Occupational therapy

From Citizendium
Revision as of 11:32, 5 December 2007 by imported>Robert Badgett
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is developing and not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

Occupational therapy (OT) is a rehabilitative service that aims to make people as independent as possible. Occupational therapists, people who supply occupational therapy, provide these services in a variety of capacities and populations, including pediatrics, adults, geriatrics, and with people with psychiatric disorders. In occupational therapy, the term occupation refers to meaningful activities. Therefore, therapists utilize meaningful activities to make people independent.

For example, an elderly patient suffering a stroke may have difficulties with fine motor in one of their hands. An occupational therapist may use a meaningful activity, such as creating a collage of grandchildren to encourage the use of the patient's hands to work in cutting, organizing, and pasting the pictures onto a scrapbook. By doing this activity, fine motor skills are developed.