This week we are celebrating National Occupational Therapy Week: we will be showcasing the life-changing impact of occupational therapy at Treloar School and College through student stories.
Read the stories of our students to see how Occupational Therapy helps our young people live healthier and more independent lives.
Malita's journey to independent mobility through innovative Eye-Gaze System
Thanks to the support of the Occupational Therapy Team, school student Malita has been able to explore alternative ways to gain independent mobility. Through regular on-site driving sessions using the Ability Drive system, the OT Team has helped Malita demonstrate skills in driving a SMART Platform using her eyes. This adaptive technology has unlocked her potential to independently control a powered wheelchair.
Currently, the team is working closely with Malita’s family to support sourcing a wheelchair equipped with the Ability Drive - this will be transformative for Malita, enabling her to move freely around her home and school environment.
Occupational Therapy has broken down barriers and enabled Malita to embrace her potential, embodying the true spirit of OT Week: promoting independence, participation and quality of life for all.
Occupational Therapy Team enhancing hand skills and promoting meaningful leisure activities
At the beginning of this year, school student Zara met with our OT Team to talk about her hand skills and identify what goals and targets she wanted to work on. Zara was clear that she wanted to be able to make her own prom dress and to be able to use a sewing machine.
The OT Team sourced a switch-operated sewing machine and then worked with Zara to identify a switch that she could access reliably and found a way to position the switch securely while she was sewing.
Once a practical solution was identified the OT Team was able to demonstrate the set-up and hand over to Zara's sewing buddy, Rahma, an amateur dressmaker from the Gloucester House Team. Continuing work with the OT Team on hand skills, Zara was supported to use her iPad to explore different sewing patterns and materials online.
Zara and Rahma worked on the outfit together in the evenings: one operating the machine switch and the other working the foot pedal so that her prom dress was finished in time for the big day in July.
This term, Zara has a design for another dress in mind. Her OT target this term is to increase her confidence and skills in the community. Zara is working with her OT on planning shopping trips and this time will be completing purchases in store herself.
