Occupational therapist
Occupational therapists are
healthcare workers who work with
people with disabilities, the
elderly,
newborns, school-aged
children, and with anyone who has a permanent or temporary
impairment in their
physical or
mental functioning. The aim of
occupational therapy is to help the client to perform daily tasks in their living and working
environments, and to assist them to develop the skills to live
independent, satisfying, and
productive lives.
Interventions used by occupational therapists to achieve greater
independence by
clients include
rehabilitation of
neuropsychological deficits (memory, attention, complex
reasoning),
motor function,
sensory function (vision, perception of touch),
interpersonal skills (e.g. social skills). The medium of treatment usually involves the use of purposeful
activities, which have some
meaning and
relevance to clients' lifestyle (these are also called 'occupations' and include
routine behaviors associated with work, leisure and self care.)
Another important area of intervention is by means of environmental
manipulation to maximize ability (such as environments for wheelchair users) or afford the desired behaviors (e.g. set up the environment so that it contains cues to
compensate for memory impairment).
Occupational therapists might
work in a
hospital, skilled
nursing facility,
school,
outpatient clinic, or in the client's home as in home health. Some occupational therapists also conduct
research to assess new techniques, rate the effectiveness of existing services and investigate other areas into which occupational therapy might be beneficial. Additionally, there are some non-traditional roles such as consulting with
lawmakers and doing home accessibility modification and
ergonomic assessments of work environments.
*
Activities of daily living*
Allied health professional*
The American Occupational Therapy Organization, Inc.*
The Tennessee Occupational Therapy Association, Your souce for OT info in TN and beyond*
The World Federation of Occupational Therapists*
The British Association of Occupational Therapists
