Priya-the-OT

Now, now! I’m sure I have at least of couple of readers who just raised their eyebrows and sported a puzzled look, on reading the tile on this post. ‘Schemas in Play’ is definitely not a familiar phenomenon by name, but let me explain what it is, and it will have you going, “Ah! So is that what ‘it’ is called? ‘Schema’!!” So, what are these ‘Schemas’? We have learnt to do many things from our very early years, e.g. bouncing a ball, turning a key, etc. These actions, and many more have taught us a lot of concepts. Let’s take the bouncing ball activity. If you have observed a little child throwing/dropping down a ball, you would have also noticed that he found it amusing and kept doing it again and again. If it was a rubber ball, it would have bounced back. If it was a plastic ball, well, may not that much. If it was an inflated ball, it wouldn't have bounced back at all. Now, if it was an egg, it would have broken! From this action, what can the child learn? ….that a ball ...

  'A' is a 5 year old boy I see at the clinic. He is on the spectrum and is very proprioceptive and tactile seeking. 'A' is not completely toilet trained. He does not consistently indicate his need to use the toilet, and he has a tendency to dribble multiple times in a day, and sometimes hardly notices that he is wet. 'A' is also constipated most of the time as he holds himself  for days together to avoid going to the toilet for the 'big job', as he doesn't feel 'safe' sitting on the toilet. 'A' has been off therapy for over 3 months as they have moved out of town, and is yet to find a Therapy Centre in their immediate locality. A 's mother called me one evening with concerns over his frequent accidents. "Who would you suggest I take 'A' to, a Nephrologist or a Urologist?", was her question. (Names hidden to protect identity) Before I go into what I told A's mother, let's first look at toilet training in ...

  Ask any newly qualified OT, what Occupational Therapy is, and 99.99% of the time you get the same answer, "Occupational Therapy is all about improving ADL skills and helping the client achieve ADL independence." Of course, if you probe deeper, you may get a more elaborate answer that may branch into other things (apart form ADL) that an OT can help a client with. Let me just a do a bit of introduction first, before I get to the point!  ADL, which stands for Activities of Daily Living, is the most common term you would hear many OTs use.  It is a term used to collectively describe fundamental skills that are required to independently care for oneself such as eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, grooming and mobility.  ADLs are essential and routine tasks that most young healthy individuals can perform without assistance. The inability to accomplish essential activities of daily living, due to an injury, illness or any other physical or emotional challenge...

There are many things I disagree with and the usage 'Differently Abled' is among few others on the top. When I first started working as an Occupational therapist in 1999, the word  'Mentally retarded'  was common.  It did feel then (and does even now), quite a 'disgraceful' word to use when referring to an individual, though I agree it was a 100 times better than a couple of its predecessors, which I prefer not to name.  Mental retardation slowly evolved to 'Intellectual Disability' which stole the show for a brief while before giving way to include specific tags like 'Learning Disability', 'Dyslexia', 'Dysarthria', 'Dyscalculia', and the like, which are actually the diagnoses themselves, and some other fancy titles like 'Slow Learner', 'Late Bloomer', etc.  Coming to the physical disability part, 'Handicapped' was the most common usage at one time which then went through a very happening metamorpho...

  Let me present to you, some scenarios I commonly come across on a daily basis. Whenever a mother or father raises a concern over their child, who may seem to have a delay in development or a trait of some condition, it is most often brushed aside by the immediate family and friends. Most often these family members and friends have no medical background or experience in the related field, but they succeed in helping the concerned parent ignore the problem and unknowingly feed the damage which in turn grows uninterrupted, eventually hindering the child's development. Take a look!