Occupational Therapy Essay

Occupational Therapy: What Puts it Above the Rest Occupational Therapy is one among many other therapeutic ways in which to correct a physical or mental problem. This type of therapy could be defined as “a form of therapy for those recuperating from physical or mental illness that encourages rehabilitation through the performance of activities required in daily life.” Through occupational therapy, there is hope to regain majority to full use in the area that was damaged. There are many different situations in which this type of therapy could be required, it is just dependent on the diagnosis and extent of injury. Along with this branch of therapy, speech and physical therapy are also prominent in the rehabilitation of a patient. Physical
Speech therapy helps people of all ages and languages improve communication and in some cases swallowing. With both of these actions being an essential part of life, that makes this form of therapy equally important. A therapist in this branch of therapy is referred to as a “speech-language pathologist (SLP)”. “SLP addresses the declines associated with the aging process, such as neurological difficulties, age-related illness, and deterioration of the swallowing mechanism” (AgingCare). Recommendations for Speech therapy are given due to the event of a stroke, physical abnormality, or other infections. During a speech therapy session there will be exercises given to improve articulation, fluency, and resonance (Going to a Speech Therapist). Articulation comes with how the person pronounces a specific word, letter, or other digraph sound. Another articulation disorder is a lisp. These are corrected through repetition exercises given by the therapist. The goal is to achieve fluency which could also be referred to as a stutter or strain while trying to say a word. In order to work towards the fixation of this problem, the therapist will suggest different methods in which to consider in situations where stuttering would be common. Suggestions and exercises during a session would include maintaining breathing, along with practicing things such as reading while in front of others. Articulation and
The pediatric branch of OT reaches the ages 0-3 years. With this range comes more birth or early developmental issues in which the therapist is assigned to fix. My mentor, Mrs. Michelle, was a part of the Home Health Association in which her job was in neither an office nor a facility, but instead she travelled to the patient’s home or a spot in which was convenient for that particular family. Throughout my visits, I was able to work and observe a numerous amount of kids with most of them having different needs. For example, one little girl who was slightly over two, was born with two extra pinkies in the place of two thumbs. This was a trait that ran in her family because her mom had two pinkies on one hand and a thumb and pinky on the other. During this session, Mrs. Michelle would use simple things such as a coloring book or magnetic games in which to work on grip and coordination with each hand. The goal with this patient was to train her hand to fully operate and maintain normalcy as if the fingers were regular thumbs. Another patient was a little boy that was injured during birth. During the delivery, his arm became stuck in a way that the doctor was unaware, and on the way out a patch of nerves underneath his armpit were torn and damaged. This caused him to be incapable of having full range of motion with that arm. During the OT sessions, he