The Basics of Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy, is the way of treatments to develop, recover, or maintain the daily living and work skills of people with a physical, mental or developmental condition. Occupational therapy is a client-centered practice that places a premium on the progress towards the client’s goals. Occupational therapy interventions focus on adapting the environment, modifying the task, teaching the skill, and educating the client/family in order to increase participation in and performance of daily activities, particularly those that are meaningful to the client.

Occupational therapy treatment focuses on helping people achieve independence in all areas of their lives. OT can help kids with various needs improve their cognitive, physical, and motor skills and enhance their self-esteem and sense of accomplishment.

Some people may think that occupational therapy is only for adults; kids, after all, do not have occupations. But a child's main job is playing and learning, and occupational therapists can evaluate kids' skills for playing, school performance, and daily activities and compare them with what is developmentally appropriate for that age group.

Occupational therapy process

 An occupational therapist works systematically through a sequence of actions known as the occupational therapy process. There are several versions of this process as described by numerous writers, although all include the basic components of evaluation, intervention, and outcomes.

Kids Who Might Need Occupational Therapy

According to study kids with these medical problems might benefit from Occupational Therapy:

·         birth injuries or birth defects

·         sensory processing disorders

·         traumatic injuries (brain or spinal cord)

·         learning problems

·         autism/pervasive developmental disorders

·         juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

·         mental health or behavioral problems

·         broken bones or other orthopedic injuries

·         developmental delays

·         post-surgical conditions

·         burns

·         spina bifida

·         traumatic amputations

·         cancer

·         severe hand injuries

·         multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and other chronic illnesses

Occupational therapists might:

·         help kids work on fine motor skills so they can grasp and release toys and develop good handwriting skills

·         address hand-eye coordination to improve kids' play skills (hitting a target, batting a ball, copying from a blackboard, etc.)

·         help kids with severe developmental delays learn basic tasks (such as bathing, getting dressed, brushing their teeth, and feeding themselves)

·         help kids with behavioral disorders learn anger-management techniques (i.e., instead of hitting others or acting out, using positive ways to deal with anger, such as writing about feelings or participating in a physical activity)

·         teach kids with physical disabilities the coordination skills needed to feed themselves, use a computer, or increase the speed and legibility of their handwriting

·         evaluate a child's need for specialized equipment, such as wheelchairs, splints, bathing equipment, dressing devices, or communication aids

·         work with kids who have sensory and attentional issues to improve focus and social skills

 

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH EFFORTS TO ENHANCE QUALITY OF LIFE IN CHILDREN WITH CP OR AUTISM.

Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Medical Intervention Therapy

The Hypothesis

Everyone has many brain functions. We normal persons, depending on our fancy or compulsion, develop one or more of these functional abilities to the limit to make a livelihood out of it, like a guitar player or a cricketer or a singer or a dancer, and so on. 
Special need children also have some functions remaining behind, which the Therapists work on to develop them to their fullest extent to try and compensate for lost functions to the degree possible. However, after that has been achieved to an anticipated extent, a time comes when further progress stops as the child has already developed the remnant functions to the maximum limit possible.

Regenerative Medicine

This is where Regenerative Medicine comes in. Regenerative Medicine is an attempt to restore a variable amount of damaged but not dead brain (anoxic penumbra). That is like adding an external USB Hard Disk to a computer whose irreplaceable internal hard disk has lost a part of its storage capacity due to bad sectors. However, these methods work best below 5 years of age, and preferably below teen age as far as possible.