Occupational Therapy

What is occupational therapy?
Occupational therapy(OT) is an allied health profession. OT enables students to improve their development and prevent disability impacting their functioning.
OT focuses on the promotion, restoration and maintenance of productivity in people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities.
It may include adaptation of task or environment to achieve maximum independence and to enhance the quality of life.
Occupational Therapy has a definite role in helping/treating children with sensory processing disorders.

Who is an Occupational therapist?
An Occupational therapist is one who promotes skill development and independence in all daily activities. This is often confused for vocational counseling and job training.
The word occupation in this context means "an activity in which one engages"

Role of occupational Therapy

• Occupational therapy as an educational support service is quite different from occupational therapy in a clinic or hospital.
• School-based therapists focus on removing barriers from students' ability to learn, helping students develop skills which increase their independence in the school environment, and educating school personnel about the different considerations required for handling students with disabilities
• Everything the therapist does with students in school must be educationally relevant. The therapist evaluates, assesses and accommodates functional abilities of students in school classrooms, hallways and other designated areas.
• The therapist works with teachers to help students acquire functional abilities necessary to access educational materials and move about the school.
• The therapists help students function better in classrooms lunch rooms and work with then in adapting or modifying their equipment/materials
• Other assistance includes helping students participate in activities outside of the school through mobility on field trips, sports events, on playgrounds and within the community.
• Therapists work closely with teachers to promote the highest level of function possible for students pursuing educational goals

Areas of involvement

Abilities

• Balance and postural reactions
• Muscle tone and strength
• Body awareness
• Fine motor abilities (pinching and grasping, manipulative skills, pencil and scissors use, hand writing)
• Gross motor abilities (running, jumping, climbing)
• Motor Planning (ability to plan, initiate and execute a motor act)
• Visual Perception (Shape recognition, Visual Memory)
• Visual Motor Integration (Copying shapes, copying block designs)
• Sensory Integration (Response to sensory stimuli, discrimination of sensory input)
• Behaviors (arousal level, attention, problem solving skills)

Skills

• Self-care skills (eating, dressing, toilet habits, bathing)
• Community living skills (use of public transportation, money knowledge, shopping)
• Pre-academic skills (identify letters, sounds, shapes, colors and numbers)
• Play skills (use of toys, types of play)
• Social skills
• Pre-vocational and vocational skills

Sensory Integration

Our senses are the gateway to the brain for receiving information about the body and the environment This information is processed and organized so that we feel comfortable, and secure and we are able to respond appropriately to particular situation the environmental demands.
This is sensory integration For some children this does not work in normal way This is assessed using some tests such as Bruininks-osteresky test of motor proficiency (BOTMP), Areas that are assessed are given below. A sensory profile is drawn.

• Running speed & agility (1item)
• Balance (8items)
• Bilateral coordination (8items)
• Strength (3items)
• Upper limb co-ordination (9items)
• Response speed (1items)
• Visual motor control (8items)
• Upper limb speed & dexterity (8items)

The evaluation will

• Capture salient information about a child's sensory processing;
• Clearly linking sensory processing with the child's daily life performance;
• Providing information for theory-based decision making; and for caregivers as critical members of the team

Handwriting assessment and evaluation is also a normally done and it includes :

• Classroom observation.
• Interviews with teacher, parents and other team members interviews, as well as child's concern and difficulties.
• Formal and informal test instruments

Play

RELEVANCE OF PLAY IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

• Play as a TOOL
• Play as a GOAL
• Play per se

Touch/Proprioception - Compression


Vestibular Activity - Aeroplane Swing


Fine Motor - FM Suction Bulb


Hand Writing

Some OT facilities

Ball pool


OT Room 1


OT Room 2


Swing


Trampoline