Do you struggle with a disease, disorder, or limitation that makes it difficult to engage in everyday activities? Occupational therapy practitioners can help increase your participation and independence while reducing health care costs.
Common occupational therapy interventions include helping children with disabilities to participate fully in school and develop social skills, helping people recovering from injury to regain function through retraining and/or adaptations, and providing supports for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive changes.
Occupational therapy services typically include:
an individualized evaluation, during which the client, family, and occupational therapist determine the person’s goals,
customized intervention to improve the person’s ability to perform daily activities and reach the goals
an outcome evaluation to ensure that the goals are being met and/or to modify the intervention plan, based on the patient’s needs and skills.
Occupational therapy services may include comprehensive evaluations of the client’s home and other environments, recommendations for adaptive equipment and training in its use, training in how to modify a task or activity to facilitate participation, and guidance and education for family members and caregivers.
Entry-level practice requires a master’s degree for occupational therapists and an associate’s degree for occupational therapy assistants (who must be supervised by an OT).
Occupational therapy is a science-driven profession that applies the most up-to-date research to service delivery. Current research demonstrates improved patient outcomes when OT is part of the treatment plan to address patient’s performance of skills, to improve their tolerance to activity demands, and also discuss proper mechanics to skill performance to maximize results.
If you are currently struggling with an injury, give us a call and see how we can help you get back to feeling good and living life.
***Information complied by Chris Moore OT and Tara Albright PT from AOTA.