Sam Dawson: The Ecology Of Human Performance Model

Sam Dawson is a man with an unspecified developmental disability. He has the mental capacity of a seven year old yet he lives by himself and is able to hold down a minimum wage job at the local Starbucks. Sam became a father to a daughter which he named Lucy. Lucy’s mother fled after her birth so Sam was left to raise her by himself. The first days were hard and it was not until his neighbor, Annie, stepped into the parenting process to help Sam that things improved and moved along smoother. As Lucy ages, Sam is questioned on his capabilities to provide as a father. Lucy is eventually taken away from him and Sam must fight the judicial system with the help of friends to prove he can provide Lucy an adequate and secure home to grow up in. Throughout …show more content…
The EHP model embodies the person’s performance inside their contexts. Published in 1994, the model has been applied to many occupational settings and is used to create beneficial treatment plans for clients (Dunn, Brown, & McGuigan, 1994). The EHP model functions around the person, context, task, and performance (Dunn, Gilbert, & Parker, …show more content…
The establish and restore strategy focuses on the improvement of the clients skills and their abilities (Dunn, Brown, & McGuigan, 1994). The therapist can use this to improve/strengthen Sam’s weaker skills, his fine motor skills, and also focus on his strong skills, his gross motor skills, to help improve his overall well-being. To alter the situation the occupational therapist must find a new context in which the person can perform their tasks (Dunn, Brown, & McGuigan, 1994). In this aspect the occupational therapist is looking for a context in which there is a perfect balance between the client’s skills and the obstacles of the context (Dunn, Brown, & McGuigan, 1994). In Sam’s case the occupational therapist could relocate his work place where less fine motor skill are needed. An example of this is moving Sam from the coffee shop where he was unable to keep up with the fast pace, to refereeing Lucy’s soccer game. Adaption focuses on modifying the environment around the client (Dunn, Brown, & McGuigan, 1994). The occupational therapist could have adapted Sam’s environment when Lucy was first born ensure she would receive the proper care and treatment she needed. Annie helped adapt Lucy’s feeding schedule around the television shows on Nickelodeon. This helped Sam understand the task that he needed to perform in order to meet his goal. The prevention method