What is Occupational Therapy? | Celebrating OT Week
OT week 25th -31st October
Guess what? It’s OT week starting Monday 25th of October through to the 31st of October! As a result, we thought we would talk a little more about Occupational Therapy and what we do. Our blog this month was written by Nicole - who shares her unique experiences in the allied health sector.
Occupational Therapy is a profession within the healthcare sector that uses assessment and intervention to develop, recover or maintain the meaningful activities or occupations of individuals.
Occupational Therapy does so much more than just aiding an individual, it supports and regulates the family as a unit. It brings families together with strategies and activities to harness their uniqueness, rather than suppressing it.
As every individual is unique, it is important to tailor intervention solutions to not only the child but to the adults that support them - creating a family-centred approach. It’s incredible to watch both children and adults transform their lives with occupational therapy through the implementation of different strategies and regulation activities to support them day to day.
As a little experiment, I asked a group of young children in their classroom what they think an Occupational Therapist does. Take a look at the responses below:
“I have one, she is so great. She comes to my house and sometimes to my school. We play games the whole time. She helps me control my feelings, she helps me sit up straight, we learn things to help me in new situations and we laugh a lot too. She is my friend” - Johnny
It was wonderful to see that a young child not only viewed his occupational therapist as someone who he can indeed have fun with at school and home but someone that helps him in areas of need - in a fun and efficient way.
Prior to working at Explore and Soar I worked within the allied health sector as a Massage Therapist and Physio Aid. I also worked as an Early Childhood Educator for many years so I worked alongside Occupational Therapists in many situations. I understood how OT’s supported and implemented return to work therapy, stroke and injury rehab, as well as ongoing care and treatment for children who require extra support in daily living and regulation. What I didn't realise is how the strategies that the Occupational Therapists and our Therapy Assistants implement are relevant and supportive to ALL children and their families. Every single human being, especially now in the world we live in with Covid and the implications that brings, needs and craves more support. Support would be needed in simple situations like remaining still to complete a task, regulating emotions or simply strengthening hand muscles to better hold a pencil in order to write - the list is endless.
So if you have been advised that it might be worthwhile to go and meet with an OT, you might have questions… I thought it would be helpful to answer some of the most commonly asked questions that we get here at Explore and Soar...
What is an OT? And what do they do?
An Occupational Therapist is a university qualified allied health team member, they are an essential service employee. (yes that's right, they are still out in the environment right now during lockdown, supporting and assisting children and adults all over the community to reach their goals and maintain their ability to function at their best).
They have your family's best interest and needs at heart. They work with each individual family to create a positive relationship while assessing the child’s movements, their emotions, how they regulate themselves, their coordination and balance, how they eat, how they socialise, how they breathe, their posture, spatial awareness and many more daily living skills. Together with the families an assessment is discussed, with learning goals put in place to better support the child and family.
How will an OT help my child?
Intervention strategies are individual and tailored to suit each child. Activities, games and exercises are created to best support and assist each child to reach their goals to then set new ones.
Occupational Therapists get to play….. They really do, they play games with children & adults, they have a multitude of activities and when they are not playing they are thinking and researching new activities and games to integrate into the child’s interventions. OT’s complete many hours of research for the creation of activities, outcomes and strategies to assist your child in progressing towards their individual needs and functional goals.
Children learn best through play. During these play sessions the children are provided with many learning opportunities in a way that is fun and educational.
Who can see an OT?
Anyone can be assessed by an OT. If you have any concerns or questions about your child’s development; their body awareness or ability to process information, how they use their bodies within a space, their posture, concentration, emotional outbursts, or when something just doesn’t seem ‘right’ - you should speak to an OT.
The earlier you can implement strategies the more positive the outcome. Early Intervention refers to a child who has intervention or support prior to schooling. By including an OT in a child’s life prior to schooling little strategies and learning behaviours can be implemented and then the foundations of learning a behaviour are developed. Liken it to learning a new skill once and developing from there instead of having to relearn a skill.
Our Occupational Therapists and the Therapy Assistants take into account each individual child's strengths and weaknesses while incorporating any behaviours, physical, cognitive, and social abilities.
What is the difference between an Occupational Therapist & a Therapy Assistant?
Therapy Assistants are still undertaking and completing their university degree in Occupational Therapy. Each year Explore & Soar hire 3rd and 4th year university students to work alongside and learn from an experienced Occupational Therapist. Our Therapy Assistants support your child and family through the guidance and programming of the leading Occupational Therapist to implement the treatment plan for each individual child. As a team the Occupational Therapist & Therapy Assistant work collaboratively with you and your child, through writing & organising personalised programs, establishing clinical reasoning and goal setting for your child in a caring, supportive, fun and flexible environment. This approach allows further social interaction for your child, the ability to increase appointments and assists with funding options.
The most important question - why choose Explore and Soar?
Explore and Soar are a local team of experienced, caring and qualified professionals. Our team consists of Jess, our Director, Occupational Therapists, Therapy Assistants and our management and admin team. We are a mobile team which means that our OT's and TA’s come to you! Whether that be at your home, your child’s school, preschool, OOSH or the nearby park. We cater to your individual needs. We also offer telehealth appointments. We work together to achieve joint goals - integrating and implementing solutions for the whole family.
Our staff pride themselves on creating special bonds with families in our community, ensuring continuity of care and support. If you would like to know more about how to incorporate an OT into your family please feel free to contact Explore and Soar. We are still conducting appointments during the lockdown period either in person or via telehealth.
Nicole May
Until next time,
Nicole