Aspects of living with a disability part 6; How to approach occupational therapy with younger children.

 Option 1- which once again I do not recommend, does not have anything to do with occupational therapy. 

Option 2 is to gradually get children used to OTs. Believe me, this is not an easy task. This advice is coming from me, someone who hates OTs. 

But recently, as in meaning over the previous three out of five years of her uni course, a beautiful carer of mine, by the name of Kasia Rae, has persuaded me differently. Before I met Kasia, I only knew OTs in a professional manner. So to me, growing up, I understood what they were doing but didn't agree with it. 

The main reason I did not agree with it is that the more I grew up, the more I felt like they were taking away my physical independence to use my body and instead relying on equipment to do the work. But, once again, as I said in one of my previous blogs, these people do serve a purpose in the community. And they are an important part of a disabled person's life whether they like it or not. Does it mean that you totally disregard their advice? No! What it means is you can hopefully view it in a way that you can modify it to suit you. 

But OT appointments can be very drawn out depending on what you are trying to achieve. Is this good? No, it is not, because as the disabled person receiving the consult, you become very tired and irritable. But there are some strategies that you can put in place to make this suit you. One of which I did recently. Before the appointments, you can video different things so that you do not have too much time talking because you have already facilitated that. 

Another thing is, don't take their moods to heart, because sometimes when I was younger, I would take their moods to heart because I constantly thought that I had problems (which once again is not always the case). I speak from advice. If you have to vent about something, do it when they leave and do not do it in front of them. Unless you know the person on a more personal basis, then this is a whole different kettle of fish altogether. 

Option 3 is what I would probably refer to as "play therapy". What is play therapy you ask? In my eyes, it is where you would have a group of two to three people simulate an OT appointment. So this would consist of the child getting used to the fact that an OT is coming, Another thing to keep in my mind is that OT appointments can take place in different settings. And naturally, at home, you will not be able to simulate all of these settings. So, my advice here in this situation is to change the people doing the roles and/or switch the furniture around. In addition, you could also move to a different room in the house. Do I agree with this? Well, having a physical disability, I can't say that it is easy unless the room is physically accessible for a disabled person. But keep in mind that each circumstance is different to the individual. And if there is a certain part of a simulation that a child is uncomfortable with, I would focus on this situation intermediately throughout the simulation. But this does not mean that you disregard the other part of the simulation. 

Thanks!

And until next time,

Stephanie :)