Occupational Therapy
What is occupational therapy?
Occupational therapy is the use of assessment and intervention helps people across their lifespan to do the things they want and need, through the therapeutic use of daily activities (occupations). Occupational therapy enables people of all ages to live their life to the fullest extent by helping them promote health, and prevent—or live better with—injury, illness, or disability.
Common occupational therapy interventions include helping children with disabilities to participate fully in school and social situations, helping people recovering from injury to regain skills, and providing supports for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive changes. Occupational therapy services typically include:
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an individualized evaluation, during which the client/family and occupational therapist determine the person’s goals,
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customized intervention to improve the person’s ability to perform daily activities and reach the goals, and
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an outcomes evaluation to ensure that the goals are being met and/or make changes to the intervention plan.
Who needs occupational therapy?
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Children with Developmental Delays (When a child is behind in developing skills expected from their age group)
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Children having difficulty with Fine Motor Skills (handwriting, coloring, scissors, buttons, shoelaces, or zippers, manipulating small objects)
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Children having difficulty with Gross Motor Skills (e.g., problems with movement, motor coordination, strength, balance, clumsiness, awkward walking/running, poor spatial awareness, reluctance to partake in physical activities)
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Children having problems with Visual Processing Skills (copying from the board, reversing letters and numbers, visual sequencing of letters when writing and spelling, losing a place on a page when reading or writing, completing puzzles, planning actions in relation to objects around them, discriminating between the size of letters and objects, remembering sight words)
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Children having difficulty with Sensory Processing Skills (overly sensitive to sound, touch or movement, under-responsive to certain sensations, highly distracted to auditory or visual stimuli, difficulty coping with change, constantly bumps and crashes into things)
Occupational Therapy Referral Process:
Consultation
Teachers/parents refers the child they observe to have problems in certain skills to an occupational therapist.
Screening
The occupational therapist gathers pertinent information (chief complaint, medical and academic history, goals for therapy) from the parents and teachers. Classroom observation and brief interviews are conducted with parents and teachers.
Assessment
Assessment/administration of standardized text
Formulation of Treatment Plan
The setting of goals (usually takes one week after assessment)
Treatment
Individual sessions to work on target skills (usually once or twice a week of 45 minute session).