SENIORS FLOURISH: Part Two-How to Perform a Stereognosis Assessment in Occupational Therapy

Before you peruse through this excerpt of my article published on Seniors Flourish, make sure to read Part One first which goes over the WHOWHATWHENWHEREWHY.

The full part 2 of my 3 part article series written for Mandy Chamberlain’s Seniors Flourish Blog can be found HERE!

Here is a little bit from the article,

“There are multiple ways to complete a stereognosis assessment. Two informal tests with vision occluded (i.e. without looking; using tactile sensation only) include:

• Test A (Identification of a specific object that is placed in patient’s hand) and/or
• Test B (Identification of a specific object from a group of objects).

Prior to engaging the patient in either or both of the tests it is imperative to explain what you will be testing and why it matters to that specific patient. Best practice to ensure patient understanding is for the therapist or student therapist to demonstrate on oneself first.

You may ask the patient to place any object into your hand and without looking and verbalize what the object is to the patient. Likewise, you may instruct the patient to choose 5 objects to place in a small container followed by you the therapist closing eyes and reaching into the container to identify an item of the patient’s discretion using touch sense only.

Let’s move on to the specifics of test…”

As you can probably imagine it is very detailed and therefore very easy to replicate to utilize in your own OT practice! There even is samples of how you could document this activity in your charting. I am biased but I think you should check it out:)

PS if you are interested in joining her Learning Lab and get access to hundreds of treatment videos, patient handouts, journal club, private fb group, and trainings consider checking out this link by clicking HERE! AND for a discount use code SHANOT:107

With love,

SHANNEN M