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Occupational therapists work in various settings to help people with illness, injury, or disability engage in meaningful activities. They specialize in different demographics and develop treatment plans to remove barriers to client independence. Educational requirements vary by location.
Occupational therapists work in a variety of settings, helping individuals suffering from illness, injury or disability. These therapists help individuals engage in meaningful occupations such as vocational, recreational, or self-care activities. Social service organizations, institutions, and client workplaces are just a few possible settings for occupational therapy jobs. These assistants often play a supportive role by implementing treatment plans and assisting clients with therapy programs prescribed by the supervising occupational therapist. Wherever the workplace, occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants work together with physicians, employers and family members to identify and remove barriers to client independence.
Many occupational therapists specialize in a particular demographic group. This can be based on a physical location, age of the client, or the nature of individual limitations, such as in patients recovering from brain trauma or addiction. Because occupational therapy jobs exist in many different industries, an occupational therapist can usually choose from a wide spectrum of possibilities. For example, an occupational therapist may work exclusively in school settings to help students overcome physical or learning disabilities, in nursing homes to improve self-care skills in geriatric patients, or in a rehabilitation center to help trauma patients recover. strength or mobility after an injury. In the workplace, occupational therapy jobs often focus on helping sick or injured employees when they return to the workforce after an absence.
Typically, occupational therapy engagements involve an initial assessment in which the client’s limitations are identified through interviews, observation and clinical trials, followed by the development of a specific treatment plan based on the client’s challenges and goals. Treatment plans may include physical, cognitive or behavioral therapy, professional retraining or the introduction of assistive technology such as voice recognition software or specialized seating or standing products. Once a treatment plan is in place, the occupational therapist’s role is to monitor the client’s progress and make adjustments to the plan as necessary, with the ultimate goal of complete independence.
Educational requirements for occupational therapy jobs vary by location. In general, most occupational therapy associations require some combination of college training, usually a master’s degree from a recognized occupational therapy program, supervised fieldwork experience, and writing a certification exam to be qualified to practice as an occupational therapist. . Occupational therapy assistants usually require an associate’s degree or college certificate in conjunction with on-the-job training. As there is wide regional variation in requirements and there is no reciprocity of qualifications across regions, local occupational therapy associations should be contacted to determine specific requirements.
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