A Day in the Life of an OT at Better Learning Therapies
What is Pediatric Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapists believe everyone deserves to maximize their potential and their participation in everyday living. This means that they focus on each client as an individual. Pediatric occupational therapists apply these goals and principles to working with children. Many of the pediatric clients we see have autism, ADD/ADHD, SPD, and other special needs. OTs help clients develop skills that are essential to engage in activities that support independence, development, and personal meaning. These activities are occupations.
“Occupations refer to the everyday activities that people do as individuals, in families, and with communities to occupy time and bring meaning and purpose to life. Occupations include things people need to, want to, and are expected to do.” (About Occupational Therapy | WFOT)
What Does an Occupational Therapist Do on a Daily Basis?
8:00 AM Preparation
The first step in every Occupational Therapist’s day is preparation. Before it’s time to see any clients, there are a number of things to accomplish:
Gather all therapy tools, paperwork, and activities
Ensure the therapy area is in order and properly stocked
Review the day’s patient list and corresponding patient treatment plans
Confer with colleagues as necessary on particular cases before the patient arrives
8:30 AM to 11:30 AM Patient Sessions
The majority of the day for our OTs is spent in individual client sessions. These sessions could involve an evaluation or reevaluation, working on therapy goals, or consulting with parents and other family members. This is where the magic happens! Evelyn and Katelynn have lots of training and experience that come together in the treatment sessions to make working on goals both fun and functional.
11:30 AM to Noon Updating Paperwork and Preparing for the Afternoon
When our OTs have some time between sessions, they catch up on treatment notes from the day, make phone calls, and answer emails. They may also work on creating personalized visual schedules, social stories, or other materials for clients.
Noon to 1:00 PM Lunch and Meetings
At Better Learning Therapies, we have team meetings regularly to discuss department changes, equipment and supply purchases, educational opportunities for therapists, and community events we’d like to participate in. Once or twice a month our OTs also attend a “Lunch & Learn” in-service where we learn about an educational topic. Recently, we’ve had an LCSW talk to us about self-care as therapy providers and a music therapist talk about how to incorporate music therapy principles into care.
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM Patient Sessions
In the afternoon there are more treatment sessions! These sessions are typically with our older clients who may be in school during the day.
Education is a key value at Better Learning Therapies. OTs take time to collaborate with the client’s family members, demonstrate exercises and activities, explain how to accommodate their needs, and make recommendations regarding beneficial changes to be made to the client’s living environment.
Because occupational therapists focus on their clients as whole people, they also collaborate with physicians, physical therapists, speech therapists, teachers, and behavior therapists. Evelyn and Katelynn know that collaboration with the client’s family, teachers, and other treatment team members make for better outcomes and happier clients!
5:00 PM to 5:30 PM Clean Up, Document, and Prepare for Tomorrow!
At the end of a busy and productive day, our OTs take a few minutes to clean up the treatment rooms, finish documentation, and prepare for tomorrow’s therapy sessions!
We asked our therapists, “What do you love about being an OT?”
“I love being an occupational therapist for many reasons. I enjoy being able to assist, teach, and cultivate the needed skills for others to engage in meaningful day-to-day activities. Being an occupational therapist in a pediatric outpatient clinic allows me to be creative and take on a play-based approach to treatment sessions. I also love getting to know my clients and collaborating with their families in order to ensure their success carries over to other aspects of their life.” - Evelyn
“I love being an OT because I have the opportunity to help people return or adapt ways to complete what they need to do in life and, most importantly, what they WANT to do in life. As an OT, I am able to learn about personal goals and individual characteristics and figure out ways to incorporate both for successful outcomes in children's lives, which can be challenging at times, but is very rewarding overall. When working with the pediatric population, I am able to work with them on ways to find success in school, at home, when making friends, and more, but typically in really fun and meaningful ways. Hearing about positive outcomes and differences that are noticed by parents and caregivers outside of the sessions is so amazing and these are the things that I carry with me.” - Katelynn
