OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY is a dynamic health care profession that promotes expertise in developing individuals’ meaningful functional and performance skills in daily life tasks. Occupational therapists work with clients to promote wellness, prevent illness or injuries, and to restore function or adaptation skills after an illness or injury occurs. The role of the occupational therapist is to provide client and family centered care that strives to regain independence or optimal abilities. The term “occupation” refers to meaningful daily life tasks and roles. The ability to perform self care tasks, to work or go to school, to participate in leisure activities, and meaningful socializations are important. These activities help to define individuality and the quality of our lives. Occupational therapists work with clients to restore functioning and well being, to remediate limitations to independence, and to adapt for impairments or disabilities.

WHAT DO OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS DO?

Occupational therapists screen, refer, evaluate, identify problems, work with clients and their families to establish meaningful goals and intervention strategies to improve function, to promote health, prevent illness, and develop independence. Examples of OT services include:

■ Working with school age children and their teachers to promote school and social success.

■ Working in a rehabilitation center to help individuals who may have sustained a stroke learn how to dress, bathe, and feed independently by regaining sensorimotor, cognitive, perceptual, and social skills.
■ Teaching an older adult to manage home activities, to safely drive, and perform home maintenance tasks.
■ Retraining an injured worker to safely perform work tasks and to avoid cumulative trauma.
■ Working with a teen to gain successful adolescent adjustment strategies and social integration skills.
■ Teaching a young man with a spinal cord injury to use adaptive assistive technology that will allow him to live a more productive life.
■ Teaching wellness and health promotion activities in the community to prevent the development of illnesses or disuse syndromes.
■ Working with family or significant caregivers to teach them how to use adaptive strategies for a loved one with cognitive impairments.
■ Prescribing or fabricating adaptive equipment, assistive technology, or orthotics to assist clients with impairments to overcome limitations of an illness or injury.
■ Working with clients with low vision or vestibular problems to safely negotiate their home, work, and community environments.