Do You or a Family Member Need Occupational Therapy? 

Occupational therapy is a physical rehabilitation therapy whose focus is on helping people improve their ability to participate in everyday tasks and preferred activities. Occupational therapists will evaluate current functional abilities and provide treatment to improve areas to help people return to their daily routine, decrease caregiver burden, and maximize independence for daily tasks. Things to consider when deciding if you or a loved one could benefit from occupational therapy services include:

1. Do you/they have trouble completing tasks at home or work because of the amount of effort required (including self-care tasks and household tasks)?
2. Are you/they experiencing weakness or pain from a neurological event or illness that has affected their ability to do everyday tasks without help from others (including getting dressed, brushing teeth, or making a meal)?
3. Are you/they having difficulty performing activities requiring fine motor skills (for example: picking up coins, completing zippers or buttons) because of poor hand and finger dexterity?
4. Is it difficult for you/them to perform tasks because of gross motor difficulties (for example: reaching into cabinets, or hanging clothing)?
5. Are you/they having difficulty with cognitive tasks?
   •  Difficulty with the organization of daily routines & work tasks, limiting the ability to participate in self-care, household and/or work activities.
   •  Decreased memory
   •  Distractibility
   •  Difficulty concentrating
   •  Difficulty sequencing steps of a task to complete
6. Are you/they having difficulty with visual skills?
   •  Visual perception (recognizing items or aware of space around them, difficulty reading a clock or following a calendar, running into objects)
   •  Visual-motor integration (difficulty with eye-hand coordination)

If you answered YES to ANY of the above questions, occupational therapy may benefit you or your loved one by providing task-specific exercises and activities to improve functional performance.