Assistive Technology and Occupational Therapy

Assistive technology can be many things: a spoon with a strap, a calculator, a tablet. This list really is endless. According to a definition by Dr. Stephanie Lancaster, assistive technology is, "special devices or structural changes that promote self-confidence, competence, the further acquisition of developmental skills into occupational behaviors, or improved balance of time spent between an individual's goal and the external demands of the environment." Essentially, assistive technology is materials equipment, or technology can fall into three categories: low tech, medium tech, or high tech. The main way that these categories are organized relates to how much training or knowledge is required to use them, their price, and if they require power. As the names indicate, a low tech piece of assistive technology is the most basic and probably does not require much training, and a high tech piece is more complex and most likely requires training for the user and anyone involved in their care. 

To understand why assistive technology is important to the field of occupational therapy, it is important to understand what occupational therapy is. This can be defined many ways by many people, but the overarching explanation is that occupational therapy is a field that assists people in participating in their occupations which are meaningful activities that one participates in on a day to day basis. So does that mean an occupational therapist helps you to do your job? Well, yes and no. If you consider your job to be a meaningful occupation to you, an occupational therapist can help you work on the skills required to complete that job. They can also help bring independence to more day to day tasks such as dressing, feeding, housekeeping, socializing, playing games, and even relaxing. The roles of an occupational therapist are endless.

Now, back to assistive technology. Assistive technology is important to the field of occupational therapy because it can be used to help individuals work on their independence, which after all is a major goal. This can be achieved in many ways. Sometimes, people with arthritis can have problems gripping things, for example, utensils. One way to use assistive technology to fix this problem is to add materials to the handle to allow for the grip to be larger. A more commonly known piece of assistive technology is a tablet. These can allow individuals to communicate even if they do not always speak. No matter how low or high tech a piece of assistive technology is, it all has value in promoting the independence of individuals and in the field of occupational therapy.