Our Services

Occupational Therapy

* OT services currently not available

Occupational Therapists work with individuals who are having difficulty carrying out their daily activities as a result of illness, disability, injury, or the effects of aging.  People who have arthritis, stroke or other brain injury, multiple sclerosis, developmental delay, upper extremity injury, or a congenital disability may benefit from Occupational Therapy services.

The goal of Occupational Therapy is to enable you to achieve satisfaction and independence in your daily life.  The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists defines occupation as everything that people do to occupy themselves.  This includes looking after themselves (self-care), enjoying life (leisure), and contributing to the social and economic fabric of their communities (productivity).  Occupational Therapists use an approach that considers physical, mental, emotional and social facets of the individual.

Key areas of focus:

  • Activities of daily living (ADL) such as eating, grooming, toileting, dressing, bathing.
  • Mobility and transfers such as moving around, getting to and from bed, toilet, chair, etc.
  • Instrumental activities of daily living such as banking, financial management, transportation accessing resources in the community, telephone use and shopping.
  • Work activities such as homemaking, meal preparation, child care, employment, volunteer tasks
  • Leisure such as community and social activities, hobbies, recreational activities.

 Occupational Therapy (O.T.) assesses the client’s ability to perform their occupation and provide education and training to increase their independent function.  The client’s occupation can be every day tasks in areas of self-care, productivity (work), and leisure.  The occupation may be as simple as looking after themselves at home or more complicated as those tasks required to return to work.

Adult clients benefit from a home assessment to determine their safety and function at home.  The O.T. may prescribe assistive devices and teach the client the best approach to completing a task.

A visit may be made to the client’s work place and the O.T. consults with the employer on the best strategies to return the client to their job in the most safe and productive manner.

Children are assessed in either the clinic setting or at school where the O.T. applies standardized tests to determine the child’s level of development in visual perception, visual motor skills, sensory processing, gross and fine motor skills.

The O.T. will then develop a program for school and home to address any areas of delayed development that affects classroom performance.  Children who benefit from O.T. may have Development Co-ordination Disorder, Pervasive Development Delay/Autism, or suffer neurological impairment (acquired brain injury, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury).

Occupational Therapists are regulated health care professionals with post secondary education.

Occupational Therapists are regulated health professionals that help people of all ages learn or reassume the skills they need in everyday activities.  Injury, illness, developmental problems, aging and emotional challenges may limit abilities.  Occupational Therapy (OT) works to break down barriers in completing day-to-day tasks.

The client’s occupation can be every day tasks in areas of self-care, productivity (work) and leisure.  The occupation may be as simple as looking after yourself at home or more complicated as those tasks required to return to work.  Occupational Therapists help you identify which activities are difficult for you.  Depending upon what you feel is important and what you are having difficulty with, an Occupational Therapist can check:

  • Your physical abilities; for example, your strength, co-ordination and balance Your mental abilities; for example, your memory, organizational skills and ways of coping.
  • Support available to you at your home, school, work or community.
  • Physical set-up of you house, classroom, workplace or community
  • And specific activities you want to do to improve your abilities.

Occupational Therapist services can include:

  • Assessment to identify difficulties that are relevant to you and to determine the exact nature and cause of the limitation
  • Training in strategies or methods to achieve greater independence in daily activities.
  • Prescription and training in the use of adaptive equipment.
  • Skills training in time management and energy conservation to make it easier for you to perform daily activities and build a meaningful and satisfactory life.
  • Education in protection of damaged, arthritic joints while participating in daily activities.
  • Problem solving around specific work or leisure tasks to make it easier for you to participate in activities that you enjoy
  • Teaching strategies and techniques to compensate for perceptual problems and to  strengthen and develop cognitive skills.

A treatment plan is formulated in conjunction with the client to optimize the client’s    functional abilities.

Our Occupational Therapist is a registered authorizer for the Assistive Devices Program of the Ministry of Health.  This program will assist with partial funding of mobility devices such as rollator walkers and wheelchairs.  Our therapist will assess your physical barriers to mobility, prescribe the appropriate mobility device, and assist you with competing the application form for funding.

Our Occupational Therapist is adept at making splints for arthritic joints or splints to protect joints from repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as providing the education necessary for joint protection.

Feel free to browse the Occupational Therapists Resource Website for more information on Occupational Therapy.

www.otworks.ca     

Share this page
Printer