Rehabilitation services are provided to patients to help restore any physical, mental, or cognitive skills and abilities that may have been lost due to injury or disease. Rehabilitation services are crucial for helping individuals get back to normal, or near-normal living.
The Department of Rehabilitation administers vocational rehabilitation services. The Department of Rehabilitation is where you would go to learn which rehabilitation services you need. You must ask the people who work in the department what is required for a full recovery, and they recommend rehabilitation services based on your medical charts and diagnosis.
You can contact the department at any time if you have questions about the sort of services you need, and choose from a number of therapists that are covered by your plan. Speak to the staff at any time, and you may schedule appointments that serve your or your children after a catastrophic medical event.
The types of rehabilitation services range from the most complicated to the simplest. Ask the department of rehabilitation to take you through the options that are best for you, and they may recommend more than one type of therapy. Each level of therapy is quite different because there have different focuses.
Speak to your therapist about individual goals for rehabilitation services, and the therapist will explain the progress they see. You are hoping to get back to a normal life, but you must reach smaller goals along the way. Young children are often given special worksheets that give them gold stars for every task completed. They learn how to function normally, and they have fun at the same time.
Physical therapy is used any time you have an injury or illness that limits your mobility. If you have trouble using your legs when you were hurt, you may find that the physical therapy you do allows your joints to bend as they should. It's possible to recover quite a lot of strength in your muscles, and the therapist may teach you to walk.
The same is true in your arms and upper body if you have any level of atrophy or joint pain. The physical therapy sessions are designed to train your body to move as it once did. The therapist may ask you if you have athletic goals to reach, or they may get you back to simply living normally.
Occupational therapy is the use of fine motor skills for writing, eating, and daily tasks. You may forget how to write if you were badly injured or went through a horrible illness. Every occupational therapy session takes you through another task that allows you to do the things you once did every day.
The occupational therapist explains techniques they use even with little kids to teach them to write, and they use special tools that help you learn to eat, use doors, turn keys, and do simple tasks such as turning a screwdriver. You cannot function at home unless the therapist has taken you through every motor skill that is required.
This is a needed service for adults you have had their abilities impaired, and it is called occupational therapy because you cannot go back to work until these sessions are complete. Therapy of this style may continue after you return to work because there is quite a difference between having the ability to work and is fully recovered.
Speech therapy is necessary if your cognition has been impaired due to an accident or injury. Patients who suffer from a TBI or traumatic brain injury may lose their ability to speak or notice their speech is slurred. The speech therapy sessions are designed to give you back your thoughts, to teach you each word that you must use, and to help you form thoughts that may be lost.
The department of rehabilitation may send in young kids to have speech therapy before their speech is permanently altered, or adults may come in after a horrible event such as a stroke. You do not lose your ability to speak forever, but you must work to get it back.
The rehabilitation services you need are prescribed by the medical staff with the department, and they let you know how many sessions are covered under your insurance policy. Plan accordingly with the aid of the insurance office, and it is quite important for you to speak to the staff any time you have questions about the services that are needed. You may relearn to eat, write, speak, walk, or shoot a basketball depending on the service received.