Occupational therapy helps people of all ages to become more
independent in the 'activities of daily living', or ADLs. Any task that has
this meaning to someone is considered an ADL. Occupational therapy for the
pediatric population helps children from birth through to eighteen years of
age. ADLs for children include eating, dressing, buttoning, tying shoes,
playing with toys, handwriting, and using scissors. Occupational therapy also
helps children who experience sensory dysfunction such as a lack of body and
space perception or difficulty touching various textures. Often, it helps
children who become upset whilst trying to perform everyday tasks such as
cutting their fingernails, washing hair, or eating different food textures.
Children with and without special needs may experience difficulty with daily
tasks and can benefit from occupational therapy.
Occupational therapists also assist in improving a person’s
ability to perform tasks in their living and working environments. They work
with people suffering from mental, physical, developmental and emotional
conditions. They assist people by improving motor functions and reasoning, as
well as permanent loss of function. Such assistance will enable patients to
lead independent, productive and satisfying lives.
OT's assess and help people perform a myriad of daily tasks.
Accurate records and evaluations are an important aspect of supplying a client
with proper therapeutic exercises. For example, a client with short-term memory
loss will be encouraged to make lists, while one with problems in coordination
will be assigned exercises for hand-eye coordination. A work-site environmental
evaluation can lead to modifications, which result in a client’s success at
work. An ergonomic assessment enables a computer user to minimize the risk of
developing repetitive strain injuries. Naturally, there are many types of
clients, which lead to variable duties for an occupational therapist.
This type of therapy benefits children who have delays in
'fine and gross' motor skills, sensory processing, and self-care skills such
as:
·
Difficulty with coloring, cutting with scissors
or other pre-school fine motor tasks.
·
Difficulty with academic tasks such as
handwriting. Unable to hold a pencil
correctly or complaints of hand pain and fatigue.
·
Unable to use utensils to eat, has trouble
dressing like others of his/her age.
·
Reacts negatively to stimuli in the environment
such as sounds, bright lights. Doesn’t
like messy play and may react negatively to touch.
·
May only eat certain textures of foods.
·
Seeks out excessive sensory stimuli like
swinging, spinning, roughhouse play or avoids them all the time.
·
Decreased attention and direction following
·
Placing inappropriate objects in mouth
With the increasing demand for health care workers,
Occupational Therapy can be a rewarding career choice as well as a great first
step into the overall field of health care. Occupational Therapists can qualify
for salary increases by becoming certified as an Occupational Therapist
Registered (OTR), a Certified Occupational Therapist (COT), Cardiopulmonary
Resuscitation (CPR), or as a Certified Hand Therapist (CHR). Occupational Therapists
can also become licensed as a Licensed Occupational Therapist, an Occupational
Therapist Registered/Licensed (OTR/L), as a Licensed Physical Therapist. Once
an Occupational Therapist has a few years of experience, self-employment and
contract work can be higher paying alternatives, though those options typically
don't include benefits. OT's can also increase their salaries by earning a
post-graduate degree and advancing to higher paying medical positions, by
gaining seniority, by moving to a larger institution, or by promotion to a
supervisory role.
For the latest occupation therapy jobs in UK, please visit http://www.yourworldhealthcare.co.uk
