Did you know there was a whole month dedicated to the profession of Occupational Therapy? Now you do! Occupational Therapy Month was created by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. (AOTA) in 1980. They decided to make this celebration in April to correspond with their Annual Conference and Expo.
For those who don’t know, “Occupational therapy is the only profession that helps people across the lifespan to do the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities (occupations).” One of the common interventions (and one we at Humanus help with the most) includes helping children with various disabilities participate fully in school and in their social engagements.
Typically, an occupational therapist’s duties will include observing patients while they do a task, develop a treatment plan to help patients work towards achieving set goals, demonstrate exercises (when it applies), evaluating a patient’s home/workplace and identifying potential improvements, and recommending any special equipment the patient might need to do certain things.
If you’re wondering how you can celebrate this month, here are a few suggestions:
Social Media: Whether you’re a patient or an occupational therapist (or OTA), we encourage you to share how occupational therapy has helped you/your patients live life to its fullest.
Share Your Activities: We know that when you find (or create) an activity that really works for a patient, it’s a great feeling. Why not share that feeling with other OTs?
Show Appreciation: If you or someone in your family goes to see an occupational therapist, let the OT know how much you appreciate all that they’re doing.
If you are an OT and are always looking for new ideas, follow us (@HumanusCorporation) on Pinterest. Our “For our OTs” Board has a wide range of tips, tricks, activity ideas and more!
Sources: http://www.aota.org/Conference-Events/OTMonth.aspx, http://www.aota.org/Conference-Events/OTMonth/TenThings.aspx, http://www.aota.org/Conference-Events/OTMonth/what-is-OT.aspx, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/mobile/occupational-therapists.htm