hands lightly on top of yours as you work?

[DCMerkle]

Amy,

I've even tried to stand behind her, with my hands over her shoulders to guide her hands while she was holding the hook and yarn. To say it's a mental block just doesn't do it justice. That's why I'm hoping for some sort of brain re-training techniques on this. It would probably have to be from someone who does arts and crafts with the developmentaly disabled, or an occupational therepist.

 

DCMerkle

[Real Deal]

Has she tried changing the hook to her other hand? Work from the other direction?

[TCarra]

Hi~

 

I heard back from my friend who is in the medical field. She mentioned that there are eye doctors who can help with specialized glasses for brain injuries (like prism glasses, depending upon your friend's situation).

 

Hope this helps!

[DCMerkle]

@Real Deal-We were trying that, but she said that she was making it harder on me than was necessary. She wants to learn it the way its done.

 

@TCarra-Thanks fir that info. I'll have to run this by her.

[DogCatMom]

Is it possible that you're trying too much at one time when you work with her?

 

Perhaps she needs to master the chain stitch and simply work with it for a while: shoelaces, cat's cradles for kids she might know (niece/nephew types), long keychains/lanyards. Different sizes of yarn, different sizes of hook, all in chain stitch.

 

Then add slip stitch. Let her work with chain + slip stitch, again with different sizes of yarn and different sizes of hook.

 

Gradually build her physical "vocabulary" of stitches. It sounds like she is needing to build neural pathways from scratch with each new skill. As adults, it's harder for us than for young kids. The young child's brain is evolutionarily programmed/ready to learn an infinite number of survival and cultural skills, but after a brain injury from accident or illness, and depending on the severity of trauma and the exact location, the patient may need to rebuild neural pathways using parts of the brain that were never meant to do such work.

 

So... having taught math up through pre-calculus to learning-disabled teens, let me extrapolate a little bit and break down learning/teaching crochet into the following sequence. This isn't the only possible sequence, and it may not work for her/you, but my purpose in providing it is to demonstrate how *small* the increments of progress probably need to be to avoid overloading her learning capacity--not capability, notice: capacity.

 

1) Chain stitch.

2) Slip stitch. Turning the work.

3) Slip stitching into the foundation chain.

4) Single crochet.

5) Turning chain and turning the work.

6) Double crochet.

7) Turning chain for dc, turning the work.

8) Triple crochet.

9) Turning chain for tr, turning the work.

10) NOW go to half-double crochet. I place it here because it breaks the pattern used in the single => double => triple crochet stitches.

11) Turning chain for hdc, turning the work.

12) At this point, if not sooner, she will want (and deserve) to make a real project. Find a simple neck scarf pattern or hot-pad pattern that she admires and rewrite it into full English for her. Go over the pattern with her, encouraging her to write whatever notes she may need to remind her what to do when she gets to tricky spots in the pattern.

 

After she has learned all these skills, the only major basic skill she'll need will be crocheting in rounds. Again, build it up in little steps, as above. HTH!

 

She may need to guide you when the time comes for her to read patterns for herself. Right now, I wanted to provide the breakdown of physical skills.

 

DCM

[OwlEyez]

When my Mom had brain surgery for a tumor, followed by siezures, she couldn't write or pick up small items (she was a fifth grade teacher at the time, now retired). She was so frustrated not being able to sign her name - the occupational therapists had her scribble. Just making marks on a page - first with a pencil (doesn't matter how you hold it, the pencil makes a mark) then with a pen when she had the grip better. She made loops and marks, then slowly made them even pressure and equal sizes, then practiced printing letters which led to cursive. It took a while, but she did re-train her brain/hands/muscles how to do it. She didn't have the vision problem, just "why can't I do it", I know what to do just can't make my hand do it.

 

Sounds like DCM is on the right track with little steps and getting the rhythm of the muscle movements "memorized" then moving to more complicated movements.

 

I will ask my Mom if she has any suggestions from her experience.

Cheri

[TCarra]

Hi! I send you a PM.

[elki]

What about getting her to see an occupational therapist? I have a family member who is one and they have mentioned to me they teach people to crochet as part of therapy programs.

 

Good Luck!

[PWhitlee]

Just to let you know, although you may have already found a solution by this time, my fiance has the same eye problems that she has at 23. Apparently, he didn't focus on things outside his crib as an infant and the condition he then developed is degenerative, so he will likely be blind in about five years, if we're lucky. So I understand her frustration at having to hold things so close to her face.

 

They do make glasses with a sort of monocle attached to them that make it easier for Geoff to drive or to read, so she may want to look into that if she's having trouble viewing videos. Geoff gave up crocheting because he couldn't get his yarn tension right and he's too impatient, so he finally just said "Forget it!" and left the crocheting up to me.

 

However, as far as using your own hands to guide hers or vice versa, that might be the easiest way to teach her, and I realize that she thinks it would be too hard on you and that she wants to "learn the way its taught". The thing is that crochet is taught in many different ways; that's why it's such a beautiful art. I've taught many people by simply guiding their hands because my verbal explanation or my visual explanation just wasn't working.

 

I hope this helped a little bit, and I dearly hope that she can overcome this roadblock. After all, if she's overcome all the rest of that to become such an inspiration, what is a little hurdle like crochet?