OTS216 — Occupational Therapy with Special Populations
This course is designed to teach the emerging occupational therapy assistant about effective interventions with special populations. These adult groups and populations include those identified by Healthy People 2020 who live with chronic disease and disabilities. In particular , Dementia and Alzheimer’s (AD) disease, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) community, and the well elderly. The focus of this course will be on AD and IDD. Students will investigate the role of occupational therapy in promoting health and wellness, wellbeing, occupational performance and quality of life. Students will develop skills to facilitate quality of life, to work in a multidisciplinary environment and to create innovative interventions based on OT models and frames of reference. Students will learn about the etiologies of indicated diseases and how these diseases impact occupational functioning throughout the adult lifespan. They will identify their role in the OT process by exploring assessment tools typically used and intervention strategies and techniques that promote positive occupational outcomes including: telehealth, assistive technology, healthy communities of care including continuums of care and aging in place. Students will learn about programs which support these populations in wellness and engagement. Students will discuss policy, laws and typical medical interventions and learn about their interprofessional role with
Prerequisites: OTS101, OTS103, OTS104, OTS105, OTS107, OTS109, OTS110, OTS112, PSY101, PSY215, BIO213, BIO214, COM104, ENG101