Occupational Therapy is a therapy that blankets everything people do in their lives. Such a broad field can be very difficult to define. Unlike Physical Therapy who people instantly identify as a field that get people walking. In the past the vision of the field was broader. “In 2004 The Scenario were developed” a structure created with the Occupational Therapy framework. Medicare guidelines and reimbursement rates in the field of occupational therapy have been limited in the past because the Occupational Therapy field has failed id as a
Occupational Therapy Assistants are professionals who make a difference in the lives of people who have difficulty performing work and daily activities to do an illness, injury and disability. It’s a growing career that is in great in demand. The salary depends on several factors but for the most part it’s rewarding. The requirements to become an Occupational Therapy Assistant is for one to receive their associate’s degree from an accredited school and pass the National Board Exam.
The Occupational Therapy profession is advocating for clients and profession itself in different ways to guarantee the access to the services. The Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process defines advocacy as “efforts directed toward promoting occupational justice and empowering clients to seek and obtain resources to fully participate in daily life occupations. The outcomes of advocacy and self-advocacy support health, well-being, and occupational participation at the individual or systems level”(AOTA, 2014). The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) are been advocating in the US legislature and they have multiple tools and information for professionals to advocate for our clients and profession. In the last
Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I am the student liaison to the American Occupational Therapy Association, (AOTA), for the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. I also am an active voter and representative of your Delaware constituency as I have lived in Delaware my entire life. In fact, I was on the Brandywine YMCA swim team with your son, Christopher. My time spent at the YMCA of Delaware peaked my interests to work with special need’s populations, leading me to the track of becoming an occupational therapist. Occupational therapy is an arcane profession to the general populous. Occupational therapists help all individuals live life to their fullest by maximizing one’s level of independence through engaging
Occupational therapy is another important care coordination model that is essential in helping people in gaining their mobility and independence. For example, in the elderly population are at an increased risk of falling from a variety of reasons.
Growing up surrounded by several people in the medical field, I had always pondered what I would be when I grew up. When I was about eight years old, I was determined to grow up and be a cardiologist, just like my uncle. At a young age, I was fascinated by the heart, it interested me that one thing controlled so much in the human body. However that dream changed as I grew older, as much as I would love being the one to save someone’s life, I realized that responsibility was entirely too much for me. I have had many different dreams about my future; such as being a basketball player, a teacher, and even a model. It was only when my grandmother was diagnosed with brain cancer and she lost her ability to walk and do several things on her own. Seeing my grandmother fight a battle with cancer, trying to get stronger and stay motivated made me want to help people such as my grandmother.
Occupational therapy provides assistance for those who are in need of assistance with daily living and work skills. These specialists work with people of various demographics to handle normal life challenges in a safe and healthy manner.
For the practice of Occupational Therapy it teaches meaningful, functional, and adaptive life skills; it is a profession that enhances activities of daily living (ADL), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). IADL’s including community mobility, is a critical area for the United States citizens. Driving is an instrumental activity that needs addressed with each client for safety and testing motor movements. Between 2002 and 2012, more than 1.5 million U.S. soldiers returned to the United States after an active duty Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraq Freedom (OIF; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs [VA], 2012a). Soldiers are trained specifically to what branch of service they’re going into. Going through strict training their units,
and intrigued by the mind-body connection as well as the importance of human activity and occupation in maintaining mental and physical well-being. At the same time, my desire to work directly with people and be able to make a positive and lasting change to their lives by empowering them and helping discover their strengths and confidence in themselves to achieve their goals, led me to a realization that a career in occupational therapy would be a perfect fit for me.
John, a fifty one year old veteran, has recently sought out career counseling. His goal is to find an occupation outside of the army. John wants to find a job that fits his personality and he will enjoy. John does not want to retire just yet, and wants to be able to provide for his family as long as he is able to. John’s resources are limited. He tried to complete online career assessments such as the I Seek Skill Assessment and the MMAP, however he was unable to interpret results and come to a conclusion. As John’s counselor, I provided him with Holland’s Occupational Theme Assessment. Once completed, John scored the type code of RIS, which stands for realistic, investigative, and social.
I have always enjoyed children and working with them but once I understood that there was a career that could enable me to improve a child’s life I was set on becoming an Occupational Therapist. I knew I could assist and change the lives of children that have been told they could not succeed nor live life to their fullest potential. Regardless of the struggles these children are facing, they are capable of a multiple of tasks for success. This is the work of an OT to capitalize on their strengths, to allow them to be the absolute best child (and then adult) that they can be. There is nothing more effective to preserve the future of our world and mankind than to nourish each child. The future depends on our youth and helping them grow into
Occupational therapy allows a patient to work towards the goal of being able to perform basic everyday functional tasks. Therapy will differ for each patient, providing purposeful tasks that will allow the most growth for the specific individual needs. Being able to be an independent individual that can perform functional tasks is something that most people strive for, and if something happened that altered this way of life, it can be very stressful and even feel dehumanizing to the patient. Striving for independence and working with the therapists is something that will positively affect the patient's quality of life.
Occupational therapy saved my family. Growing up with a sister with severe spastic cerebral palsy to include both cognitive and functional deficits, life existed on a day to day, hour by hour basis, as we were unsure of challenges each moment would bring. This all changed the moment occupational therapy brought quality of life back to me and my family. My very personal experience defined my purpose to become an occupational therapist, to pay the gift given my family forward.
This activity is appropriate for age approximately 2 and above with supervision from a parent or care provider. This activity can be done both individually and as a group; however, it is usually done individually. This activity can be used in different ways depending on how client sets a goal for one’s occupational therapy session. For example, if the client wants to gain an ability to perform ADL alone without assistance, it is a perfect starting point to re-learn the ability to perform oral hygiene with several modifications and adaptation. The targeted population is broad: from pediatrics to older adults because it is one of the essential ADLs that people engage in every day. In addition, this would also benefit pediatrics to facilitate
Volunteering at McKenna Farms Therapy Services I was able to observe pediatric occupational therapy sessions. Not only did I get to observe Occupational Therapy sessions, but I observed Hippotherapy sessions too. What I found so unique about McKenna Farms is that they had Speech Therapist, Physical Therapist, and Occupational Therapist all together at one clinic. This allowed me to witness how the different types of therapy fit together and how the therapist would collaborate to find the best way to treat the children. My favorite part was finding ways to communicate with the kids. Some of the kids I observed only understood or spoke Spanish and some others only knew sign language. Since I only speak English I found it challenging but so rewarding