Occupational therapy is incorporation of intervention strategies to counter the stigmas associated with disabilities via therapeutic deployment of dairy activities. It demands the requisite skills of occupational therapy assistants and or occupational therapists.
Occupational therapy (OT) helps people achieve independence in all activities that are normally performed by people without disabilities at ease. The intent of performing such involving tasks in the sense that it entails intensive training in the ways of doing things which seem impossible by some challenged persons especially children, is to make them live life to the fullest. OT helps to empower children to achieve exemplary results through improved cognitive abilities, self esteem, physical abilities and above all giving children a sense of accomplishment. According to the mission of the American occupational therapy association (AOTA), OT goes beyond addressing issues to do with individual physical challenges to embrace social, psychological and environmental factors. All the other factors, apart from the physical challenges facilitate functionality of such people in different ways and hence vital for incorporation in the health care of both kid and adults.
In an attempt to enable challenged people live their life to the fullest, AOTA, performs an evaluation at an individual level in which the AOTA staff determines the clients goals and aspirations in life and derive customized intervention strategies to arrive at the goals set out in the initial phase. Finally, they examine the results against the initially stipulated strategies. Where the anticipated results fails to merge the actual results, then the therapy crew make appropriate adjustments to the intervention plan. The prerogative of OT is to adapt the environment to adopt the client. Furthermore, the client forms an intrinsic element of the OT team.
Reflecting on Jacob’s physical situation: he was born with very short arms that rendered him comparable with a person with both hands amputated and deserved an artificial limb on one leg and a brace on the other leg, OT, interventions to make him live his life to the fullest , reminiscent to the chores of the AOTA, were amicably required. Urgent, change of conception of teachers that he really needed one on one assistant was crucial as it serves to inculcate a feeling of low self-esteem and therefore an enormous hindrance toward achieving personal independence. To participate in core activities just like other children, Jacob needed a universal cuff that would see him able to hold items such a paper and a pencil. He also deserved OT interventions to enable him ride on school bus just like other kids. This required his ability to fasten his seat belt fast enough as well as ‘unbelting’ it. Due to his condition, a customized and adapted chair was required to allow him adjust his body position both horizontally and vertically. On extracurricular such gym, media art and music additional specifics were required. For instance, his talent in painting had to be backed with appropriate interventional to enable him carry paints on a tray. The various successful therapeutic interventions changed Jacob from an ‘I cannot’ individual to an award-winning child. The various achievements obtained by Jacob not only brought fame and recognition on his part, but also on his occupational therapy assistant and his family. In a big way, the transformation of Jacob exemplifies the noble roles the organizations such AOTA play to help light up people’s lives irrespective of their challenges.