Everyday Problem Solving

About the Everyday Problem Solving exercise

At the supermarket checkout the card reader beeps: declined. There are people waiting, the groceries are already bagged, and for a moment it is hard to think. Is it the card, the reader, the account? Walk away, try again, or ask the cashier to wait? After a stroke or brain injury, everyday snags like this one can freeze a person, or push them toward the first idea that comes, even when it adds a new problem.

Everyday Problem Solving is a free practice activity built on 36 such situations: out and about, at work, on the phone, at appointments, with money and with people. One situation appears in large print and can be read aloud. Then come the questions a therapist would ask across a table: what is the problem, what could you do, what would you do first, and what might happen. Every answer is a tap on a written choice, and after each situation the notes a therapist would use are there to talk it through.

What Everyday Problem Solving practices

Saying what the problem is

Each situation starts with naming the problem in a sentence, which separates the real snag from the worry around it: the card was declined, not every bit of money is gone.

Thinking of more than one option

From the moderate level on, the person picks every option that could work. Seeing two or three reasonable options side by side is the habit the practice is after.

Choosing a first step

When several problems arrive together, the first question is which one grows with time. The complex situations ask for a first step and then a backup plan if it does not work.

Predicting what happens

Basic and moderate situations ask what might happen after a choice, including a weaker one, so cause and consequence are talked about before they happen for real.

How the tool works and what it records

Three free presets: 6 situations at the moderate level (the default), 6 basic situations, and 4 situations climbing from basic to complex. Basic situations have three questions: the problem, the best of three options, and what might happen. Moderate and complex situations have four: the problem (on complex, the three problems among five), every option that could work, the first step, and what might happen or the backup plan. Pro opens the dials: 3 to 12 situations, any level, one of the six domains, and the quiet time before the Prompt button pulses, from 10 to 45 seconds. Always free: who leads, the Talk it through card, read aloud, large print and high contrast.

When a helper leads, the choices stay hidden. The helper asks the question aloud and the person answers in their own words; Answered shows the choices so the helper can tap the closest one, Prompt gives the question another way and then the situation's own hint, and Show the choices hands the answer to the person. Nothing is typed and no microphone is used. The round ends with plain counts: the situations worked through, how many first steps were ones the notes suggest or list as reasonable, how many problems were named as the notes describe them, how each was answered when a helper led, the typical time per situation, and the situations to talk about again. Signed-in users get 5 free rounds per tool per day; Pro removes the cap, saves rounds to the session log, exports the round record and the situation cards as PDFs, and sends the exercise home as a practice link.

Screen or paper?

The screen deals fresh situations every round, reads them aloud, keeps the choices one tap away and the notes beside what was chosen, and counts what happened without anyone keeping notes. Paper suits a table conversation where the person writes or says their own answers and the facilitator holds the notes: Functional Problem Solving Scenarios, Set 2 has the same 36 situations on worksheet pages with facilitator notes for every one, and set 1 has 30 more at home.

The printable version is the Functional Problem Solving Scenarios, Set 2 on rehabworksheets.com, and there is a free problem solving worksheet to try first, with no email required.

Using it well

• Say the problem back first. Before any options, ask the person to put the problem in their own words. A clear problem makes the rest of the questions easier.
• Look for two really different options. On the moderate questions, two options that are only slight variations are one idea. Ask what else could work, or who else could help.
• First step, then backup. On the complex situations, talk about why the first step comes first, then what happens if it does not work. A plan B is part of a plan.
• Use helper mode when reading is hard. With a helper leading, the person answers out loud and never has to read the choices unless they want to. The prompts give two kinds of help before the choices appear.
• Move up when the reasons come easily. Stay at a level while the reasons still take effort. When the person explains their choices without help, try the next level, or the mixed preset for a taste of all three.

Common questions