2 Advanced Occupational Therapists are paying me a visit

Post Reply New Topic

Can anyone tell me why and what to expect? I already have an appointment with my psychiatric community nurse.

why?

well occupational therapy may be to assess your suitability for activities. indepedent living stuff, or hobbies or something

Last edited by Postperson on 09 Feb 2009, 9:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

It is hard to tell from the information you have provided. Are you on disability? If so, the visit may be to assess your eligibility for continued disability. Do you live in a group home situation, with family members, or in some form of assisted living?

What is sounds like to me is that the visit is some form of evaluation.

I worked for 6 months with an occupational therapist. She worked with me on balance and coordination. She also worked with me on tolerating noise by using music therapy. She also worked with me on tolerating touch by using something called Wilbarger Protocol. Of course, I was diagnosed with sensory integration disorder.

When an OT used to come to my home she worked on organizational skills with me and job skills. She tried to mettle in other things that I refused like going through my medicine bottles for reasons I am unclear on.

Funny enough, I'm at my kiddos occupational therapy appt right now. Generally, if you don't regularly see one, then you're probably evaluating your strengths and weakness. If you choose to see on regularly, they can help daily living skills, fine motor tasks, self-regulation (ie. Brushing protocol, Therapeutic Listening, Sensory integration). Like, my oldest gets therapeutic listening, and it really helps him focus on what he's doing. It allows him to sit for 30 min rather than his typical 5-10 min.

Where as my youngest gets a modified brushing program by John Pagano (he's presenting his method across the US). It's not the same as the Wallburg (sp?) Protocol. This gives him much more focus. I always felt relaxed after the regular brushing program. It's something that you can really do by yourself even.

it depends what sort of OT they are,am see two OTs-one deals with making senses as comfortable as possible and helping staff to cope as well as self,and the other deals with home adaptions for am such as wall padding and connecting the bed to the wall so it cant be damaged or got under-they're both under the LD team.
Maybe could ask doctor or whoever it is who referred self a bit more about what will happen.
the reason more than one are coming could be because for security reasons,they never go on their own on their first visit [assuming theyre SS].


though...is this definitely not for a community care assessment with social services?

I imagine they are either going to help you with your gross motor skills, fine motor skills, or sensory input. You have no idea why they are coming to visit you?

Nothing wrong with my motor skills or sensory input, I think it is because I am not looking after myself or my flat, I have no furniture or cooking facilities or anything like that, all I have is my computer and bed, I am living in a ghetto and want to move to a better area, I refuse to let them meddle in areas where there is no cause for meddling, I am seeing the community care nurse tomorrow, I'll ask her.

Since you are living in your own place I'm assuming you are adult, therefore you have every right to tell the OT's to stop it at any point where you feel they are meddling or doing things you don't want. My OT even said that to remind me that I could tell her no. Which I did on occasion. Going through my meds & putting them in different containers, going through my bills, dresser drawers and closet were all things I said no to. Sometimes she was relentless though and tried to force me to make phone calls that she thought I should make and left me crying. It really did stir up my comfort level having the OT in my home and I stimmed a lot in front of her. But overall she did help me get organized and I still impliment the organizing strategies she taught me.

There's apparently a lot of different types of OT's and things they can do so I don't think people are going to have the same experience with every OT.

I work at a rehab hospital (I'm a speech therapist), and so I work with both OTs and PTs. As others have said, OTs tend to work on fine motor skills, strength (for the muscles used in fine motor activities), and what is called "ADLs" (activities of daily living), which include things like brushing your teeth, folding clothes, eating, etc. For people with disabilities, OTs can recommend adaptive equipment that helps make challenging tasks easier. For people with autism, OTs also often work on sensory integration.