Schedule Board for Stroke Patients

I've mentioned before that my Dad suffered a massive stroke on December 1st, 2010.  His stroke was a right brain stroke which means that it affected the left side of his body.  My Dad, a mechanical engineer with several patents to his name, now needs help with almost everything.  His short term memory is spotty. And he has to follow directions given by his wife and daughter almost constantly.  How depressing right?

We wanted Dad to have a say in his day as well as know what comes next.  So I put together this schedule board.

Since this board needs to be out and visible all the time Mom wanted it to look nice.  So I went to an office supply store and bought this magnetic dry erase board with a wooden frame. Instead of hanging it on the wall I bought a picture frame easel to support it.  This way it can sit on the floor, which will be easier for Dad to see.

I made all the tags in Photoshop Elements and printed them on cardstock.  Then I had them laminated and added magnets to the back of each tag.

The times are highlighted in red.  Dad has trouble remembering to scan all the way to the left.  So hopefully by reminding him to look for the red tags he can find the times he needs.  The activity tags are in brown.  And there are small car tags in green designating that a certain activity requires a car ride.  There are also some blank tags that we can write on if we come up with any other activities needed in the schedule.

Because it would be too confusing to have all the extra tags on the front of the board I am hanging these little baggies from the back.  I hope to come up with a better solution at some point.  I'd love a basket that would hang on the back of the frame.  Still working on that one though.  :)

In the top corner of the board I placed a large digital clock (actually a kitchen timer).  I also found these adorable day of the week magnets.  I knew that would help Dad keep track of what day it is.  And these magnetic dry erase markers are perfect for writing in any changes in his day.

The plan is that every day Mom will start the schedule.  There will be parts of every day that Dad can choose what activity he wants to do.  Then as the day goes on and Dad starts to get antsy, as he so often does, Mom can direct him to the schedule board to see what comes next.  

Another issue of Dad's is an obsession with using the bathroom.  Like every 15 min.  Except he doesn't actually go most of the time.  So by adding bathroom breaks into the schedule we can say to him, "You went at 9:30, go check and see what time it is and when your next break is"  Hopefully that will make the clock the bad guy, and not us.  :)  We'll see how it goes.  And I'm sure the board will go through several renditions as we discover what is most needed.

While I made this board for my dad I can certainly see it's uses in the home as well.  Especially with summer coming up!  You could use something like this to make a daily schedule.  For children I would add pictures to the activity cards.  That way when the kids are driving you crazy with the I'm bored stuff you can direct them to the schedule board to see what is next on the agenda.  I did something similar, but way less detailed, last summer.  You can read about it here.

What do you do to organize your day?  Leave a comment and share your ideas with us!