Shad Michael St. Louis MS, OTR, CDRS

Occupational therapy assistants contribute to the completion of an individualized occupational therapy driving and community mobility evaluation by administering delegated assessments and identifying findings that impact the client's occupational performance. Clients engage in the assessment and occupational profile process to customize the evaluation to their individual driving and community mobility needs. Occupational therapy assistants administer and continuously modify individualized in-vehicle and community mobility assessments within the naturalistic context of the community in response to the occupational performance and safety behaviors of the client. They also implement an individualized intervention plan, within the parameters established in collaboration with the occupational therapist that reflects the contexts of the client and meets his or her occupational performance and safety needs. Occupational therapy assistants address immediate and long-term implications of psychosocial issues related to compromised driving and community mobility throughout the occupational therapy process and makes recommendations to the occupational therapist for modification to service delivery.

Occupational therapists are experts at helping people lead as independent a life as possible. Occupational therapists bring an understanding of the physical and psychological implications of illness and injury and their effects on peoples' ability to perform the tasks of daily living. Occupational therapists provide interventions that can aide a person in completing ADL and IADL tasks, such as dressing, bathing, preparing meals, and driving. They also may fabricate custom orthotics to improve function, evaluate the environment for safety hazards and recommend adaptations to remove those hazards, help a person compensate for cognitive changes, and build a persons' physical endurance and strength. Occupational therapists' knowledge of adapting tasks and modifying the environment to compensate for functional limitations is used to increase the involvement of clients and to promote safety and success.

Source: NUCC, CMS