Occupational Therapists : An Occupational Therapist

I have a strong academic background with studies in a variety of subjects, such as sciences, the arts, and my B.A. in Intercultural Studies. Over the years I have worked and volunteered with preschoolers, youth groups, the elderly, people of different ethnic backgrounds, and people with disabilities. I've worked hard to get here and with OT, it seems that my skills, experiences, and interests are coming together in a unique way. Going to school and getting the formal education needed to become a licensed therapist is the next step in achieving my goals. I am ready for the challenges of classroom and clinical training, and excited about going in depth with this study. I am eager to work on specialized skills that will help me better understand and assist people. I am looking forward to being part of a recognized profession with specific standards and practices. In the future, I hope to collaborate with clients, other specialists, family and community members, and to promote the profession. I'm enthusiastic about OT not just because I think it's a great career and a good fit for me, but also because it addresses major needs in our society. Everyone deserves the chance to participate in their desired activities and live their desired lifestyles. There is a growing demand for occupational therapy services, and I aspire to help in meeting that

Occupational Therapist enables people to engage and participate in everyday activities trough occupation. The latter role is not only applicable for individuals but also groups or populations. Eventually, with the increase of the aging population, expensive health care services, occupational therapists will have to incorporate health promotion practices into their actual roles.To cope with this phenomenon and to better meet older adult’s needs, the occupational therapist 's role would benefit from being enlarged.Expanding their knowledge and their practices in promoting health will facilitate their work in other domains.This will help them to shift from an individual to a population approach. To achieve that transition, therapists should be more involved in decisions taken by politicians regarding health and to develop services and programs that promote well-being, health, and quality of life. Also, collaboration with other fields such as schools, workplaces, industries, deputies and organizations will help them spread strategies that promote awareness and enable the population to control and maintain an independent healthy lifestyle. Also, therapists understand that the environment can be a crucial factor on health population. Therefore ,they can put pressure on the government to make public places more accessible to disabled people such as providing the subway of a wheelchair ramp and adapt crosswalks to the blind by adding pedestrian signals that include speakers at

The name of the society changed in 1923, due to hospitals wanting a national directory of qualified occupational therapists. There now was a minimal standard of training that had to be met before an individual was put in the directory (AOTA, 2009). The name was changed to the American Occupational Therapy Association. The American Medical Association worked with the American Occupational Therapy Association starting in 1933 on getting improved education programs for occupational therapists (AOTA, 2009).

Activities of daily living are the main focus of an Occupational Therapist. When people are doing their habits and routines do not think about the way they do something or why they are doing it in a certain way. An Occupational Therapist, however, will watch a person perform an activity and think on the steps he/she is taking and the reason behind the way they are performing it. For OTs, the way people perform a certain task or how they behave is extremely important because according to the theorists of behavior, motor control, and cognitive development each individual most perform and behave according to their stage in life. OT is all about client-centered care and if they would not know how a person is supposed to behave at a certain age how would they realize there is something wrong. In this paper, we are going to try to implement those theories in the behavior of a child.

What do you want to do? Who are you? Why do you want to partake in this program? If I were to be asked these questions at the beginning of my journey, I would not be able to give a proper response. All I knew was my simple desire to help other people.

For my career exploration assignment I have chosen the field of occupational therapy. Not only am I a certified occupational therapists assistant, but I also have a passion for this field. Occupational therapy wasn’t something that I have always wanted to pursue, but once I got into college and observed an occupational therapist I fell in love with the occupation. Occupational therapy is the unique focus on occupation and daily life activities and the application of an intervention process that facilitates engagement in occupation to support participation in everyday life (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 1994). As therapists we are here to help our patients return to the highest level of independent physical function. Patients come to us in their lowest time, and it is our job to help build them up, and teach them how to be more independent, and to live their life to the fullest. Occupational therapists assistants do everything from increasing a patient’s standing/sitting tolerance and balance, safety with transfer training, dressing, bathing, grooming, and bed mobility. A lot of people always ask, “Physical therapy and occupational therapy are the same thing right?” That is not true. Physical therapy helps with the bigger movements, such as walking and lower extremity muscles, where as occupational therapy focuses on smaller, more fine motor movements, such as clothing manipulation, and grooming tasks. Occupational therapy helps to regain independence

himself. The woman next to him asks, “Why are you crying?” He sniffles, “I’m just so happy. I

Over the past few years, my experiences have enhanced the quality of my life and prepared me for my future. Each event has taught me responsibility and has brought me closer to making the commitment of potentially becoming an occupational therapist. I became interested in the field of occupational therapy when my best friend was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease back in 2010 and was sent to a rehabilitation center to see an occupational therapist. Going into this rehabilitation center with my best friend, I was unaware to what occupational therapy was and how it would benefit her in any way. As I observed the occupational therapist work with my best friend, I became fascinated with the different types of techniques there are to rehabilitate

There is a relationship between research, practice and academics because each one are interrelated with the other one to develop advanced professional practice. There is a growing body of research, and evidence based findings inside and outside from our profession that needs to be scattered. Academics are responsible to teach to the new professionals the resources and evidence-based knowledge available to develop Occupational Therapy practitioner’s vanguard of new professional advances. The profession is active performing studies and developing new evidence to based our therapy interventions. We are seeking to obtain new knowledge to maximize our interventions and to deliver responsible and quality services. It’s necessary developing partnerships

The entire profession of Occupational Therapy draws on the idea that occupation can be used to alter an individual 's mental and physical well-being. Occupational therapists use occupation as a tool to achieve this. Participation in occupation is believed to be a significant factor in providing a method for individuals to not only promote, but also maintain their health and well-being (Law, Steinwender and Leclair, 1998).

I chose Meagan Kobielski M.S., OTR/L to interview for my paper. I chose her because she is an Occupational Therapist and I hope to be that profession someday. By choosing her allows me to explore more into the Occupational Therapy profession. Meagan graduated from Utica College with her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy. She spent her freshman and sophomore year at University of Buffalo studying Occupational Therapy. It took her five years to complete. Most classes she took to complete her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree consisted of psychology, math, kinesiology, biological sciences, and neuroscience. In high school she job shadowed a variety of different professions, Scientific Research, English Teacher, Chiropractor, and Occupational Therapist. She then determined that Occupational Therapy was the profession she wanted to purse.

Occupational Therapist work on patients who have been through illnesses or are disabled and they help improve the skills patients use in their daily life. They observe, evaluate, demonstrate exercises, develop treatments, evaluate patient's homes, educate family members of what they have to do, reccomend special kinds of equipment, and record the patient's progress. Many occupational therapist use special equipment to help with some of the activities they do with the patients especially autistic children. This career is very helpful and useful to many people who have problems doing activities they do in their everyday life. Occupational therapist have a copious amount of requirements or qualifications, they have a very gratifying salary and

An occupational therapist is a very important job in everyday life. Not only for the people teaching and practicing it, but also the people they are healing. An occupational therapist treats injured and disabled patients. Most patients have something physically wrong with them, but others may have a mental illness. While occupational therapist mainly heal disabled patients they without a doubt are needed in everyday life. Occupational therapist help patients develop, recover, and improve the skills for everyday living and working.

I have known for years now that I wanted my career to be in the medical field, but it was not until a couple of years ago that I heard about occupational therapy. At that point I was not sure of what an OTA was or what they did, but the more I found out the more intrigued I became. Not only would I help people regain movement in their upper body, but I would also be allowed to help adults and children that have emotional, mental, or social issues. I would be working towards the goal of getting these people back to doing their everyday activities.

Occupational therapy is a profession that address the vital importance of people’s psychological and physical needs as well as emotional well-being. Occupational therapists focus on taking care of their clients through a holistic view by looking at how personal factors influence the disease process. In addition, occupation therapy practitioners are an important part in teaching and educating individuals the ways of being as independent as possible after having medical problems based on their physical, mental, and emotional health needs as well as how to achieve health and wellness to improve their quality of life in all aspects. Occupational therapy practitioners also focus on analytical/assessment skills by identifying and understanding of the patients’ illness and assessing their performance abilities to identify any compensatory strategies to improve their performance in daily life activities. Occupational therapists have the privilege of helping people to restore their health, learn or adapt to new strategies to connect or perform their daily activities that they may or may not been able to do in the past within their environment safely and independently. Occupational therapists have the opportunity to be creative and imaginative in own ways in creating therapeutic intervention treatment