There are special types of utensils you can use. Driving is another part of Rancho's OT program, but, unfortunately, despite her efforts, Rios' disability didn't allow her to achieve this skill. She now rides as a passenger in her family's adapted van. Occupational therapy has roots that reach back to the 19th century and brings to mind images that differ depending on a person's age and experience. And specific vocational training activities, which in earlier times played a larger role in the profession's scope of practice, have likewise nearly disappeared and entered the realm of state vocational rehabilitation departments.
Some experts define the field as promoting virtually any purposeful or meaningful activity.
The term 'occupation' refers to activities that are meaningful to the individual within the environments in which the person lives and functions. The philosophy of OT stays the same in different settings and age groups, he says, but the interventions and specific goals are different. He puts occupational therapy in a framework devised by the World Health Organization. The above is adapted from the World Health Organization's International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps, first published by WHO in 1980. Occupational therapy is primarily concerned with the middle level of dysfunction, the disability level, although it can move into the related areas of impairment and handicap.