Final Reflection

Occupation-Based Practice
The occupation-based core component was an integral part in my road to understand
what it truly is to be an occupational therapist as well as how I want to treat patients when I
become an occupational therapist. During my coursework and fieldworks, I learned the
importance of being client-centered and truly understanding the client as a whole, by performing
occupation-based interventions. Assignments such as the occupational profiles and intervention
plans really helped me improve my critical thinking and analysis skills required to be an effective
occupational therapist.
One assignment that taught me both the importance and value of occupation-based
interventions was the occupational profile on a client when I was in a hand clinic. Normally,
when an individual thinks of hand clinics, they think of a biomechanical approach, which simply
includes performing activities to increase strength, ROM, and endurance. To be honest, when I
was observing, I did not see any occupation-based interventions performed by my fieldwork
educator. With that said, this assignment really made me think outside of the box and understand
the whole client, which included implementing occupation-based interventions and longterm/short-term goals to improve clients functional statuses.
In conclusion, since I strive to be a pediatric occupational therapist, I have to implement
occupation-based and motivating interventions in order to see improvements in my clients. Its
true that I could simply give them theraputty in order to improve upper extremity strength, but
that is not occupation-based at all. I must use my creativity to create an individualized plan of
care for each child. It is my passion to be able to be creative with my future clients and to be able

implement occupation-based interventions that will ultimately lead to the enhancement of their
quality of life.