GOA workshop Mar 25th -26th 2023

This was my back-to-back 2nd in a row in-person workshop. The highlight of this workshop was its was only for occupational Therapists accredited by AIOTA.

My-self being occupational therapists I was eager to meet my fellow-colleagues in GOA. The topic for this in-service workshop was near & dear to my heart. Its about giving insight to Occupational therapists & helping them to analyze children through lens of Neuro developmental therapeutic approach.

In my experience as an occupational therapist, we OTs are trained to look at person as a whole. This to me was perfect blending of philosophy of occupation therapy to that of art & science of NDT approach.

To analyse the children or people for the why they do to what they do is a challenging process . It can be even more difficult for therapists and parents to think of all the multiple varaibles of physiological, emotional, motor, sensory, environmental, and contextual that may contribute to a person’s participation in the society

Thankfully, Occupational Therapy training helps us to think for our clients through various domains of human functions. The process of activity analysis to that of movement analysis to find out the missing sensory motor components helps to understand and further blend the knowledge of ICF model with NDT frameworks .This helps in the attempt of holistic clinical reasoning more simplified .

It is also important for an Occupational therapist to be thorough in their understanding of biomechanics & kinesiology in understanding the concepts of alignment, base of support, weigh shifts, etc. As adequate alignment provides basis for effective dynamic core work . Dynamic core would link the child forming effective breathe support that would facilitate regulation for the child. What as fascinating moment when you unfold this layer the way we function.

So you can use any approach that’s depends on what function you are looking at in relationship with child’s context &environment

To plan intervention for a child linking his missing sensory motor components & interweaving it with Play is a creative process for more effective & attuned treatment strategies.