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Fri 9 May, 2008 05:07 pm
Please note that this is in the "Parenting and Childcare" section of the forum. I point this out because I am interested in learning what is involved with OT regarding a person whose occupation is being a child.
How does OT differ from other forms of therapy?
What should I expect from my child during OT?
How long does OT typically last?
(No this isn't for ADHD but I don't really want to get into the details -- it's been a long enough week already.)
Can you shed some light on this to help a dummy like me?
NOoooooo.
I'm too big a sissy and Mo is too important to me to turn him over to someone I can't fire. That sounds bad but I mean it in a nice way.
OT through a private OT provider his doctor has referred us to.
I'll be back with some "serious" stuff, but I just want to say that occupational therapists are the medical professionals I absolutely admire and envy the most. Fascinating jobs and they just do good. I love them. I wish I'd understood what they did before I headed off to university. I woulda tried to be one.
To begin with, here the first 3 years of the program are done in common with pre-med students and physiotherapists. You've got to be damn good academically to get into the program - and to graduate. The professional school here controls how many graduate each here - the qualifications are tough. Then - on top of the academics - you've got to have personality plus. Not in an over-the-top giddy way - just a good, solid, strong personality that doesn't take guff.
Oh gawd, I love them.
I've worked with occupational therapists on a professional basis for very close to 30 years now, and I've NEVER met one that didn't impress me as a human being.
Re: Occupational therapy for dummies like me.
boomerang wrote:Please note that this is in the "Parenting and Childcare" section of the forum. I point this out because I am interested in learning what is involved with OT regarding a person whose occupation is being a child.
How does OT differ from other forms of therapy?
I don't know how much you've gotten into it yet but the term is somewhat misleading. While the original idea was to use a theraputic regimine to help people adapt to a work environment after a physical or mental incident a better current working concept would be to think of it as "teaching life skills".
OT works with trying to get the person to see their limits in a practical aspect (i.e. doing things) and finding ways to overcome those limits as opposed to a classical "sit on the couch and tell me about your problems" sort of therapy session.
Mumpad worked for a short time with some kids in this sort of capacity. they wern't special case children just a little slower than other kids in the class to grasp concepts.
She (mumpad) is out for the day but I will ask for more detail whn she comes in.
As I recall some of her work was developing fine motor skills and hand eye co-ordination.
In my experience as an adult, there is physical therapy involving range of motion and strength. The Opposite is occupational, involving how to do things. Example of occupational - I learned how to navagate from wheelchair to conventional chair. I have no idea if this is relavant to what they do with children.
By the way, this therapy, along with wheelchairs and walkers are a thing of the past, for me.
I was going to post a link to a friend's website, but that'd be getting a bit too close for comfort.
But, I did find this really good website for a paediatric occupational therapist in B.C. - lots of good links to definitions/terminology.
http://www.kidskills.ca/
Around here, ehBeth, therapists (both kinds) spend alot of time doing required evaluations. Much of the actual contact is with those holding associate degrees in physical therapy. You probably won't know who you are dealing with unless you ask.
Oh well, I can speak to OT at school. That might help. The OT room is like a big playroom filled with some of the coolest toys ever. There's a swing, a trampoline, a big pile of crash pads to jump in to. There are squeeze toys and exercise balls and silly putty and and and. Kids want to go with Mr. Man (my charge at school).
But, it's work disguised as fun and games. Kids go there for many reasons. Sometimes they need fine-motor work. Their handwriting is sloppy and irregular, they hold their pencil oddly, or they have weak hands/fingers for some reason. They do pencil work, lettering, silly putty, knot tying, etc to strengthen muscles and improve coordination. There are probably other reasons I don't know about.
Gross-motor skills are needed in hand-eye coordination, balance, and a sense of physical self (and more, again, I'm sure). Gross-motor is improved by swinging on special swings, rolling over the exercise balls, spinning in the human top, using the trampoline and crash pads, etc.
See, there's way more to it than I knew!
Re: Occupational therapy for dummies like me.
boomerang wrote:a person whose occupation is being a child.
this is kinda neat
Quote:Pediatric OT
Occupational Therapy is a treatment that focuses on helping individuals achieve independence in all areas of their lives. Specifically occupational therapists work on self care, productivity and leisure.
Children's productivity is play and learning, both of which are crucial for development. When a child's ability is affected as a result of injury, illness, disability or disease, an occupational therapist can evaluate a child's skills for daily activities, school performance and self care activities and compare them to what is developmentally appropriate for an age group. Treatment is focused on improving a child's skill level to meet those of his/her peers.
http://healthworksclinic.ca/pediatric_occupational_therapy.html
My sincerest thanks to all of you.
Sometimes I get a bit overwhelmed by the "do this"ness of everything.
I will most certainly be investigating the links when my mind is a bit clearer.
liitlek, I hope you don't think I was being dismissive of schools and their ability and capacity to help. The last therapist we were working with made a very strange admission that sent both me and Mr. B into orbit and we were glad we had the ability to seek other help. She wasn't affiliated with the school system in any way but we were glad we were able to move on without a lot of complications.
When it comes to Mo I am very, very, careful to the point of being a lunatic probably.
Not at all, Boomer. Of course Mo is precious and you need to care for him as such.
I want to thank you all again and especially you, eBeth, for the links. I followed them and followed them and learned a lot.
I called today to make an appointment.
In the course of talking to the triage nurse a couple of things clicked that might be the cause of our recent bout of bizarre behavior.
She made me get out my calendar and work backwards to when this started.
".... and before that he had an overnight visit with his grandparents (long explaination about who they are and how they fit)...."
"Did anything change after that?"
"Well, he started talking alot about Jesus and worrying about people going to hell...."
GASP!
Seriously, she gasped.
The overnight was at the tail end of March. I started a thread about all the Jesus and hell stuff on April 15.
The timing is pretty spot on.
I think Mo is worried about hell.
boomerang wrote:I want to thank you all again and especially you, eBeth, for the links. I followed them and followed them and learned a lot.
I called today to make an appointment.
In the course of talking to the triage nurse a couple of things clicked that might be the cause of our recent bout of bizarre behavior.
She made me get out my calendar and work backwards to when this started.
".... and before that he had an overnight visit with his grandparents (long explaination about who they are and how they fit)...."
"Did anything change after that?"
"Well, he started talking alot about Jesus and worrying about people going to hell...."
GASP!
Seriously, she gasped.
The overnight was at the tail end of March. I started a thread about all the Jesus and hell stuff on April 15.
The timing is pretty spot on.
I think Mo is worried about hell.
A lot of people have, over the years.
I recall a sleep-over when I was just a tiny bit older than Mo is now.
Nancy's grandmother was a grand bible-thumper. She got me alone in the kitchen and talked to me about hell at some length after determining that I wasn't a church-goer. I was terrified and worried about what would happen to the hamburgers as she'd made it clear that they were at fault for the gap in my religious knowledge/education/fervor.
Sometimes I think grown-ups are just too awful for kids to be around.
Oh my. What did the hamburgers do?
I had a conversation after school with Mo's teacher prefaced with "This question is going to seem really off the wall, don't be alarmed, but I need to ask you about Jesus and hell."
I'm sure her laugh could be heard all over the school.
We proceeded to have a very interesting conversation about Jesus and hell and kids and general weirdness.
She suspects the same kid I do as possibly feeding Mo's hell obsession and she's going to keep her ears open.
I'm not suggesting that Mo's problems are really about hell but I'm thinking hell set off our latest stuff.
Okay. I have the appointment scheduled but now I have a new problem.
Maybe potential problem.
I just want to head it off, just in case....
The office is inside the Children's hospital. Mo is terrified of hospitals. He doesn't like doctors in general and when I've mentioned seeing a therapist again he's gotten a little wiggy about that.
I don't know where all the fear comes from -- he spent some time in hospitals twice, once for a week, and once for an overnight but both times he was very young -- under one year -- so I'm sure he doesn't remember them.
He has seen a therapist but he didn't enjoy that much at all and I know he remembers that. I think it was just kind of awkward for him.
And of course he does see a doctor which always makes him nervous.
So now I have to tell him he's going to see a doctor, who is a therapist, who has an office in a hospital and I don't want him to get worried about the visit.
I want to get him used to the idea before the visit because he does get worried and starts to blame himself and promises to "try harder" and we assure him that it's going to be okay and that we don't blame him and that we want him to be able to "try easier" and and and and and and and.
Any advice?
Has the occupational therapist told you about what will be happening? (As I write that, I realize that asking the OT him/herself about how to best prepare Mo is probably a good idea, but I'll carry on with my thought for now...)
A friend of sozlet's went to OT and LOVED it -- it was a lot of running and climbing and goofing around. If this is anything similar, I think it'd be easy to play up that aspect.... "And they have this cool climbing wall, and monkey bars, and..."
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