Occupational Therapy Services are used to help individuals with illness, injury, or disability recover or develop the skills they need for work or daily living. They have a vital role in providing employment support for people with developmental disabilities.
What Are Developmental Disabilities?
According to NDIS, developmental disabilities or Intellectual disabilities apply to conditions appearing in the developmental period (age 0–18 years) associated with impairments of mental functions, difficulties in learning and performing certain daily life skills, and limitations of adaptive skills in the context of community environments compared to others of the same age. Includes Down syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, cri-du-chat syndrome.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, working-age (aged 15–64) people with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed than those without disabilities. The unemployment rate of working-age people with disabilities (10% or 113,000) is twice that of those without disabilities (4.6% or 544,000).
Occupational therapy services can help people with disabilities find or maintain work by facilitating work skills or providing support in the workplace. Disability and support services are available to help find a fitting job for participants.
OT practitioners are trained to help individuals with impairment to optimize their work performance and ensure health and safety in the workplace. To help find employment, they identify potential barriers to and support for successful job performance. They assess the work environment, tasks, and skills to find a match.
This may involve evaluating the physical, cognitive, social, behavioral, and emotional demands of the job and the ability of the person to handle them. A job may require positional requirements like standing or squatting, exerting force like lifting or gripping, or other dexterity requirements. Requirements may also involve the ability to learn, memorize, solve problems, interact with others, or handle changes at work. Other areas that may need assessment are environmental factors such as noise, clutter, bathroom access, work safety, etc.
OT practitioners help match the person’s skills and interests to these work requirements and environment and help them develop the skills required and provide the needed support to overcome the identified obstacles. This may involve developing the necessary skills like improving the range of movement, standing tolerance, social skills, or specific skills like handling tools safely. They can also recommend an adaptive environment and needed supports like noise-reducing headphones, modified gripping tools, daily checklist, etc. In some cases, the training program may include assistance in improving independence in daily activities for work readiness like toileting, grooming, and eating properly.Â
OT practitioners may also collaborate with speech-language pathologists to help facilitate ease of communication in the workplace.
If wanted, OT practitioners can also help individuals with developmental disabilities to transition to new jobs and retirement facilities while maintaining their health, wellness, and social participation as they age.
Occupational therapy practitioners play a vital role in helping people with developmental disabilities to successfully perform work tasks and participate in meaningful work roles across their lifespan.Â
Avocado Care is an NDIS provider of occupational therapy services in Victoria. We also provide disability and support services in other states and territories. Contact us to see the services we provide and available locations.
