Skip to main content

OT's and Driving

Today in class we had a guest lecturer who is a driving rehabilitation specialist. He talked to us about the various diagnoses he sees, interventions and adaptations. It was a really cool class! We broke down just a few of the many components of driving and talked about how each diagnosis can alter/impair a persons driving capability. After the lecture we tried various assessments like the MoCA and SIMARD-MD on each other and went to look at the adaptive van he brought.

Listening to this guest speaker today made me realize that OT's can be very beneficial when helping to determine if someone is safe to drive. One intervention you could do would be getting a larger rear view mirror to help someone who had limited range of motion in their neck to be able to see in their blind spots. Another intervention could be going to a muscular dystrophy clinic or primary care office and offering an inservice so the staff could be more informed and know who to refer to.

Overall today was a very interesting class. While we may have just scratched the surface of how OT's can aid a person regain their independence through driving, I feel like we learned a lot.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the OTPF?

The OTPF stands for Occupational Therapy Practice Framework. It is composed of ideas, concepts, and philosophies that guide OT. It addresses domain of OT, the OT process, occupations, and client factors. The domain of OT is the areas in which OT's have a great wealth of knowledge and expertise.  This is what defines the focus of OT. Client factors, performance skills, performance patterns, context, environment, and activity demand are all under the domain of OT practice. Each part of the domain brings a different part of occupational therapy to the table.  The OT process is the actions that a practitioner takes when providing services that are client-centered and focused on engagement in occupation. This is what defines the delivery of OT. Throughout the process, occupation remains central. There is also collaboration with the client throughout the process.  Occupations are ordinary, part of daily living, and are often taken for granted. They can be special when the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Expanding on Theory

The Neuro-Developmental Treatment Frame of Reference is a theory that is used to analyze and treat posture and movement impairments based on kinesiology, the study of human movement, and biomechanics, the study of forces and mechanical laws and their effects on movement in living organisms. It takes into account planes of movement, alignment, range of motion (the degrees of movement that a client has), muscle strength, base of support, postural control, weight shifts, and mobility when making a plan for intervention. The goal is to get the client to engage in meaningful occupations, which is done through assuming that posture and movement impairments are able to be changed. This theory can be used with children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly. According to this theory, to be functional means that the client would be able to engage in meaningful occupations. An occupational therapist would look at upper extremity movement, specifically: reaching, grasping, releasing objects, self ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do's and Don'ts of Presenting

Presenting in front of any number of people is something I find extremely intimidating and very anxiety provoking. I do just about e verything I can to avoid talking to more than 4 people at a time. My senior year of college I took an online public speaking class to avoid speaking in public to a random group of people. As a result, I continue to struggle with presenting and unfortunately, online public speaking isn't an option in grad school. One of the topics we cover in our Leadership II class is how to best present yourself during speeches, projects or interviews. A resource we were given was titled "6 Ways to Look More Confident During a Presentation". I was intrigued. As I read the article my eyes were opened to just how much your body language impacts what you say. The article talks about how a group of people skilled in reading body language went to a tech entrepreneur competition and watched contestants body language and how it correlated to the scores they rec...
1 comment
Read more