Research Statement Vidya Pingale Current healthcare environment calls for evidence-based practice. During my twenty years of career as a pediatric occupational therapist, I have realized the importance of evidence for the acceptance of intervention by professional communities. I believe the strong evidence is not only necessary for ethical occupational therapy practice, but also for the profession’s identity. Although evidence on occupational therapy interventions is growing, the gap continues to exist. My research interests aim to generate evidence on pediatric occupational therapy interventions to inform occupational therapy practice. Occupational therapists support individuals to participate in daily occupations that they want and need to do. Occupational therapists view participation in occupations necessary for living healthy and satisfactory life. For children, participation in occupations is also necessary for their growth and development. Children with sensory processing disorder show decreased participation in daily occupations. Occupational therapists use several interventions based on the …show more content…
Currently, I am developing the manuscript summarizing the results of this study for publication. In addition, the results of this study were used to develop my dissertation study. The dissertation study aims to investigate the effect of sensory diets on children’s sensory processing skills, psychosocial skills, and engagement in classroom activities in children between ages of four to eleven years attending kindergarten to the fourth-grade class. I finished recruiting the participants for the study this month and scheduled to begin data collection in January
Though occupation usually refers to a job, a person’s occupation is initially determined by what their everyday life consists of. When a person becomes incapable of performing the tasks that they are expected to do in their everyday life due to developmental delays, physical injury, or psychological problems they are often referred to an occupational therapist. Occupational therapists, or OTs, usually have occupational therapy assistants, often called OTAs. The OT gives the OTA a set of objectives to help the patient achieve. Since people go through numerous occupations during the course of their lives, OT’s and OTA’s prov...
Kielhofner (2009) states “In the late 1940’s and the 1950s, occupational therapy came under pressure from medicine to establish a new theoretical rationale for its practice. Critiques arose from both Medicine and physicians regarding the concepts used in occupational therapy. Based on those comments, occupational realized the immediate need for a new paradigm. As Kielhofner mentioned “Occupational therapist came to believe it would bring occupational therapist recognition as an efficacious medical service and increase its scientific respectabilities
The criticism that sensory integration therapy faces is that there is not enough information resulting in a success rate. If there are no tangible results, why would parent’s waste time and money on this type of therapy is a question that the occupational therapy community faces. Sensory processing disorder has no real diagnosis as well, since there is such a broad spectrum. The symptoms of sensory processing disorder are also vague. This perplexing clinical concern is apparent to Zimmer, “It remains unclear whether children who present with findings described as sensory processing difficulties have an actual “disorder” of the sensory pathways of the brain or whether these deficits represent differences associated with other developmental and
After a person reads this article, I can highlight some of the main points in the article to give them a better understanding of what is occupational therapy is in the psychosocial aspect. It is important for me to keep this article on hand because if someone wants to look up what I do and they do not know where to begin, I can give them this article to read to get a basic understanding of what I do and they can get an idea of what to research. This article is not only for clients and client’s friends and family, but it can be used for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistances. This article can be used as a refresher for a therapist if they are having a hard time remembering something about this
Defined as a set of phenomena and relationships (Sladyk, 2015), a theory is the foundation of various concepts. Many of today’s inventions, companies, and practices all have one thing in common. They all a theory behind its purpose. A statement or idea of how a particular envisioned concept is supposed to be guided. There a theories about everything imaginable, such as, life on Earth, the Solar System, even religion. However, occupational therapy is no different. The theoretical foundation for occupational therapy comes from sciences like anatomy and physiology, for example (Sladyk, 2015). When working with a client a practitioner will likely use a Frame of Reference model, but to successfully cater to the individual in need
Townsend & Polatajko (2007) state that “Occupational therapy is the art and science of enabling engagement in everyday living, through occupation; of enabling people to perform the occupations that foster health and well-being; and of enabling a just and inclusive society so that all people may participate to their potential in the daily occupations of life”.
"Occupational Therapy." KidsHealth. Ed. Wendy Harron. The Nemours Foundation, 01 July 2010. Web. 01 Mar. 2014 .
Parker, G. E., Solomon, J. W., & O’Brien, J. C. (2011). Pediatric health conditions. In J.W. Soloman & J. C. O’Brien (Ed.), Pediatric skills for occupational therapy assistants. (190-234). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
...e-based knowledge to inform the therapy practice. It also assists with furthering the therapist’s knowledge of humans as occupational beings as well as the relationship between occupation and health.(Yexer ,1993) introduced occupational science as a fundamental science supporting occupational therapy, with an aim to refocus the provision of therapy back to occupation. Hence, occupational science provides the therapists with support, justifies the meaning and uniqueness of the profession and distinguishes occupational therapy from other professions. In addition (Wilcock, 2001), also emphasises that occupational science might be another way to avoid the possible failure of the occupational therapy as a practice. With a strong research background, occupational therapists could make a contribution to medical science, which may challenge it from a different standpoint.
Occupational therapy was based off of psychology; we evolved from treating mentally ill patients with isolation as an efficient treatment plan. We must never forget we are known to be “the art and science of helping people do the day-to-day activities that are important and meaningful to their health and well being through engagement in valued occupations” (Crepeau, Cohn, & Schell, 2008). To other professional disciplines this article explains the difference between each of us, yet can also express our relation to one another. The basic goal of all therapeutic disciplines is to better our clients life, through physical, speech or occupational therapy. Every discipline targets different goals, may it be body mechanics, reducing a stutter or buttoning a shirt, at the end of the day our clients well being may it be through science, art or both is all that matters. To the occupational therapy field this article means progress for what we do. Reading this article today in the year 2015 did not seem like old information to me, it is still relevant, I am proud that our field is not only evolving with contemporary time but it is also maintaining its
Occupational therapy made its first appearance in a modern-day setting during the 18th century; however, occupational therapy dates back to 100 BC. The United States medical system adopted occupational therapy in the 19th century. In 1910, occupational therapy became a realized profession. Then, the main focus was working with individuals to get them to a fully functional state. Around 1930, standards of practice were developed for occupational therapists (OT’s). The career continues to evolve and change as new illnesses and disabilities arise. Even with all the changes, the main focus remains intact: helping people.
Cole, M. B., & Tufano, R. (2008). Applied theories in occupational therapy: A practical approach. Thorofare, New Jersey, United States of America: Slack Inc.
Throughout this reading there are several important concepts discussed about occupational therapy for sensory integration problems. As a occupational therapist it is imperative to use SI approaches that capitalize on a child’s innate drive during an intervention. In early development sensory integration is established through the use adaptive responses. In the reading it states that adaptive responses are a powerful force that drives children development forward and helps them acquire skills to successfully meet the challenges they are presented with. Also, when providing with OT-SI it is crucial that the child does not passively absorb whatever sensation comes along. Instead, the child should actively select the sensation most useful
While many studies have been conducted on occupational therapy and the effectiveness of its treatments, many studies have also been conducted on the long lasting results that come along with success rates seen by the patients. Occupational therapists see and work with many types of patients starting from pediatric, youth and lastly to the elderly. Each age group of patients requires for occupational therapists to be trained in a different way as well as a different type of setting. Occupational therapy assists individuals of all ages with different abilities to engage and be more functional in their daily living. Depending on the persons age these activities might include shaking a rattle (baby), learning work/job skills (adolescent), or
Children are very complex and they all have different developmental backgrounds. However, helping them maximize their play, social, or school participation is possible because as OTs we are capable of looking at even the tiniest possibilities. We can focus on what the child can do, not what he cannot do and we make it fun. Through this experience, I learned the importance of occupational therapy in school settings.