Breakfast at Headway – By: Richard Rigby

I honestly didn’t know exactly what to expect my Headway experience would be like. However, I had heard nothing but good things from students who had already volunteered, so I was excited. I arrived early, before any of the other members had shown up, so after the quick orientation I had some time to look around. I expected the place to have the usual slightly cold and sterile community center feeling, but I was presently surprised how homey it felt. I love how one of the rooms had one wall dedicated to the member’s art projects. Some of them were beautiful!

The staff member said that people had been showing up later than usual recently so we wouldn’t start until some members showed up. As they did I was surprised at the diversity of the members abilities. Some had problems speaking yet still communicated quite effectively (one in particular was very funny). Others loved to talk. I had a lovely conversation with 2 of the members. While their speech was sometimes slightly disorganized, you could still understand. We talked about lots of things, but mostly education. One was in an early childhood education program. I don’t recall if it was before or after their accident, either way they were intent on continuing their studies. That got me thinking about how accessible higher education is for people with TBI. I found a great article; the beginning is very basic TBI stuff, but it goes into a good discussion about education plans and strategies. Worth a read! http://www.brainline.org/content/2008/10/student-brain-injury-achieving-goals-higher-education_pageall.html.

When cooking the breakfast both the staff and members were giving me a hard time (all in good fun of course). One member in particular was very enthusiastic about cooking. He left hardly anything for me to help out with, but I did my best! Most members sort of stayed in the dining area doing their own thing. Those who were cooking didn’t seem to mind. One member, who had a language disability, was working on a program on an iPad. It would play an audio recording of a word and have the letters scrambled, and the player had to unscramble the word (I think this was the app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd20GbDpW3E ). It was interesting to see how word complexity did not really correlate with the member’s abilities. While they unscrambled “cupboard” with ease, they struggled with words like “iron”. It is interesting how language impairments can be complicated like that. When that member was done they passed it on to another who used it to make cute Photoshop alterations of photos of other members. I’ve heard of tablets being effective for brain training exercises for patients with dementia, and it was interesting to see it in action in a similar context.

The trip allowed me to break down my preconceived notions of what someone with TBI looks and acts like. I had a blast volunteering there, and can’t wait to do it again!