{"id":7312,"date":"2019-02-01T19:05:50","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T23:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/?p=7312"},"modified":"2019-11-22T20:51:18","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T00:51:18","slug":"occupational-therapy-for-low-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/occupational-therapy-for-low-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Occupational Therapy for Low Vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In February, the U. S. National Eye Institute raises awareness of low vision and highlights the day-to-day impact for patients. The most common causes of low vision include aged-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. NEI predicts that the number of people in the U. S. impacted by these four conditions will double by 2050. The NEI web site offers free educational and training resources for patients, care givers and health professionals.<\/p>\n

Occupational therapy plays an important role in assisting low vision patients maintain their independence and their ability to enjoy their favorite activities. OTs can assess patients and then recommend and teach environmental adjustments, task modifications as well as compensatory techniques. The Occupational Therapy Toolkit includes a number of low vision treatment guides and patient education handouts. Samples of some of my favorite strategies are included below.<\/p>\n

Enjoy!
\nCheryl Hall, OT
\nAuthor, Occupational Therapy Toolkit<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Occupational Therapy for Low Vision<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Environmental Adjustments<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lighting<\/td>\nAdjust task lighting below eye level<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Glare<\/td>\nRecommend sheers, blinds or light filtering shades<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Safety<\/td>\nAssess for tripping hazards<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Task Modifications<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Communication<\/td>\nTeach eccentric viewing, scanning and page orientation techniques<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Medication<\/td>\nUse dark colored tray with lip when organizing medications<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Money<\/td>\nTeach how to pay bills by phone<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mobility<\/td>\nPractice counting the steps between locations in the home<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Eating and cooking<\/td>\nRecommend cutting boards in a variety of colors to contrast with food<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Recreation<\/td>\nTeach how to download digital audio books from the public library<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Compensatory Techniques<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Using the other senses<\/td>\nCoach to recognize changes in floor covering<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Distinguishing objects<\/td>\nUse magnetic letters on canned goods<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Use of contrast<\/td>\nOutline steps, switch plates or doorways with colored tape<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Labeling and marking<\/td>\nRecommend raised plastic dots to mark settings on appliances<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In February, the U. S. National Eye Institute raises awareness of low vision and highlights the day-to-day impact for patients. The most common causes of low vision include aged-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. NEI predicts that the number of people in the U. S. impacted by these…<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-low-vision"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Low-Vision.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7312"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7325,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7312\/revisions\/7325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}