What is Occupational Therapy?
Looking to comprehensively improve your daily life? (Especially after you’ve fallen sick, or figured in an accident?) Well, perhaps you could try connecting with an occupational therapist! In simple terms, occupational therapy, or OT, helps individuals (especially those who have health issues or challenges) participate in daily life to their fullest. This means that OT can help the individual establish their health and life goals despite having health issues. Read on to find out more about occupational therapy.
What Activities Can Occupational Therapy Help the Individual With?
Occupational therapy is not actually just for working adults or senior citizens, because it’s great for kids too. For adults, this might mean that occupation therapy can help them go back to performing their work tasks. For kids, ot for children could mean helping them to learn how to play and have fun with their friends again.
And since the basic building blocks of everyday life can become much tougher after a person gets injured, disabled or ill, occupational therapists can help them slowly attain and develop the skills that will allow them to once again participate in everyday activities with confidence.
The activities of daily living that occupational therapy can help the individual enjoy or cherish once again are aplenty. These include bating and showering, dressing, eating, personal hygiene and grooming, sexual activity, shopping, work, play, leisure, social interaction, driving and walking, health management and maintenance, caring for pets and family members and more.
How Do Occupational Therapists Do Their Work?
An occupational therapists job varies across different work or social settings, although the treatment process often tends to follow a specific workflow. For example, in ot for kids , the process usually begins with an evaluation or assessment, where the therapist collects pertinent information on the patient’s health status or medical history, and asks the patient if he or she has any activities that are currently limited.
The therapist will then use this information to work with the patient in creating their POC, of Plan of Care (which may include short-term and long-term objectives and treatment methods). The subsequent treatment regimen in general will provide a combo of techniques that offer physical, social and emotional (as well as cognitive) interventions to help the person achieve their goals in life.
The occupational therapy in Gold Coast expert could then prescribe and train the patient to use assistive tools or devices like wheelchairs, powered scooters or raised toilet seats. The patient could also be taught new ways on how to tie their shoes, get in and out of the shower, go up and down a flight of stairs, and work on their computer and more.
The OT professional could also assist the patient with organizing their medications or household tools and equipment, as well as help the person to effectively address any behavioral or emotional issues that may continue to hound them while they work their way towards normality.