AOTA.org featured an article about the role of occupational therapy with persons with Down syndrome:
Although October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month, occupational therapy practitioners work with this population every day of the year. Occupational therapy practitioners work with persons with Down syndrome to help them master skills for independence through self-care like feeding and dressing, fine and gross motor skills, school performance, and play and leisure activities. Read the full text here.
Do you assist people with Down syndrome? What are your thoughts and comments on this article?
I work in the school systems as a COTA and I have one child on my caseload with down syndrome. All of the things they discuss in the article about goals for children with Down Syndrome are goals that I have for the child on my caseload. I thought it was a nice article to give to parents or anyone else who might not understand what exactly OT could do for their child with Down Syndrome because it was an easy read and it was easy to understand.
Whitney - that's great! I'm so glad you're able to use the information from the article for your clients.
Barbara - What a neat idea for a blog! I'll have to check it out soon. Thanks!
Nice Blog! I’ll make sure to add it to the list of OT blogs I follow www.aota.org/bloglines
Sam GonzalesAOTA - Social Media Managersgonzales@aota.org
I would like to read more about your goals for patients with down syndrome. Where can I access this information?
where can I get this information from?
Just an update, the link for the article has changed. Please click here to read the article.
http://www.aota.org/Consumers/WhatisOT/CY/Articles/Down.aspx
I just joined OT Connections so I am late in recognizing Down SYndrome Awareness Month, but maybe someone will find this interesting nonetheless. I have been an OT for 12 years and became an OT because of my experiences growing up with a sister who has Down Syndrome. Her name is Jennifer and she was born in 1969. As you can imagine the challenges my parents had in 1969 with finding resources are not what they are today. My mother should get an honorary OT degree just based on the stories she tells me about what she did to get my sister to learn how to crawl, eat, speak intelligibly, toilet independently and so on. She was practically doing NDT with my sister without knowing what it was. My mother played the advocacy role that we so often play as OT's. She still does actually. I was involved in activities through the local ARC, special olympics, and I went to the same summer day camp for kids with special needs for many summers. When my sister was about 15 years old my mother found out about this OT who provided private and group sessions to adults and teens with mental retardation. She provided life skills and job training to all of her clients. I remember attending cooking groups where they learned to read recipes, use appliances and tools in the kitchen, eat socially, and socialize appropriately. This OT also did on the job 1:1 training with my sister when she got hired at a local grocery store. My sister still works there 20 years later and most people will purposely get in Jennifer's line for her superior bagging abilities. My sister is one of the most amazing human beings I have ever known and I thank God every day that he put her in my life. She gives me a perspective I would never otherwisehave.
Dear Dalonzi,
Your story is really inspirational; I'm glad you shared this with everyone. Your sister sounds like a really amazing person, and so does your mom. I am an OT student and I love to hear stories like this because it makes me so proud to have chosen this field. I know there are many fields that touch peoples' lives, but OT is unique and creative. Thanks for sharing!
Hello
I've worked in the schools for 20 yrs with students in secondary and transition programs. Much of my work involves preparing students for moving in to the roles of adulthood in collaboration with school personnel and parents. They need to be ready to use public transportation, have self-determination skills, pre/vocational skills, community safety, recreation and leisure, social outlets, awareness of community resources, and parents need to be informed of all these areas as well. With budget short-falls and adult services not being available for new graduates until these youth are in their mid-20's (in our State there are residential and vocational waiting lists for up to 8 years), we need to be even more aware of how to prepare them for independence. The interventions for students with Down's Syndrome are not different from those with similar needs. I have discovered that giving students time to process information is useful and often gets around the tendency to be stubborn and not take well to directives.
**Mari Longpre' OTD, OTR