An important member of the brain injury treatment team is going to be an occupational therapist. Occupational therapists help patients enhance their ability to perform tasks in living and working environments. This type therapy targets enabling individuals who suffer from mental, physical, developmental, or emotionally disabling conditions to do, and manage, the actions of daily life [ADL]. ADL can include, just by example, using a computer, dressing, cooking, eating, bathing together with job-related tasks.
Occupational therapists are highly educated. A master's degree, or more, in occupational therapy is the minimum requirement for entry into the field. Coursework in occupational therapy programs include the physical, biological, and behavioral sciences plus the application of occupational therapy theory and skills. Programs also require the completion of 6 months of supervised fieldwork.
Occupational therapy works together with individuals no matter their age. Besides traditional medical settings, occupational therapists can easily see people recovering from brain injury in birth-to-three early intervention programs, in public areas school settings, as job coaches, and as section of community mental health.
An occupational therapist is a health professional. In accordance with an Ohio State University website, "Occupational therapy is really a healthcare profession that uses "occupation," or purposeful activity, to help persons with physical, developmental, or emotional disabilities lead independent, productive, and satisfying lives." This occupational therapist evaluates the self-care, work and leisure skills of an individual and plans and implements social and interpersonal activities to develop, restore, and/or maintain the person's ability to accomplish ADL. The therapist helps to improve basic motor functions and reasoning abilities, but also to pay for permanent loss of function. The best goal is to return the person to an unbiased, productive and satisfying life.
Occupational therapists treatments range from the physical to the mental. Physical exercises enable you to increase strength and dexterity, while other activities may be chosen to boost visual acuity or the capability to discern patterns. For instance, an individual with short-term memory loss might be encouraged to create lists to assist recall while an individual with coordination problems may be assigned exercises to boost hand-eye coordination. Occupational therapists also use computer programs to help improve decision-making, abstract-reasoning, problem-solving, and perceptual skills, and also memory, sequencing, and coordination-all of which are important for independent living.
Other treatments range from the utilization of adaptive equipment, including wheelchairs, eating aids, dressing aids, design or build special equipment needed in the home or at work, including computer-aided adaptive equipment. Teaching can be utilized on how to utilize the equipment to improve communication and control various situations in their environment
Occupational therapy can be used in treating traumatic brain injury [TBI] during many phases of recovery and rehabilitation. Such therapy could be involved in providing sensory, motor, and positioning supports during periods of coma. As the patient improves and regains skills, occupational therapy eases the procedure and re-teaches skills ranging from basic self-care, to complex cognitive skills such as for example memory and problem solving.
WHAT SHOULD I SEARCH FOR IN AN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST?
The following is by no means meant to be an exhaustive set of the questions or concerns you should have when choosing an occupational therapist nor may be the following meant to disqualify any occupational therapist you are considering, these are meant to enable you to begin a discussion with the occupational therapist.
1. Look for licensing as, typically, such therapists must be licensed, requiring a master's degree in occupational therapy, 6 months of supervised fieldwork, and passing scores on national and State examinations.
2. Do they work full-time within their profession? More than a quarter of occupational therapists work in your free time.
3. How often will the therapist assess and record your activities? Progress can be an important section of an occupational therapist's job. Accurate records are essential for evaluating clients, for billing, and for reporting to physicians and other health care providers.
4. Does The original source specialize. Sensory Fitness may work exclusively with individuals in a specific generation or with a specific disability. In a school setting, a therapist may use children individually. Some therapists provide early intervention therapy to infants and toddlers who've, or are at threat of having, developmental delays. Some occupational therapists work only with elderly patients.
5. Will the therapist make home visits? It is vital, once you commence to re-establish your independence that you look at the role TBI will play in coping with your daily life. An occupational therapist could make recommendations for adaptive equipment, training to prolong driving independence, assess homes for hazards and identify environmental factors which could donate to further injury and injury prevention.
6. Will the therapist visit, and assess, your projects environment?