Measurement issues in pediatric occupational therapy

We talk here a lot about evidence based practice, the need for better science in our assessments and intervention, and professional responsibility to make sure all these things happen. On a daily basis we work toward a better 'science' of occupational therapy while at the same time maintaining a close connection to our 'art.' After all, we are often talking about our connections with real people and how we can best offer help.

I feel that we are making some changes in the way we think about these issues in our profession, because I hear more and more people talking about real participation and our goals of assuming or resuming normal occupational behaviors. I've been thinking about this topic all week, and now I am kicking myself twice for not going to the national conference this year. Through the grapevine I am hearing about Dr. Wendy Coster's Slagle lecture and how she talked about measurement issues. I wish I was able to hear her lecture now. Instead, I have to wait for the AJOT article...

Anyway, I ran across a little newspaper article in an Australian paper that caught my eye - it seems to encapsulate the issues I am referencing here. I don't know that we can norm the number of birthday parties that kids participate in, but I wonder if we can develop data about degrees of social participation that contribute to culturally-accepted quality of life measures. That's an awful tall order - but maybe we can get there someday. We will be better occupational therapists when we do.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On retained primitive reflexes

Each year I receive several emails from colleagues about 'retained primitive reflexes.'  I am also seeing an increased number of reports from local 'health care' providers who are documenting these alleged problems so I thought I would write a summary of my opinion on this topic.   Predatory 'health care' providers including some OTs, PTs, chiropractors, and behavioral optometrists are creating a new 'market' for treating this alleged 'problem.'  Parents should be very wary of these practitioners and other professionals should challenge these practices whenever they are seen. The following is the kind of information that causes concern and was provided to me by a colleague as a sample from a student's IEP: The student continues to demonstrate the following retained primitive reflexes that at times interfere with his ability to demonstrate appropriate adaptive responses: Fear Paralysis Reflex, Moro Reflex, Palmer Reflex, Tonic Labyri...
Read more

Deconstructing the myth of clothing sensitivity as a 'sensory processing disorder'

Please note first that there is no formally recognized clinical designation of  'sensory processing disorder.'   It is a term constructed by occupational therapists that has not been formally recognized by the larger medical community. In our clinic we receive many referrals from local pediatricians when parents have concerns about children being overly sensitive to their clothing.  Most often the children referred are from four to seven years old and the families are severely disrupted by the children's behaviors and responses to clothing issues.  Commonly, children will have severely constricted tolerance for certain outfits, want to wear the same clothes repeatedly, complain that clothing is itchy/scratch/bumpy/wiggly/ouchie, and this all leads to disruption of daily dressing routines.  There is no doubt that the behavioral concerns are very real. The pediatricians tend to be appropriately conservative and provide families with good behavioral manage...
Read more

Occupational therapy education: How to navigate in a Perfect Storm

Image
Please click on and read all of the links - they include critical information that is required for this analysis.   A little over four years ago I stated that there are too many occupational therapy educational programs in New York State .  At the NYSOTA conference legislative information session in 2023 I stood up and suggested that we should all stop taking jobs at these institutions that were seeking to develop new programs.  I thought that if we did not take those jobs that the problem would be solved.  That was not realistic or correct, even if the intention was good. Well karma tends to strike when you make public pronouncements, so I thought I should expand on my perspectives on this topic. At current count there are still ~22 occupational therapy programs and ~11 occupational therapy assistant programs in NY.  Most of the programs are delivered at the master's level.  There are a very small number of entry level doctoral programs, but some of t...
Read more