Occupational Therapy Paper

Occupational Therapy is a Viable Part of Healthcare Occupational therapy is the practice of teaching how to do daily tasks as independently as possible along with hobbies and other activities a client wishes to do. This a very important stage of recovery for the patient's well-being mentally and physically. These clients have been through a traumatic event such as a car wreck or have received a life changing diagnosis like parkinson's disease. Occupational therapy should be a well-respected profession.
Occupational therapy is a fairly new part of health care whereas other occupations such as doctors and nurses have been around for centuries. The National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy was founded in 1917 and was later renamed …show more content…
The entry level for occupational therapy is a bachelor's degree, although a master's degree is recommended (BLS, 2015). Other allied health occupations like phlebotomists, surgical technologists, and medical assistants only require completing a certification program or completing on-the-job training. Some allied health jobs recommend an associate's degree while others simply require a high school diploma. While on the other hand, occupational therapy is different requiring the completion of a licensing program in a graduate school with a certified occupational therapy program. Currently, Spalding University and Eastern Kentucky University hold the only 2 accredited occupational therapy programs in Kentucky. Each program typically accepts only 20 to 25 students each year. This makes occupational therapy programs extremely competitive. Along with a masters degree and being accepted into an OT program a student also has to complete at least 24 weeks of supervised work under a licensed occupational therapist. After completing the program and required field work a student must pass the NBOT exam in order to become a registered therapist. After passing the NBOT a therapist can choose to specialize in a number of different areas such as low vision, mental health, or pediatrics. In which the therapist would need to take another test to be a registered occupational therapist specialized in a …show more content…
Therapists commonly work with mentally handicapped children in order to teach them how to become functional in society and improve their quality of life. Occupational therapists will commonly have at least one down syndrome patient at some point during their career. 400,000 Americans have down syndrome and 6,000 babies are born in The United States with down syndrome each year. This makes down syndrome the most common genetic condition (ndss, 2012). Therefore, an occupational therapist can expect to have several down syndrome patients in their career. Children with down syndrome typically need help with fine motor skills, self-care (grooming, feeding, dressing, etc.) , skills in school (handwriting, cutting, sharing, etc.) (ndss, 2012) and any other childhood activities such as games that other children can do easily but might be difficult for someone that has down syndrome. The type of down syndrome a client has and the motivation of the client and family determine how long the client requires therapy, but down syndrome clients typically receive therapy into adulthood. Once the client has reached adulthood, therapists will teach job skills and help the client find a job suitable for the client's skills and interests. Then, clients are monitored the rest of their life to make sure the client maintains as independent as possible. Since the average life expectancy of a down syndrome patient is 60