Specialized Rehabilitation

We deeply believe in the power of occupational therapy to help clients recover from and maximize independence after injury or impairment.  EbD’s therapists do not treat injury or symptoms. Rather we examine the contexts within which our clients live and provide the resources to support their goals. 

Our therapeutic services are particularly effective because they are provided in the home, workplace, or other occupational context in which the client usually functions. A highly effective and specialized therapy service is visual retraining and home modifications for individuals with Age Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD). 

Occupational Therapy for clients with Age Related Macular Degeneration, (ARMD)

Carol John of EbD is skilled in providing this specialized form of occupational therapy. This service is medically prescribed and reimbursable through Medicare. The focus of Occupational Therapy (OT) intervention with persons who have ARMD is to enable the person to safely and independently complete the daily living tasks compromised by his/her low vision. This is accomplished by:

• Teaching the client to use his/her remaining visual ability as efficiently as possible
• Modifying activities so that they can be safely completed with less vision
• Recommending modifications to the environment and use of adaptive devices to compensate for visual loss.

Instruction in use of remaining vision involves teaching the client to utilize the preferred retinal location (PRL) through eccentric viewing.  Activity modification may include adoption of different procedures for a specific task, such as in eating learning to use a system to find the food on a plate or notice the level of liquid in a glass. Environmental modification may include rearranging the work area to make finding objects easier, applying tactile or large print labels to medicine containers, and utilizing voice activated telephone dialing.

This intervention is carried out in the client’s home, community and/or office.  The number of therapy sessions required to achieve functional goals selected by the client ranges from four to ten with an average of six sessions.  A session is usually an hour to an hour and a half long.

Some typical client goals include:

• Identify medications
• Safely and independently prepare a meal and clean up afterward
• Consume a meal in a socially acceptable manner
• Write legibly to communicate with caregivers, family and financial institutions
• Safely and independently dress and groom
• Safely and independently shop for food and other daily needs
• Travel safely in the community

Thank you, thank you, Carol. What you taught me has certainly improved my life. I now use eccentric viewing so naturally I am not even aware that I am doing it. It allows me to read materials that I could not previously. Thanks again.

Irene Asay
A person who is coping with ARMD