Occupational Therapy at Home
Occupational therapy at home is treatment from a licensed occupational therapist focused on the practical business of daily life, helping someone dress, bathe, cook, and manage their household safely and independently again.
Reviewed by Valerie VanBooven, RN, BSN
What's Included
- Retraining for dressing, bathing, grooming, and toileting
- Kitchen and meal preparation skills, including energy conservation techniques
- Recommendations for adaptive equipment such as grab bars, shower seats, and reachers
- Home modifications to make bathrooms and kitchens workable
- Upper body strength, coordination, and fine motor work
- Strategies for managing memory and organisation in daily routines
Who It's For
Someone who can move around but is struggling with the tasks of daily life, whether after a stroke, surgery, or a decline in hand function, memory, or vision.
Understanding Occupational Therapy at Home
Physical therapy and occupational therapy are frequently confused. The rough division is that physical therapy works on moving the body, while occupational therapy works on doing the things a person needs and wants to do.
In practice that means an occupational therapist is concerned with whether someone can get themselves dressed, safely take a shower, make a meal, and manage their own medication, and with what would have to change for that to be possible.
A great deal of the value is in equipment and adaptation. A grab bar in the right place, a shower seat, or a different technique for putting on a shirt after a shoulder injury can restore a task that had been given up entirely.
Occupational therapy at home is physician-ordered and delivered under home health care, and like physical therapy it is goal-directed and time-limited rather than ongoing support.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is occupational therapy at home?
Occupational therapy at home is treatment from a licensed occupational therapist focused on the practical business of daily life, helping someone dress, bathe, cook, and manage their household safely and independently again.
Who is occupational therapy at home for?
Someone who can move around but is struggling with the tasks of daily life, whether after a stroke, surgery, or a decline in hand function, memory, or vision.
Other Services
How to Get Occupational Therapy at Home
Enter a city and state below to find home care providers in the Care Across America directory who serve that area. Contact them directly to ask whether they offer occupational therapy at home and to get pricing for your situation.