Occupational therapist Liz Harmening has helped him for more than a decade to achieve small victories that add up to big impacts. Harmening has provided Tyler, 15, with ways to overcome the coordination his autism often impairs. Together, they've thrown balls, climbed stairs, walked dogs and learned to use tissues.
Caregivers such as Tyler's mother, Coby Chandler, celebrate the benefits of the therapy with each new accomplishment.
"Over time, and with lots of therapy, he's started doing better," Coby Chandler said. "He had a long ways to go. Little by little, it kind of got easier."
Coby Chandler believes occupation therapy has been the most beneficial therapy Tyler has received. Harmening has helped Tyler overcome an initially grim prognosis. When she first worked with him, doctors weren't sure Tyler would attend regular school. Now the teenager intends to attend two years at John Wood Community College and eventually go to a four-year university.
"It's amazing (to see) the improvements and just how far he's come," Coby Chandler said.
Harmening has worked as an occupational therapist for more than 30 years. During that time, she's seen her field boom. When she began treating patients in the 1980s, she was one of two occupational therapists in the Quincy area. Now she works for Harmony Therapy and Wellness, which provides outpatient service dedicated solely to occupational therapy. As the field has grown, occupational therapists have come to work within nursing homes, schools and medical institutions throughout the region.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a strong demand for the profession and projected that employment will increase by 26 percent or more between 2008 and 2018. The increase correlates with upcoming advances in medical technology, which will fuel the demand for therapy services, according to the bureau.
Harmening works with patients to improve everyday life skills. She coaches those with developmental disabilities, acute care patients, rehabilitation patients and schoolchildren. She addresses physical, physiological, mental and social needs. While each situation differs, Harmening's job revolves around helping her patients overcome their difficulties or figure out a different way for them to complete a task.
"We'd all like to be right back to where we were before (tragedy) happened, but often our bodies have changed, and we can't do that," Harmening said. "It's giving them an opportunity to work with what they still have left."
Occupational therapy often involves using everyday objects to meet goals. Playing cards combines fine motor and gross motor skills. The game teaches holding things in one hand and manipulating things with the other. Drawing lines on a chalkboard can help improve coordination. Tyler, an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan, prefers to go to the park and play catch.
Harmening has coached Tyler in adapting to each new life skill. As a child, she helped him with writing and allowing people to touch him, but as he's grown, the tasks have become more complex. He enrolled this year in a driver's education class, but Coby Chandler believes he may need assistance learning to work the pedals. Harmening suggested using a sewing machine to prepare his feet for the pressure of the accelerator and break before Tyler gets behind the wheel.
"We look at such a broad picture of people, and that's because occupation to us is what people do every day," Harmening said. "There are so many other things in a days time that we take for granted that are occupations to us."
(source: whig.com)
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