Gross motor skills consist of moving the body's large muscles to perform a specific task that usually involves a whole-body motion. Gross motor skills are crucial for adequately walking and maintaining a safe balance. Although gait may not always be addressed directly through OT, it is an important part of completing activities of daily living (ADLs), such as self-care or work. Upper extremity strengthening and endurance activities in neuro-rehab often address gross motor skills. 

Examples of gross motor interventions: 

Interventions will differ with each patient and setting depending on their goals. 

• Transferring from wheelchair to toilet or edge of bed

• Following a recipe and cooking a meal

• Lifting heavy objects or weights to mimic household chores

Fine motor skills consist of moving the body's small muscles of the hands, fingers, and wrists for precise and coordinated movements. Fine motor skills are a significant part of OT. These skills are crucial to completing ADLs like self-care tasks and can also contribute to a person's career. Fine motor skills are often taken for granted because they are typically performed automatically without conscious thought. These skills are heavily addressed during brain injury rehab.

Examples of fine motor interventions:

Interventions will differ with each patient and setting depending on their goals. 

• Buttoning a shirt or tying shoes

• Managing medication

• Addressing handwriting techniques and grip

Cognitive rehab in OT addresses problems with memory, attention, problem-solving, motor planning, and executive functioning. Cognition is essential for performing all ADLs and can be highly hindered by a brain injury. After a brain injury, a person can experience a lot of confusion due to all the changes that occur in the brain and body. Sometimes, a person might not realize how bad their injury affects them, leading to even more confusion or frustration. Cognitive rehab can also address self-awareness, judgment, and decision-making to help with confusion and daily living. 

Examples of Cognitive Interventions:

Interventions will differ with each patient and setting depending on their goals.

• Financial management

• Navigating the environment

• Memory enhancement activities

• Self-care tasks

• Problem-solving activities

Visual perception is typically addressed through 6 stages of a hierarchy provided by occupational therapist Mary Warren. The lowest level of the hierarchy consists of foundational skills, including visual acuity, visual fields, and oculomotor control. From there, the hierarchy progresses to visual attention and visual scanning, pattern recognition, visual memory, and lastly, visual cognition or interpretation. A person cannot complete the hierarchy without moving upward from the bottom. Visual perception is so much more than just being able to see. OT addresses each step in the hierarchy to ensure safe performance and recovery for ADLs.

Examples of Visual Perceptual Interventions:

Interventions will differ with each patient and setting depending on their goals. 

• Grocery shopping simulation

• Figure-ground activities

• Preparing for return to driving or practicing driving

• Organizing

Sensory integration aims to help people process and respond to sensory stimuli in their environment to improve their functional abilities and ADLs. Sensory stimuli can be visual, auditory (hearing), tactile (touch), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), vestibular (balance/movement), or proprioceptive (body awareness). A brain injury can sometimes cause these stimuli to be sensitive when returning to daily activities, so they must be integrated into the brain's wiring during rehab.

Examples of Sensory Integration:

• Sensory bins that contain different textures and objects

• Environmental adjustments

  • Increasing/decreasing light or sound in a room

• Weight-bearing on an affected extremity