Who can benefit from occupational therapists?
All patients can benefit from sessions with an occupational therapist, but more specifically a patient suffering from permanent disabilities like muscular dystrophy would benefit the most. In fact for such patients whose mobility has been hampered doing a therapy is a must. It basically helps them to come back to normal life. Those having injuries in spinal chord or even patients afflicted by cerebral palsy should definitely visit an occupational therapist. All the above-mentioned disabilities require certain special instructions, in order to perform daily chores and that’s where a therapist comes in. He teaches the patient the use of certain adaptive equipments, like wheelchairs, crutches, etc. Equipments, which simplify work and also help people with disabilities to lead a more normal life, are also part of this and a therapist is the critical cog in the wheel.
Each therapist has a unique way of functioning. Many evaluate the situation and customize the therapy session according to the requirements of the patients. If a patient has faced certain specific problems in the work environment, the therapist work’s in tandem with the employer to create a more conducive environment in order to enhance the ease of working and simultaneously the productivity of the patient. Therapists keep a constant track of the patient’s activities, so that they can be effective in their methodology and also are able to create an accurate bill.
While working with elderly patient’s occupational therapist’s need to take special care. A wide variety of both physical as well as mental techniques need to be used in order to help the elderly patients lead a more independent life. Being productive affects the elderly patients psychologically and helps them to recover quicker. Driving is one of the major areas where an occupational therapist can come to the help of an elderly patient. Providing special training as well constant evaluation, which includes both clinical methods and also actual driving of the car on the road, enables them to suggest the patient to continue driving independently or seek substitutes. Outside and inside the home, occupational therapists are a boon to the elderly.
A significant fact to note that these are the people who function along with a particular set of people or men and women who are ailing with some specific mental or physical disorder. Thus it can be said that in a way they are best suited to address specific needs particular to that group. They have a varied range of functions. In fact there are some counsellors who are allocated to schools where they perform a multifarious range of activities. What is to be noted is that in school these people happen to evaluate the capabilities of children. Apart from that they take special care of children with specific disabilities and also ensure that they take active part in the community activities in school. With functions such as to advise as well as suggest various factors like therapy, change the apparatus in classroom and ensure that the children take part in activities these people are integral to the schools teaching with have an inclusive environment. It should also be noted that while at times they are a part of the old age home where their services are needed for the senior citizens and hence one should remember that for old as well as invalid who have lost hope of leading a normal life their services can be vital.
Therapists are specialists in their own rights. They either work with a specific age group or on a specific disability. The kind of evaluation techniques and methods of therapy required in a school is totally different from that in an old age home. Yet there are therapist’s who specialize in dealing with that particular group.
Occupational Therapy is useful not only to those suffering from physical disabilities, but also to those suffering from mental disabilities. Autistic children or people afflicted by schizophrenia or even people who are dyslexic need a lot of help from therapists in order to be able to cope up with the daily chores, remain engaged with a particular activity or just lead a normal life. Teaching simple things like shopping (which is like a birth right to us, but not them) or even helping to use public transportation are part of what a therapist does. Occupational Therapist even works people suffering from alcohol and drug addiction.
This is an extremely specialized field and with proper knowledge, training or qualification an occupational therapist won’t be able to function. A person needs to be at least a graduate in Occupational Therapy in order to be able to enter this field. With the passing of time a post graduation or higher might become mandatory. A person needs to graduate through an accredited educational program in order to obtain the license which mandatory to be able to operate in USA. They also need to pass a national certification examination post, only then are they given the title “Occupational Therapist Registered (OTR)”.
In fact in most cases these practitioners have a rigorous schedule and in fact the work assigned to them can be tiring as in most cases they are on their toes and have to keep long hours. In several instances we also notice that the therapists are associated with providing health care at home. In such a scenario we see that he needs to drive from point to point to get appointment and at the same time they do a lot of hard work at the client’s house which includes shifting of things.
The usual schedule for these practitioners is the normal pattern which is 40 hours per week while those in schools may have slightly lesser hours and in fact therapists in the educational institutes may take part in meets after a work day. However a recent study shows that over a quarter these people are freelancers.
Other Qualifications needed to be a therapist
Some States have additional requirements for therapists who work in schools or early intervention programs and these include education-related classes, an education practice certificate, or early intervention certification requirements; all of which are necessary to obtain by any practitioner in order to gain any license. In most cases occupational therapy programs are full-time programs. In recent times however there are many weekend programs.