ARTICLE
When an accident on the farm took Silas Dirksen’s arm at age two, it left him with a growing problem. As Silas grew, it became apparent that he was outgrowing his prosthetic arm, and would need a solution to that problem. Thanks to the efforts of the staff at Tri Star Career Compact, Silas now has an arm that can grow along with him. “That's probably the best thing about it for him. It's making him think about what he might want in the future for that arm,” said Silas’ Dad Nick Dirksen. When Silas got old enough to go to school, he started receiving occupational therapy with Community Sports and Therapy Center which provides the services for schools in Auglaize County and Mercer County schools. “He was originally fitted with a full prosthetic arm,” said Occupational Therapist Scott Gels. Because of Silas’ age and size, he also wasn’t allowed to use the arm’s elbow or hand. Gels said that the arm was bulky and cumbersome for Silas which led him to ask for something more realistic for the time being. “I convinced them to, for lack of a better word, give him a peg leg for his arm because it was an extra eight pounds that he was carrying around that he didn’t need to,” explained Gels. That solution worked well until Silas was old enough to start going to school at Marion Local. “As with any child, you teach them to use the opposite hand to hold the paper so they can write and so that the paper isn’t moving around. As he grew his arm was further away from the paper so he was pretty much hunched over,” explained Gels. That problem was something that Gels wanted to solve, so he turned to Tri Star for help. “I contacted Tim [Buschur, Tri Star’s Director,] and this is where we got everybody else involved,” said Gels. Buschur pulled together several of the school’s instructors from various programs together to see who would be the best fit for the job. Ultimately the Precision Machining Program’s and the Welding Program’s Instructors came to light as the best option for the project. “With some of the background that I've had, projects that we've done in the past here, not necessarily at school, but my work background, I instantly went to telescopic tubing,” said Precision Machining Instructor Mitch Knous. “We started talking about how to make it extendable, or extend, just to kind of grow it with him or even tuck it away when he doesn't want it and extend it when he needs it,” explained Knous. From there, Knous refined the design and worked with Welding Instructor Aaron Schmitt to weld in parts that make the arm able to quickly attach and detach fittings. One of those fittings is a hand that Silas has been busy using. “Now he can just put his hand down here and he can write. It's just helping him with his overall writing,” said Gels. As Silas continues to grow, the extendable tubing can grow along with him and meet his needs until he’s big enough to have more options as far as prosthetics go. “He's going to benefit from technology. Things that people do on their phones today that they didn't do 20 years ago. He’ll be able to do a lot of stuff that's going to help him not only academically, but then the technology is going to continue to grow with,” said Gels Silas is your typical five-year-old and was a bit shy when I spoke with him. He did indicate that he likes his new extendable arm and that there are reports of him now fist-bumping classmates as well. “Thank you. Thank you,” said Silas, in appreciation of his new arm to those who had made it a reality.
When an accident on the farm took Silas Dirksen’s arm at age two, it left him with a growing problem. As Silas grew, it became apparent that he was outgrowing his prosthetic arm, and would need a solution to that problem. Thanks to the efforts of the staff at Tri Star Career Compact, Silas now has an arm that can grow along with him.
“That's probably the best thing about it for him. It's making him think about what he might want in the future for that arm,” said Silas’ Dad Nick Dirksen.
When Silas got old enough to go to school, he started receiving occupational therapy with Community Sports and Therapy Center which provides the services for schools in Auglaize County and Mercer County schools.
“He was originally fitted with a full prosthetic arm,” said Occupational Therapist Scott Gels. Because of Silas’ age and size, he also wasn’t allowed to use the arm’s elbow or hand.
Gels said that the arm was bulky and cumbersome for Silas which led him to ask for something more realistic for the time being.
“I convinced them to, for lack of a better word, give him a peg leg for his arm because it was an extra eight pounds that he was carrying around that he didn’t need to,” explained Gels. That solution worked well until Silas was old enough to start going to school at Marion Local.
“As with any child, you teach them to use the opposite hand to hold the paper so they can write and so that the paper isn’t moving around. As he grew his arm was further away from the paper so he was pretty much hunched over,” explained Gels. That problem was something that Gels wanted to solve, so he turned to Tri Star for help.
“I contacted Tim [Buschur, Tri Star’s Director,] and this is where we got everybody else involved,” said Gels.
Buschur pulled together several of the school’s instructors from various programs together to see who would be the best fit for the job. Ultimately the Precision Machining Program’s and the Welding Program’s Instructors came to light as the best option for the project.
“With some of the background that I've had, projects that we've done in the past here, not necessarily at school, but my work background, I instantly went to telescopic tubing,” said Precision Machining Instructor Mitch Knous.
“We started talking about how to make it extendable, or extend, just to kind of grow it with him or even tuck it away when he doesn't want it and extend it when he needs it,” explained Knous. From there, Knous refined the design and worked with Welding Instructor Aaron Schmitt to weld in parts that make the arm able to quickly attach and detach fittings.
One of those fittings is a hand that Silas has been busy using.
“Now he can just put his hand down here and he can write. It's just helping him with his overall writing,” said Gels. As Silas continues to grow, the extendable tubing can grow along with him and meet his needs until he’s big enough to have more options as far as prosthetics go.
“He's going to benefit from technology. Things that people do on their phones today that they didn't do 20 years ago. He’ll be able to do a lot of stuff that's going to help him not only academically, but then the technology is going to continue to grow with,” said Gels
Silas is your typical five-year-old and was a bit shy when I spoke with him. He did indicate that he likes his new extendable arm and that there are reports of him now fist-bumping classmates as well.
“Thank you. Thank you,” said Silas, in appreciation of his new arm to those who had made it a reality.