Occupational Therapy/ Adaptations/ Paediatric Specialist Aids

Todays post i write about the role of an occupational therapist (OT) and Home Adaptations.
And examples of Specialist Aids for a child with special abilities.

How Specialist aids helps the children with special abilities, to have a quality of life?

What is home adaptations? How does it help  the carer/parents as wells as the child with less mobility to self care independently.

Occupational Therapy:

OT  helps individuals who have difficulties with everyday tasks, such as preparing a meal, feeding themselves, taking a bath, going up stairs.

The occupational therapist in children with less mobility, plays an important role in assessing the following areas.

• Motor skills, fine motor skills including handwriting, visual perceptual skills, sensory skills and sensory processing.
• Facilitating independence in self care eg. Dressing, washing and mealtimes 
• Advice on adapted/specialist toys and play 
• Consultation and advice on minor modifications and building adaptations at home and school
• Assessment for specialist equipment.

Specialist Aids for Children:

• Paediatric Cutlery it really helps Pranav to eat by himself.  It is must for chidlren having difficulty in fine motor skills, as it improves their confidence and self esteem.
  
• Paediatric Toilet Aids: The comfortable and safe toilet seat is very much needed for children with disabilities, as it is a matter of dignity and it will help in preventing child's self esteem.
• Paediatric bathing Aids: makes bathing, showering and using the bathroom more comfortable for the child as well as for the parent. Bathing should be an enjoyable experience for every child. Toilet/bath adaptations plays a crucial role in making the carer/parent job easier by protecting their backs and also helps a child with less mobility in achieving the little independence they need in self care.       
  
                                                                                       For some reasons we couldn't adapt our flat for Pranav's needs, but we hope to make it possible in near future.  No mother should feel that giving bath to a 6 year old is a battle, as without adaptations the lifting is unavoidable with children having less mobility. It really makes my back sore all the time. To protect my back and to give little independence to Pranav, we really hope to see a reality with adaptations in near future.
• Writing Aids:  Pranav is well trained in writing although he has difficulty using his hands and 
  
   fingers. But to catch up the pace at school's learning Pranav is also trained in typing to rec -ord his work in the laptop.  Sloped/tilted board is lot of help for pranav to record his school learning without tiring too much. Pranav gets tired too quickly with his additional needs, but the specialist aids helps him in making his job bit easier.
• Paediatric Mobility Aids: There are various types of mobility aids for various ages from toddler to young. Examples: Toddler wheel chairs, trikes for children with less mobility. Mostly mobility aids are very expensive. They are not provided by NHS. There are few charities that helps, but we need to wait several months to get approval.
  

Never give up. There is a lot of advise we can get from occupational therapy services and a bit of research on the internet, will help to improve the child's quality of life and to help them  to have an independent life.