Occupational Therapy Case Study

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Occupational therapy is a unique practice, its therapy is used to treat a wide range of disabilities, both physical, and cognitive. The profession has evolved significantly since its inception in the early 20th century. The roll of occupational therapy treatment has increased dramatically over the past 4 decades due to the establishment of the moral treatment movement and several legislative acts. The moral treatment movement was centered on the idea that compassion and consideration should be exteneded to all beings without bias. This movement paved the way for the rehabilitation act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Each of these acts though separate has the…show more content…
Assessments take place in home, and in treatment centers. The first step in an assessment is to identify the patient’s priorities and goals. Functional assessments take place in all aspects of the patient’s life, from social interaction to the activities of daily living. Functional assessments are carried out through observation and interviewing. The therapist observes the patient performing occupations and takes notes of their instances of dysfunction, ability to follow instruction, organize and plan. Interviewing is also a part of the functional assessment process. The therapist will ask the patient how they feel before, during, and after occupations. This allows the therapist to make connections between the types of emotions each occupation elicits in the patient. Though valuable, non-standardized test are subjective and should not be the only form of assessment. A two part standardized assessment of both function and cognition used with schizophrenia patients is the arnadottir OT-ADL neurobehavioral evaluation, also known as the A-ONE. The A-ONE evaluates the effect of neurobehavioral dysfunction on occupational performance. This assessment observes the patient performing the activities of daily living including transfer, mobility, and communication. Each aspect of each task is scored 0-4 using the functional independence scale. In addition to scoring the proficiency of the task, the therapist also scores the client on the presence of neurobehavioral impairment. For example while the therapist observes a client putting on their shoes they notice that after successfully reaching for and putting on the left shoe, the patient has to reach several times for the right shoe that was an equal distance away. The therapist may score a 2 on the functional aspect and a 2 on the neurobehavioral scale, noting

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