Your Therapy Source Magazine for Pediatric Therapists July 2016 | Page 12

It can be a challenge at times to encourage children with physical disabilities to
participate in leisure activities. The Canadian Journal of Occupational
Therapy published a small study to determine the effectiveness of environmentbased interventions on participation of 6 adolescents with physical
disabilities. A 12-week intervention occurred with a focus on removing
environmental barriers and coaching parents. The Canadian Occupational
Performance Measure was used to establish performance on 17 goals that were
set. Occupational therapists delivered the intervention which included the
following: (a) Review baseline participation goals; (b) evaluate environmentbased barriers/ facilitators to participation, including the setting in which
these activities take place; (c) work together with the adolescent and parents to
explore and implement strategies to modify environmental barriers and/or
activity demands and (d) provide knowledge about useful strategies to search for
information and advocate for the child’s inclusion.
Some strategies that were used included: adapted bicycles, educating instructors,
pre-teaching, assisting with acquiring transportation and more.
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