April is OT Month – Add These Resources to Your Toolbox!

The American Occupational Therapy Association has declared April to be Occupational Therapy Month! Occupational therapists (OTs) are clinically trained professionals who help people with disabilities and those recovering from illness and injury to do the things they want and need to do through daily activities (occupations). According to AOTA “common occupational therapy interventions include helping children with disabilities to participate fully in school and social situations, helping people recovering from injury to regain skills, and providing supports for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive changes” (What is Occupational Therapy?). This great video from the Shepherd Center shows OTs and their clients working in the kitchen.

The OTs we met at last year’s AOTA conference were always on the lookout for new tools, toys, and resources to use with their clients. They packed their conference bags with everything from bookmarks and factsheets to modeling clay and multi-tools! In honor of their resourceful spirits, here’s a conference-bag-worth of resources from the NIDILRR community you can order or download, free of charge, and use in your practice!

• The Life Skills Manual, a four-part training manual to teach individuals with mental health disabilities the life skills they need to transition from homelessness to stable housing. Sections cover food and nutrition, safety, money management, and home and self care.
• Client-Centered Practice in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation: A Field Guide (PDF) provides an overview of the model of client-centered practice and recommends specific strategies to facilitate client-centered practice in spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation.
• Baby care assistive technology (PDF) and Adaptations Supporting Relationships between Parents with Physical Disabilities and their Infants and Toddlers (PDF) from Through the Looking Glass, provide information on assistive technology and adaptations for baby care and the role of OTs in finding solutions for their clients approaching parenthood.
• An Easy Guide to Outpatient Burn Rehabilitation (PDF) from the Rocky Mountain Burn Injury Model System provides and introduction and instruction on burn care and management for those not familiar with these injuries.
• The Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center offers hot topic modules, videos, and factsheets for a wide range of issues relating to living with traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and burn injuries.
• Videos from the Northwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury System feature forums with professional speakers, including OTs, and people with SCI discussing many life skills issues such as self-care, parenting, and getting back to the workplace.
• The Healthy Tomorrows YouTube channel from the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Secondary Conditions in the Rehabilitation of Individuals with SCI covers a wide range of topics like transferring from a wheelchair to the floor, a bed, or a car; going up an escalator; exercising and sports; cooking; grooming and dressing; childcare; and much, much more!
• AbleData’s database grows each day, with new assistive technology and Do It Yourself AT solutions (PDF) for you and your clients.

There’s more research on occupational therapy from the NIDILRR community in our REHABDATA database. Browse through abstracts of journal articles, reports, and videos indexed in our collection. If you find something you would like to order from our document delivery service, just make a note of the accession number (beginning with J, R, or O) and give us a call at 800/346-2742, email us at naricinfo@heitechservices.com, or chat with an information specialist to place your order. Document delivery is available for just 5¢ per page ($5 minimum)!