OT in Paediatric rehabilitation
CONDITIONS: Cerebral Palsy, Intellectual Disability, Muscular Dystrophies, Spina Bifida, Club Foot, Autism, ADD/ADHD/Learning Disability, Cleft Lip and Palate, among others.
Role of occupational therapy
Occupational Therapy helps you regain, enhance and maintain:
- Gross motor and fine motor control through functional activities.
- Functional mobility through age-appropriate functional transfers into and from the bed, chair, etc., including wheelchair transfers and prescription of suitable adaptations and devices.
- Body part alignment through movement, positioning and prescribing/fabricating upper limb orthoses(preventing contractures and deformities).
- Sensory awareness and discrimination through re-education, integration and desensitization protocols.
- Perception skills such as body awareness, spatial relations and position in space, and motor planning through age-appropriate and purposeful functional activities.
- Cognition domains such as attention, orientation, memory, and problem solving through age-appropriate and purposeful functional activities.
- Balance and coordination including manual dexterity through age-appropriate functional activities among various parts of the body and between the body and the external environment.
- Tone and posture by guiding caretaker/ older children on proper positioning that needs to be followed throughout the day, various weight-bearing and weight-shifting activities.
- Oral motor control techniques and modifying feeding patterns.
- Psychosocial (emotional) well-being by facilitating return to daily routine activities, school, play tasks, communications and social interactions using therapeutic strategies, adaptive devices & techniques and modification of the environment.
- Caretaker support through counselling and encouraging active involvement in setting goals.
Additonal roles of an occupational therapist
- Prescribing and fabricating splints and upper limb orthoses.
- Prescribing and fabricating low-cost assistive devices and communication boards.
- Prescribing assistive technology devices (high tech).
- Assisting in positioning/ seating of children with disabilities including wheelchair selection process, modified chairs and standing frames.
Help them gain their lost mobility! Help them live with Dignity!
Neuro-disabled patients deserve a comprehensive treatment ensuring their economical & emotional independence.