5 Skills You Will Need as An Occupational Therapist

If occupational therapy services for children is your thing, then it is imperative that you exercise these five skills we have recognized as the top 5 skills you will need as an Occupational Therapist. We always need to be upskilling ourselves as the world changes, and school curriculums change. Looking into professional development courses for OT specialists is a great way to keep yourself up-to-date and upskilled regularly. 

Creative/Imaginative

It is vital to tap into your creativity and use your imagination the way children do. You will be practicing some very basic life skills tasks with them such as cutting/handwriting. These tasks can be boring and make them feel discouraged. If you make the environment fun, and the tasks feel more like a game, the children will easily build trust with you and enjoy the tasks at hand. This builds an environment for children to have fun while learning, how it should be. OT continuing education courses online can help you to learn new creative ways to do everyday life tasks with your child patients. 

Good Communication Skills

Children are very sensitive little beings, and they are quite in tune with sincerity, they pick up on body language quite easily. You will need to communicate the tasks at hand using a kind, encouraging tone. Children needs lots of encouragement and need to feel supported. If you can improve on these skills, it would be highly beneficial as an occupational therapist. There are many professional development courses for OT specialists. 

Empathy and Patience

Most children love to talk and play. They will tell you the longest stories, some true and some completely fresh out of their imagination. Displaying empathy for their frustrations, and patience as they try continuously to complete a task, will do a wonder of good for your appointment and also for the progress of the child. If you want to develop your empathy and patience there are many OT continuing education courses online that can help you to achieve this goal. 

Collaborative

As they say, it takes a village to raise a child. You will need to collaborate and work effectively with parents, teachers, administrators etc. in order to see quick improvement in the child’s skills. Often children may also be seeing a speech therapist or a physical therapist, and you may need to communicate with them as well. Collaborating with all parties involved in the child’s development and keeping this mindset, will greatly benefit you progress, leaving you feeling satisfied with your services, and the child having progressed well. 

Perceptive

With children you need to be extremely perceptive as an occupational therapist, children communicate in a variety of different ways.  Children behave certain ways for various reasons, and it is not only important to learn about this, but also to learn about other ways they communicate their needs. Often a child does not want to participate in an activity because either they are bored or perhaps just had an argument with their friend on the playground after school. When you are doing an overall evaluation of the child, picking up on the little things can tell you a lot about the child, their behavior, and even their emotional state. You may be able to gain insight into their specific behaviors and the potential cause of the behavior. There are many professional development courses for OT specialists online that can help you to develop these skills. 

Upskilling yourself as an occupational therapist is the best thing you can do for both yourself and your patients. There are even 1-on-1 training options available out there to help you gain the knowledge you need to be a successful occupational therapist. You should definitely consider OT continuing education courses online, as it will save you being able to do the course at your leisure without it affecting your work day. You will not only gain knowledge but helping your patients will be more effective.