“My son was having difficulty in school with handwriting and other fine motor activities.  The occupational therapist was so patient and showed him many strategies and techniques to improve his handwriting, cutting skills, and many other tasks.  Thank you.”  

Page M (mother of Justin age 6)

“This arthritic thumb has plagued me for years.  Jennifer really helped me with a thumb spica brace, exercises, and some heat treatment.  She taught me how to use my hand and thumb without straining the muscles and tendons so much.  Now I’m ready to get back to golfing and fishing without pain.” 

Sam M – age 68

Occupational Therapy
Expertise
Low Vision Rehabilitation

Occupational Therapy provides individuals with the skills for the job of living.  An occupational therapist works with a child, adolescent, or adult to establish, restore, improve or maintain abilities and functions.  At Allied Rehab, Inc., occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants work with children and adults on a variety of skills, including attention, body awareness, buttoning, coordination, dressing, eye-hand coordination, feeding, fine motor control, grooming, handwriting, motor planning, muscle strengthening, scissor use, sensory processing and integration, visual perceptual skills, and visual motor integration skills.  Occupational therapists can also work with individuals with low vision to assess home environments for independent living and aging in place.  Interventions for individuals with low vision include visual skills training, improved environmental visual cues, and modification to a person’s environment to maximize independence as well as utilize remaining residual vision.  

Occupational therapists are required to have completed a minimum of a master’s degree or higher upon entry into the occupational field.  Occupational therapists must be licensed in the state of North Carolina to practice occupational therapy.  Occupational therapy assistants are required to complete a two-year certification degree program and obtain licensure to practice under the supervision of an occupational therapist in the state of North Carolina.  Occupational therapists administer standardized evaluations, observe, and assess the challenges a person is experiencing.  Together with the client and his/her family, occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants establish and carry out a plan of care that includes treatment goals to develop, improve or maintain skills important to the client and his/her family.            

EXPERTISE

Adults

• Hand/ Wrist Injuries
  
• Carpel Tunnel Syndrome
  
• Post-op Tendon Repairs
  
• Post Hand/ Wrist Fracture
  
• Low Vision Rehabilitation                             
  
• Stroke Recovery

Children

• Autism
  
• Sensory Integration Disorders
  
• Fine Motor Delays
  
• Developmental Delays

LOW VISION REHABILITATION

Do you have a hard time seeing in the middle of your visual field when you look straight ahead? Do you have difficulty moving around your environment in a safe way due to vision loss? If so, you may be able to benefit from occupational therapy. Occupational therapists play an important role for individuals with low vision secondary to age related vision loss, trauma, or congenital deficits. Occupational therapists can address daily living skills with individuals with low vision in a person’s home and in the community. Occupational therapists can provide strategies for using an individual’s available vision to maximize independence with daily living skills. Occupational therapists can work on skills and strategies that address and include tracking objects, shifting gaze, eccentric viewing training, training in the use of optical devices, diabetic management, scanning exercises to complete daily living skills, creating functional work spaces with the individual, and performing home evaluations to assess an individual’s safety and independence within the home, including assessing contrast, lighting, and background pattern.

Diagnoses that can be seen by occupational therapists include:

• Age-related Macular Degeneration (Dry, Wet)
  
• Diabetic Retinopathy
  
• Visual field deficits (hemianopsia, hemi-inattention, hemi-neglect)
  
• Glaucoma
  
• Retinitis Pigmentosa
  
• Retinopathy of Prematurity
  
• Vision loss related to brain injury
  
• Cortical visual impairment
  
• And many more pediatric and adult low vision diagnoses