Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Education & Tips for Independent Living”
by Bri Giruzzi, OTR/L MS As OT practitioners, we try to have our sessions and occupational therapy treatment ideas be as individualized as possible. Best practice calls for using the client’s own interests and roles. With a full caseload, and especially with patients who are harder to motivate, it is sometimes easy to get stuck in a therapy rut or …
What do we need to do to promote occupational therapy? Or do we even have to? How do we define occupational therapy and what we “do” for our patients? Or is this even a priority? I know this is a common problem with occupational therapy practitioners, as we are always trying to explain what occupational therapy is and how we …
By Dr. Scott Campbell The American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) is the nation’s leading nonprofit investing in occupational therapy research and the future research workforce. Quality, data-driven evidence is essential to improving the delivery of care, enhancing reimbursements and strengthening the value of our profession. Our grants, programs and research resources are available to a wide variety of OTs, caregivers …
Occupation based treatment ideas feel like they should come easy, but sometimes we find barriers to getting creative and finding the occupations that are meaningful to our clients. Timisha Tross BS, COTA shares how it doesn’t have to be hard to put more occupation, creativity and fun into your occupational therapy treatment sessions – especially if you are working in …
By Shannen Marie Coley, MS, OTR/L As established in our previous article on this topic, “5 Reasons to Play Fall Prevention Bingo in OT,” there are many reasons to incorporate both safety education and engaging fun into your occupational therapy treatment sessions with your adult patients of various stories, backgrounds, and abilities. Bingo is familiar to our adult patients and …
By Shannen Marie Coley, MS, OTR/L When you Google or Pinterest “nursing home activities” or “inpatient rehab games”, odds are that “playing bingo” will be on top of that list of activities – but how about Fall Prevention Bingo? So how can we, as occupational therapy practitioners, modify and adapt this cherished game to meet the multiple needs of our …
Neuroplasticity, strokes and occupational therapy go together like peanut butter and jelly. They all need each other to help maximize the outcomes and occupational performance of our patients (or in the case of the sandwich, just taste delicious ????). Crystal Cabrera MS OTR/L and Certified Stroke Rehab Specialist shares the research on how to step up our games as occupational …
I get asked all the time about how to perform a quick and easy occupational therapy screening to help decide if a referral is necessary for skilled occupational therapy services for adults. I gotcha! and wanted to share one of the educational videos on this topic from the Seniors Flourish Learning Lab titled “How to Perform an Occupational Therapy Screening,” as …
Have you ever had wanted explore to volunteering internationally using your occupational therapy skills? Ever dream of exploring cultures, helping others, meeting like minded professionals or promote occupational therapy in foreign countries? In this episode, Sarah Putt MA, OTR/L and I talk about how she uses volunteering internationally to sharpen her critical thinking skills, creativity, and giving back to the …
Bathing someone with Alzheimer’s, dementia or other cognitive impairment is one of the biggest complaints from caregivers. There is fighting, arguing, and frustration. There is worry about body odor, risk of infection and being in pain due to chaffing and soreness. Everyone that struggles with bathing goes through this. First thing to focus on is that you cannot change your …
