While searching the mainstream media for an occupational therapy related article, I came across a story reported by Memphis' own News Channel 3.
The article is about a mother who is upset her child was discharged from occupational therapy services. A few days prior, the mother made a negative comment to one of the receptionists and believes that her child was discharged as "revenge."
The child had been attended the facility for over a year, and the article mentions her having a "severe occupational therapy need." Personally, I think this would've been a great opportunity for News Channel 3 to expand on this quote and explain what specific occupations the child needed to improve.
The facility discharged her from occupational therapy services, but she still qualified for speech therapy services. The mother was very upset proclaiming, "She still qualifies for speech therapy there, so what's the justification for discharging her?"
While the allegations of the facility discharging the child out of spite could be true, it's important to consider the opposing viewpoint as well. It's possible the child really could have mastered her occupation goals, which could have led to her discharge. While speech therapy and occupational therapy are similar, they are not the same by any means. Just because the child still needs speech therapy doesn't necessarily mean she still needs OT.
Overall, this article doesn't really portray occupational therapy accurately. In my opinion, there wasn't enough information provided by News Channel 3 about occupational therapy, which I think could've been very useful because so many people still don't know what OT is. Also, the chunking together of speech therapy and occupational therapy wasn't very relevant; even though they are both types of health professions, just because you attend one doesn't mean you need to attend the other.
Check out the article below:
http://wreg.com/2017/07/13/mom-believes-ascent-childrens-health-services-wrongfully-discharged-daughter/
