Patty, I too have questioned the effectiveness of OT intervention with this population. We know we are not going to "cure" their disabilities. One of things that another OT told me is that she felt that our role is to fill in the gaps. That is give them the experiences (even if they don't seem to want them) that are needed to continue to progress developmentally. The other thing was that they develop at their own pace and that can continue long into adulthood. I think we have to just keep providing the experiences and not expect to see changes until they have been repeated for an extended period of time.
I generally only see my kids 1x/week so I see my role as educating aides and family to perform tone management, ROM and positioning. I did work for a Community Mental Health agency writing goals for DD/MR adults. In that setting OT's were strictly consultants and we did not work directly with the clients, but monitored the goals. I used to break tasks down into small steps and staff would teach the clients step by step. It was really quite amazing how many different things the clients learned. It might take a year or more, but then they would continue doing that task as a part of their daily routine, and start learning another new skill. Just some thoughts. It's hard for me to let go of the concept of having to document progress for reimbursement. Bye for now. Marcia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Here's my first question as a fairly new OT. I work in a day school with > students with moderate to severe disabilities. The school focuses on > life-skills rather than academics. And it seems the focus is to make the > students more "marketable" to residential and workshop placements after > graduation. With some of our higher functioning kids, they go to jobs as > part of their school day. About half the kids I work with probably cannot > hold a job of any sort. The other half may be able to if they get their > behavior under control. > > So, my question is what is my role as a school system therapist? I find > myself doing more and more ranging and stretching to maintain range of motion > so caretakers can continue to dress them and take care of toileting. But, > I'm not seeing a whole lot of maintaining mostly because I'm only able to get > in there 2-3 times a week to stretch them. And then I wonder, when does > ranging purely for ranging become more PT'ish. Same with sensory > stimulation. I've been working on switch use more for leisure, but I have > kids with no cause and effect. So they are totally dependent on others for > everything (self-care, leisure). I don't mean to sound cold-hearted, but > when are they no longer appropriate for OT. And even if they are appropriate > for out-patient OT, when are they no longer appropriate for school system OT? > > > In my clinical background (during school), I never had to discharge anyone, > so I'm really not sure if I'm giving up too early or if they are really > inappropriate. Patty > > *********��*********** > > Unsubscribe? Send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > In the message's *body*, put the following text: > > unsubscribe OTlist > > List messages are archived at: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > *********��*********** *********��*********** Unsubscribe? Send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's *body*, put the following text: unsubscribe OTlist List messages are archived at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] *********��***********
