Working around buttons

Getting dressed and wearing what you want to, do not usually make the list of the things that helps a person feel good about themselves. However, people who have difficulty dressing realize it is very important for your well-being. Fortunately there are clothing modifications and dressing techniques that a person can use to make dressing easier. The modifications and techniques need to be selected based on what a person needs and what they can do. They may change over time.

Ed VanDevender has worked hard all his life and his hands and shoulders have paid the price. This impacts his ability to dress. Changes in his ability to move his shoulders and decreasing dexterity in his hands have caused him to become very creative since he prefers to be as independent as possible. Even as a child growing up on his family’s farm in Mississippi, he had a “cando” attitude. If there was a way to get it done, he figured it out.

Ed was the first of his family to go to a four-year college. It was there that he met and wooed the love of his life, Charlotte, in between classes, working at the college dairy, and doing odd jobs. After graduating he joined the Army. Listening to his stories about Ranger School, Jump School, and his experiences in Vietnam as well as in peacetime, one understands that this man embraced the old Timex byline of “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”

Ed and Charlotte both shared their resilient and independent outlook with their three children while touring the United States and the World. Their youngest child needed to start wearing a full-length leg brace just as he was entering the first grade. Charlotte sewed zippers along the length of his pants. This allowed him to dress by himself and to go to the bathroom by himself at school. Ed modified his bicycle so he could pedal with one leg. They told their son, “If you want to do something and can’t figure it out, we’ll help you find a way to do it.” The way Ed and Charlotte helped their son live independently inspired their daughter to become an Occupational Therapist. When Ed and Charlotte retired from the military and Ed resumed farming, they were able to use information she had to build a wheelchair accessible home to accommodate their parents.

As farming and arthritis took a toll on his hands, Ed started finding that manipulating the small buttons on his favorite shirts was becoming irritatingly slow and difficult. It didn’t take him long to start trying out solutions. Snaps were fine, and he did enjoy a few western style shirts, but that wasn’t really his favorite style. Charlotte was able to adapt the clothes with bigger buttons, but that was noticeable. He started with a button hook and like many people felt like it was too time consuming at first. He tried Velcro closures which is a popular adaptation and works well for some people. Closers are either small tab or longer strips. Buttons are usually sewn over the closed opening, so the shirt looks like a regular button-down shirt. Ed recalled that the Velcro would latch to itself in the wrong places if he wasn’t meticulously careful.

“It was a real puzzle to get the Velcro to close in a straight smooth line and the fasteners sometimes felt like a porcupine,” he said.

Deciding Velcro closures weren’t for him, Ed developed skill with a button hook, and it worked successfully for many years. Button hooks have been around since at least the 1800s. Modern button hooks tend to have wider and sometimes softer handles to help make them easier to hold. The loop of the button hook is inserted through the button hole and around the button. The button is then pulled through the button hole. This sometimes takes twisting the wrist and holding the fabric around the button hole taut.

This year Ed’s dexterity decreased further from new and old injuries around his wrist. Creatively he made the button hook work a little longer by holding the device in his mouth and using both hands to manipulate the shirt around the tool. He didn’t know it, but this is a method that Occupational Therapists may teach people with very limited hand function, such as people who have spinal cord injuries, to use a button hook if they really want to wear a button front shirt. It requires determination and can take a lot of time.

Their daughter suggested magnetic closures might be worth a try. Magnetic closures have been available commercially since around 2016 when Magnaclick products were licensed and distributed through large distributors such as Amazon, Silvert’s, and JC Penny. Magnet button kits can also be purchased for people who want to modify clothing they already own. The magnets are enclosed in plastic or other material so that they can be sewn in place inside the shirt’s placket. It took Ed significantly less time and effort to close one of the new shirts on his first try than it did to use the button hook he had developed so much skill with.

Ed mused that the problem solving process never ends. He and Charlotte used creative problem solving to help their son live fully despite physical disabilities. In the military a review was done at the end of each mission to see how the situation could be improved. He then took that mindset back to the farm where he worked for over another twenty years. It is harder to apply to his own independence, but he is a determined man, “It isn’t ever over.”

If you have a success story to share or want additional information about specific solutions mentioned in this article, feel free to reach BevVan Phillips at bphillipsotr@ gmail.com. BevVan Phillips is an Occupational Therapist with over 35 years experience helping people with home modifications and assistive technology.

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We appreciate your interest in ENOA and the New Horizons conclusion of the tournament in Overland Park, Kan. This was all accomplished under the guidance and support of the Creighton Prep speech and debate coach, Richard D. Brown.

Not all of Brown’s proteges have stories as captivating as Paul’s, but many of the hundreds of students he has coached in his 32-year career have gone on to successful careers, bolstered in no small measure by their ability to communicate with passion and competence in front of audiences large and small. And all thanks to the support, encouragement and prodding of Brown.

Brown, who turns 75 this month, has no plans to retire and will return to his part-time coaching position in August, starting his 15th year at Prep. Previously, he taught and coached at Millard South High School for 36 years. He is one of the longest-tenured speech and debate coaches in the state.

Although the North High School and University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) graduate never competed in speech or debate in school, he was eventually invited to coach the Millard South team. His first unit had four members.

Later, the roles burgeoned to 60. He transferred to Creighton Prep upon retiring from Millard Schools in 2009.

Brown’s 1997 Millard South team captured the state championship, with two members securing individual gold medals. Those two would eventually marry each other and embark on successful careers in Omaha. Stephanie Gould is a Leadership Omaha graduate, and an executive vice president at American National Bank. Her husband, J.R., is the fine arts department chairman and music teacher at Brownell-Talbot School, where he has taught since 2002.

While a student at the University of Nebraska he helped lead the UNL speech team to a fifth-place finish in the national competition.

In 1996, Brown coached Ryan Syrek, who became the first national high school public speaking champion in Nebraska in 34 years, the first since George Sullivan nabbed the crown in 1962. Today, Syrek is a professional writer and journalist in Omaha. Sullivan, a Prep graduate, went on to become a Jesuit priest in 1975, graduated from Creighton’s Law School in 1981, before serving as Prep’s 27th president from 1982 to 1988.

Yvonnda Summers

competed under Brown’s tutelage all four years, qualifying several times for national tournaments. She graduated from the Creighton University School of Law in 2014 and is currently Creighton Law School’s associate dean of student affairs and equity, diversity and inclusion.

Brown believes participation in speech (also called forensics) and debate propels students toward success by enhancing their confidence and ability to articulate their thoughts and convictions. Additionally, participating in high school speech and debate contributes to elevating the caliber of social discourse, including political, which is often mired in negativity and