Occupational Therapy for adults

Occupational Therapists (or OTs) help people to be as independent as possible – this may be in their home, at work, while studying, or in the community. This can mean learning new skills, or finding and implementing new ways of doing everyday activities.

For people with disability, this could include:

• Learning to use cutlery

• Getting dressed

• Learning handwriting

• Personal care

• Looking at someone’s equipment needs

• Adapting someone’s environment to be safe and accessible

• Motor skills programs (gross and fine motor skills such as balance, strength, coordination, and endurance)

• Equipment prescription (eg: wheelchairs [manual/electric], shower chairs, commodes, pressure relief devices, specialist beds, and mealtime equipment).

• Sensory assessment and intervention: Some people may find it difficult to understand or respond to sensory information such as loud noises, bright lights, certain textures, or taste sensitivities. Our OTs can help provide potential solutions for clients to help manage these sensitivities, as well as feel calm and settled in their environment.

    

Paediatric Occupational Therapy

The goal of Paediatric Occupational Therapy is to help children become more independent in everyday tasks. Examples of skills an OT might work on include:

• Self-care tasks (brushing teeth, buttoning clothes and using eating utensils)

• Hand-eye coordination (learning to write on a classroom whiteboard, or copy in a notebook what the teacher writes on the board)

• Fine motor skills (grasping and control a pencil, using scissors)

• Planning and organization (helping a teen plan a trip to his locker to swap books, gym clothes or a musical instrument for the next class period)

• Physical outlets (helping kids with behavior issues find better outlets than hitting someone when they’re frustrated or angry)

• appropriate responses (helping kids with sensory processing issues respond to sensations in a more appropriate way)