Occupations refer to the everyday activities that people do as individuals, in families and with communities to occupy time and bring meaning and purpose to life.
What does an Occupational Therapist do?
Enables people to participate in meaningful occupations and occupational roles (e.g. parent, student, worker, friend).
Enhance the ability of people and communities to engage in meaningful occupations by modifying the occupation or the environment.
(WFOT 2012)
What does ‘Occupational’ in ‘Occupational Therapy’ refer to?
Occupations refer to the everyday activities that people do as individuals, in families, and with communities to occupy time and bring meaning and purpose to life.
Areas of Support
- Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s), such as eating, dressing and hygiene.
- Instrumental ADLs, such as meal preparation, shopping and community involvement.
- Education.
- Play and Leisure.
- Social Participation.
- Sleep and rest.
- Work.
Areas of Intervention
Sensory Processing
Tactile, Vestibular, Proprioceptive, Vision, Auditory, Gustatory, Olfactory, Affecting Regulation/Attention and Functional Skills etc.
Social & Emotional Learning
Development of self-regulation, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making.
Executive Functioning
Organisational skills, self-control and flexible thinking.
Gross Motor Skills
Body awareness, strength, endurance, bilateral coordination, midline crossing and balance,
Fine Motor Skills
Body awareness, strength and dexterity.
Visual Motor & Perceptual Skills
Visual tracking, convergence/divergence, VP – Visual Discrimination, closure, memory, form constancy and figure-ground.
Praxis
Ideation, motor planning & sequencing and motor execution.