If you’ve recently started working with an Occupational Therapist, you may wonder why they’re giving you homework in between sessions. They’re the expert after all, so why are you doing the work? Well as with many things in life, hard work pays off and this is an investment in yourself. Let’s look at some of the key reasons this extra work will help speed up your recovery and journey to independence.
Repetition is key
Neuroplasticity is the ability of our brains to ‘re-wire’, and this process happens by ‘doing’. In recovery, you may be ‘re-wiring’ to regain physical skills, compensate for cognitive changes, challenge negative thought patterns or build new habits.
In occupational therapy you may be assisted to complete new physical exercises, you may be taught new strategies about how you approach tasks, you may experiment with exposure to different sensory experiences, or you may design new habits together.
Whatever the task or type of skills you are trying to learn, there is overwhelming evidence that repetition is key. It is important to try to complete tasks regularly to maximise your repetitions, and over time not only will this improve your skills, but these things will become part of your day-to-day, and become automatic skills.
Practice makes perfect
Completing tasks in between sessions will also help you to recover quicker. We all know practice makes perfect, and the longer time between tasks the more likely you are to forget steps and less likely you are to improve.
Your therapist should be making the tasks the perfect fit for you! For recovery, a task should
challenge you, but be achievable. In your therapy sessions you will work with your therapist to explore what task will motivate you to practice the skills you are working on, and you will be guided to practice this task effectively.
Practising things in the exact way your therapist has shown you will help you move from having to consciously think about what you are doing, to the automatic stage (remember the ‘neuroplasticity’ that we achieve through repetition!). But this means putting the work in between sessions. If you need more support, you can get help from a therapy assistant or family member, and if you aren’t confident about how to complete the task ‘perfectly’ then your occupational therapist should be able to provide you instructions or pictures.
Gain independence
Completing the tasks by yourself can give you a massive boost in independence, and help you take ownership and pride in your own recovery. Taking baby steps, you can start to see how you can complete tasks by yourself without assistance, giving you an insight into your future.
You may also come across any additional challenges by completing tasks ‘in real life’ that you can then discuss with your Occupational Therapist who can work this into your recovery plan.
Notice your improvements
Confidence is key to recovery and by completing tasks and noticing your improvements and growth, you will gain independence and the motivation to continue. You’ll start to notice over time how you are completing an extra step in a task or doing something for longer. Having your Occupational Therapist to discuss this with helps you notice the improvements that you may not if you just stuck to sessions or go it alone.
Can I just do the homework and not work with an Occupational Therapist?
For some people, once they have completed some assessment sessions with an Occupational Therapist, and received a treatment plan which they can work on independently, then they can carry on alone or with support from family.
However, in other cases you might need ongoing Occupational Therapy sessions to facilitate the work, or for an extended assessment period. It is also really valuable to have regular reviews, and an Occupational Therapist is trained to assess all aspects of a situation and to use their knowledge and expertise to guide you on the right path in your recovery. The task may need to be made more, or less, challenging depending on your needs.
If you’re looking to take the next step in your recovery, why not get in touch and we can have a complementary call to discuss your options?
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