Daily Living Skills

The focal point of occupational therapy interventions is to assist individuals facing functional limitations in achieving the highest level of self-sufficiency in their everyday routines. Occupational therapists frequently work with individuals experiencing challenges related to mental health, cognition, senses, or physical disabilities, aiming to improve their capacity for daily life tasks and foster their independence.

Interventions commonly focus on skill development in the following areas;

• Attention and executive functioning: Individuals may have attention deficits when attempting to maintain self-care or domestic activities, and may be unable to recall how to perform a task, or be poor at organising the steps involved in a task.

• Sensory processing: Some individuals have problems with distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant sensory stimuli. Sensory modulation deficits can result in an individual being overly sensitive to sensory input, potentially making them easily distracted, feeling overwhelmed or distressed. Or conversely, they may be hyposensitive and fail to observe critical sensory material.

• Motor skills: The development of fine and gross motor skills is essential to complete daily living tasks. Motor performance skills include range of motion, strength and endurance, awareness of one’s body, dexterity, grasp and coordination.

• Anxiety Management: A common barrier to achieving improved function can be the individual’s experiences with anxiety, which may be creating a block to participation or skill development. Occupational therapy can assist the individual to develop strategies to manage anxiety and build a gradual desensitisation to certain environments, activities and circumstances.