Submitted by Bella Gigoux, Western Slope
What did you do for your Gold Award project? Sensory Processing Disorder, or SPD, is a very misdiagnosed disorder mainly due to the lack of understanding of what it actually is. People with SPD are often assumed to be either on the autism spectrum or as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) because a lot of times it looks similar to these recognizable diagnoses. However, it is different!
Jean Ayers, Ph.D., an Occupational Therapist, Neuroscientist and Psychologist, likens SPD to a “traffic jam” in the neurological system that prevents certain parts of the brain from receiving information needed to correctly interpret sensory information, in any or all the the body’s 7 sensory systems- visual (sight), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), tactile (touch), auditory (hearing), proprioception (kinesthesia), and vestibular (sense of balance and interpretation/ internal state of the body). The exact cause of SPD has not yet been identified but as many as 1 in 20 people in the general population may be affected. Because SPD can impact every sensory system of the human body as it manifests itself in a different way for each person afflicted, thus making it challenging to diagnose. But, with as many resources as possible in a community, the easier it is for someone with SPD to feel included in their community. To earn my Gold Award, I wanted to create awareness and resources for the community of Grand Junction, CO regarding Sensory Processing Disorder. By working in collaboration with Eureka! McConnell Science Museum, I made a sensory exhibit which provided a basic resource and information about Sensory Processing Disorder. The signage for the exhibit gave a brief description of SPD, the function of the contents of the exhibit (sensory items/ toys) and offered a link to a website I created that went into more detail about SPD and ways to help an individual who has been diagnosed.
How did you measure the impact your Gold Award project made on your target audience? Impact can be measured by the number of hits to my website. This helps track anyone who has clicked in to gather information about SPD and my project either when they have seen a hyperlink and/or QR code through social media or when they have visited Eureka! McConnell Science Museum.
How is your project sustainable? How will your project continue to impact after your involvement? The project advisor at Eureka has written a letter of sustainability stating that the museum will continue to use my project and advertise it during their regular exhibit rotation. The website I built will also remain open, and is also able to be shared and posted through other platforms, such as linking through social media of family and friends, around my community and beyond (either through hyperlinks or QR codes).
What is your project’s global and/or national connection? By offering a hands-on experience through my exhibit, I believe my target audience will gain awareness, understanding, compassion, empathy, and knowledge to help them take continued action in our community and beyond. The simple exhibit I created is not only beneficial to people with Sensory Processing Disorder but is also a tool for the community at-large to learn about this disorder and similar spectrum disorders in a fun way. Because it is simple, I think it is easily replicated, so I reached out to the top 22 similar children’s/community facilities in the United States to ask if they had similar resources, as the exhibit I created, in their facility and to encourage them to do one, if they didn’t. It is my hope that resources like this continue to pop up in communities all over the globe so kids like my sister and families like my own are never again at a loss for understanding and always gave helpful resources at their fingertips.
What did you learn about yourself? What I learned about myself is the importance of self accountability. I struggled with lack of motivation but also not wanting to disappoint the many people that I had contact with during this process. I learned that in order to make things I am passionate about happen, I need to buckle down and push through the slumps. Most importantly, I learned that I needed to have grace for myself, to not stress about wanting to do everything at once. Once I allowed myself to focus on only a couple components of my project, I could break it down into more manageable pieces. Then, lo and behold, a project comes to fruition that you can be proud of!
How will earning your Gold Award impact you in the future? The biggest lifelong skill I learned was project management. I think in order to be effective at managing projects of any scale, you also must put these other skills into practice – Effective time management – PLANNING…setting goals and backing into a timeline that works for you Effective communication – Professionalism in how to write emails, make phone calls and communicating with various people, across generations and community groups is a lifelong tool in my tool box Adaptation – My parents call this “change management” and sometimes you have to adapt and that is ok Asking for assistance – I realized it was ok to ask for help and a good leader doesn’t always (assume they) have to know everything. Using all the resources and subject matter experts at your disposal makes for a better leader.
Why do you feel the Gold Award was an important part of your Girl Scout experience? I feel that the Gold Award project is a good way to challenge yourself. As a Girl Scout, I spent a lot of time with my Girl Scout sisters and got to experience a lot of the world around me. I think that going through the process to earn your Gold Award helps to shape yourself as an individual rather than being dependent on the rest of your troop. As the final project in your time as a Girl Scout, the Gold Award helps to form leadership skills, independent thinking and planning, and project management. In my Girl Scout experience, I learned many skills that I ended up using during my Gold Award process. The Gold Award, to me, seems like a final exam that tests all of the knowledge that you learned throughout your Girl Scout journey. My Gold Award experience taught me many things, but it also helped to show me things that I knew how to do, and just didn’t know. The experience helped me to experience what living in the real world would be like.
How did earning your Gold Award help you become a G.I.R.L. (go-getter, innovator, risk-taker, leader)? If I could start over, the lowest hanging fruit would be to focus on the addition of sensory bags to the resources developed for use at Eureka!. The sensory bags were an element that I had originally incorporated into my plans, but eventually had to exclude due to too many components. The sensory bags are easy to make and would be a wonderful addition for Eureka to have in their facility. Secondly, if Covid/inability to meet in person/travel onto campuses hadn’t been a factor for 18+ months of the time I was working on my project, I would have also liked to partner with Colorado Mesa University (CMU) on an an educational session with a target audience of those students taking early childhood development and early education classes/majors. While working on my CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) component of my International Baccalaureate diploma with school, I was trying to tie that requirement into this Gold Award so I could have expanded my community outreach/education. Suffice to say, adapting all this along the way is what makes me a Gold Award G.I.R.L. Go-getting after what I could accomplish with what resources (time, funds, people, etc) I had at my disposal. Innovating, making changes, when things weren’t always going my way and thinking about how to improve at each step. Taking the risk in the first place, asking the questions, and digging deeper even when it wasn’t easy. Leading the way by being the first to bring a resource to the community and spreading the word by sharing this and some of my other, unused, ideas so someone else can take the baton and run!