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The
Importance and Role of Occupation to Children and Adolescents
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During
the past week, I noticed an article in the Washington Post
about the symbolism or stories in children's art, particularly
in regard to the current climate of fear. A friend who
is a child psychologist shared with me a story of one of his
young clients making a dinosaur of clay during a session.
The boy brought a cave for the dinosaur to his next session
and asked my friend if he thought that all of us were also
going to be extinct. I asked another friend, the principal
of an elementary school, how her children were responding
to the Pentagon incident and to the Anthrax scare in the Washington
metropolitan area. She said: "Well, you know,
they do well if their routine schedule of school, soccer practice
and games, or music lessons continue."
This Resource Note
addresses the Occupation of Children, and particularly play.
Bowen-Irish, T.
(1999). IN THE CLINIC: Finding purposeful activity through
the lost and found. OT Practice, 4(7), 47-48.
ABSTRACT: One of
the most valuable rewards was the delivery of lost items.
It was a moment where one child was actually performing a
good deed for another child within his or her community.
Bracegirdle, H.
(1992). The use of play in occupational therapy: Normal play
development. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy,
55(4), 141-142.
ABSTRACT: Unless
a therapist has a good grasp of the sequence of normal play
development, he/she is unable either to assess a child's current
developmental level accurately or to suggest play activities
which are appropriate for the child. The study of play is
complex and only two of the main categories of play can be
discussed here, each from babyhood to school age. It is not
only children with impairments who are disadvantaged developmentally
and a brief mention of social class related differences in
play behaviour is made. The article also looks critically
at the quality of play research in its comparison of old and
new developmental inventories
Burke, J.P. (1998).
Play: The life role of the infant and young child. In:
Case-Smith, J. (Ed.). Pediatric occupational therapy
and early intervention. 2nd ed.
Boston, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann (pp. 189-205.
Kao, C.C. &
Kellegrew, D.H. (2000). Self-concept, achievement
and occupation in gifted Taiwanese adolescents. Occupational
Therapy International, 7(2), 121-133.
ABSTRACT: The education
of gifted adolescents that underachieve is a significant problem
that impacts on the child's educational opportunities and
possible career trajectory. Many researchers propose
that a child's self-concept is predictive of academic achievement.
Using an occupational science paradigm, this study examined
the notion that an adolescent's self concept and academic
achievement are also related to the types and time expended
in occupation. Eighteen gifted achieving and underachieving
Taiwanese junior high school students completed the Multidimensional
Self-concept Scale and a time diary for one week in the summer.
The results indicated that self-concept, achievement and time
expended in academic occupations are positively related.
Furthermore, there are differences between these two groups
of students in the time expended in academic and social activities.
The study has cross-cultural implications regarding the time
use of young Taiwanese teens.
Coster, W.
(1998). Occupation-centered assessment of children. The
American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 52(5), 337-344.
ABSTRACT: The past
5 years have seen increasing calls to reexamine our assessment
and intervention practices to ensure that they reflect the
profession's basic focus on occupation. Although a number
of noteworthy efforts in this direction have been presented
for adult practice areas, implementation of occupation-centered
assessment in pediatrics has been hampered by the lack of
a consistent framework to guide this process. This article
will present an adaptation of the functional assessment model
proposed by Trombly (1993) designed to better reflect the
unique needs and situations of children. It is a multilevel
model that examines the patterns of a child's occupations
in a particular environment as well as the performance of
important tasks and activities that are part of these occupations.
It is proposed that this model can serve as an organizing
framework for an occupation-centered assessment process by
helping to identify the critical questions that need to be
addressed at each level of analysis and the kinds of measures
that might be used to obtain relevant information. The
newly completed School Function Assessment will be used to
illustrate application of the framework to examine occupational
performance of children in elementary school.
Florey, L.L.
(1999). Transformations in a summer camp: The role of
occupations. Mental Health Special Interest Section Quarterly,
22(3), 2-4.
Gartland, T.
& Gossack, B. (1997 Oct). The meaning of family
rituals for occupational therapy. The Journal of Occupational
Therapy Students, 3-7.
ABSTRACT: Family
rituals and traditions provide a solid foundation for family
members' values and beliefs and a base for meeting the developmental
needs of a family as it grows and changes. Human occupation
and family rituals share a relationship because both bring
meaning and purpose to people's lives. This relationship
was examined by asking one family with two adolescent children
open-ended and closed-ended questions about family rituals
and their importance to family members. All family members
believed that family rituals and traditions provide them with
a sense of security, adaptability, and shared learning.
These results illustrate the relationship between human occupation
and family rituals. Family rituals are meaningful activities
and an important component of human occupation and should
assume a greater role in interactions between occupational
therapy practitioners and clients.
Henry A.D., &
Coster W.J. (1997). Competency beliefs and occupational
role behavior among adolescents: explication of the personal
causation construct. American Journal of Occupational Therapy,
51(4), 267-76.
ABSTRACT: According
to the Model of Human Occupation (MHO), beliefs regarding
competency can influence whether a person's occupational role
behavior is adaptive or maladaptive. Such beliefs are considered
to be part of a person's sense of "personal causation."
This article reviews some of the theoretical underpinnings
of the personal causation construct. Issues addressed are
the distinction between competency beliefs and locus of control
(another aspect of personal causation according to the MOHO);
the domain-specific nature of competency beliefs; and, in
particular, the evidence for a relationship between competency
beliefs and actual behavior. The article focuses on competency
beliefs and their relationship to three domains of occupational
behavior that have relevance for adolescents: academic ability,
social competence, and physical competence. Implications
for clinical practice with adolescents with psychiatric disorders
are addressed.
Howard, L. ( 1996).
A comparison of leisure-time activities between able-bodied
children and children with physical disabilities. The British
Journal of Occupational Therapy, 59(12), 570-574.
ABSTRACT: This
article reports on a survey of able-bodied and physically
disabled children to investigate their out-of-school
activities. It outlines the importance of play and leisure
time in the child's development before considering the findings
from a questionnaire given to 6-11 year olds. The results
mirror those elsewhere in the literature, mostly from the
USA, that children with physical disabilities have a less
rich play experience than able-bodied children, spending more
time in the company of adults, watching television more and
generally having less variety in their lives. The significance
of the findings for occupational therapy is discussed and
areas for future research are suggested.
Kellegrew, D.H.
(1998) Creating opportunities for occupation: An intervention
to promote the self-care independence of young children with
special needs. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy,
52(6), 457-465.
ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE.
The relationship between opportunities for occupation and
the skill performance of young children with special needs
was explored, using a multiple baseline across subjects design.
METHOD. Three caregivers self-monitored the frequency
with which they were able to create opportunities for their
child to practice emerging self-dressing or self-feeding skills.
RESULTS. Two caregivers quickly promoted self-care independence
in their child by restructuring daily routines to provide
more opportunities for the child to independently engage in
the targeted occupation. One caregiver was unable to
use the intervention techniques effectively. CONCLUSION.
Opportunity for occupation can influence the child's skill
performance and can be used as a treatment modality by some
families.
Knox, S.H.
(1997). Play and play styles of preschool children.
Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California. (Dissertation)
ABSTRACT: This
study investigated the play behavior and play styles of preschool
children. Six children, three boys and three girls,
from the ages of 3.7 to 5.4 years were studied in order to
identify individual play styles and address how the physical
and social environments affected play style. Play style
was defined as the preferences, attitudes, approaches, and
social reciprocity that the child brings to a play situation.
Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods,
including extended videotaped observations and interviews,
fourteen characteristics of play style were identified and
were divided into four elements: 1. Preferences refer to the
choices that a child makes in regard to settings, toys, types
of play, roles assumed in play, and playmates. 2. Attitudes
refer to the mood or affect the child exhibits, the consistency
or variability of moods and humor. 3. Approach is the
manner in which the child approaches play activity.
It includes direction, or what outwardly appears to incite
or motivate a child to action, focus, or involvement in activity,
and spontaneity in play. 4. Social reciprocity refers
to the amount of social interaction and "give and take"
involved in play. It includes whether the child is oriented
towards the self or others, the child's responsivity in social
encounters, and flexibility or adaptability. A microanalysis
of each child's play style was conducted and the six children
were described in terms of play style elements and characteristics.
Play style was discussed in terms of how children orchestrate
or plan their play activities throughout the day. The
environments within which the children's play was observed
included a day care center that all of the children attended,
individual homes, kindergarten classes, summer day camps,
and community settings. An interactive model of play
was developed with focus on the child, the environment, and
the play episode. The reciprocal interaction between the child,
through his or her play style, and the environment, with its
affordances, can be observed through the play episode.
Implications for occupational science, application to
occupational therapy, and implications for child development
were discussed
Law, M. &
Dunn, W. (1993). Perspectives on understanding and changing
the environments of children. Physical & Occupational
Therapy in Pediatrics, 13(3), 1-17.
ABSTRACT: Children
with disabilities encounter environmental constraints that
limit their active participation in the daily life of our
communities. As a result, their daily activity patterns
are less varied and more socially isolated than peers without
disabilities are. Factors, such as restricted physical
environments, normative classification of children and the
power of health disciplines are cited as contributing to the
creation of these disabling environments. Dissatisfaction
with the ability of health care to change these factors has
led to changes in the recognition of disability rights, the
need for consumer participation in life planning and the importance
or social policy. One could argue that these modifications,
while meaningful, have not successfully solved the problems
of disabling environments that limit activity. In this
paper we explore the use of a broader social and political
framework to alter the limited participation of children with
disabilities. In this model, we consider disability
primarily as a problem in the relationship between the individual
and the environment. The principles of a socio-political
planning model for disability include the importance of people's
values, integration of household and work, improved community
accessibility, pluralistic views, effective citizen participation
and participatory research.
Mancini, M.C.,
Coster, W.J., Trombly, C.A. & Heeren, T.C. (2000).
Predicting elementary school participation in children with
disabilities. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation,
81(3), 339-347.
ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:
To identify predictors of participation in school activities
from two sets of functional variables using classification
and regression tree analysis. DESIGN: Relational study.
PARTICIPANTS: A nationwide sample of 341 children with various
disabling conditions, including physical and cognitive/behavioral
types of impairment and various severity levels. Children
attended public elementary school in 40 states in the United
States. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Overall participation
in elementary school, combining children's participation in
six different environments (transportation, transitions, classroom,
cafeteria, bathroom, and playground), as measured by the newly
developed School Function Assessment. The children were
dichotomized into full (n=117) and limited (n=224) participation
categories. RESULTS: Two classification trees were developed
identifying a small set of predictors from variables measuring
performance of functional tasks and discrete activities.
Final predictive models included physical and cognitive-behavioral
variables, suggested important interactions among predictors,
and identified meaningful cut-off points that classified the
sample into the outcome categories with about 85% accuracy.
CONCLUSIONS: Limited participation was predicted by information
about children's physical capabilities. Full participation
was predicted by a combination of physical and cognitive-behavioral
variables. Findings underscore the relative utility
of functional performance compared with impairment information
to predict the outcome, and suggest pathways of influence
to consider in future research and intervention efforts.
Parham, L.D. &
Fazio, L. S. (Eds.). (1997). Play
in occupational therapy for children. St. Louis,
MO: Mosby, Inc.
Pollock, N., Stewart,
D., Law, M. Sahagian-Whalen, S., Harvey, S. &
Toal, C. (1997). The meaning of play for young people
with physical disabilities. The Canadian Journal of Occupational
Therapy, 64(1), 25-31.
ABSTRACT: As a
primary area of occupation, play is central to the lives of
children. Emerging views of play reflect the complexity
of the area, and focus on the relationship between the person
and the environment during play. This paper reports
the results of a qualitative study of twenty adolescents with
and without physical disabilities. The participants
were interviewed about their perceptions and personal experiences
of play. Through a textual analysis of the data, significant
themes related to the nature of play, environmental barriers
and supports, and personal influences on play were identified.
Clinical implications are discussed in relation to these themes.
Primeau, L.A.,
Clark, F., & Pierce, D. (1989). Occupational therapy
alone has looked upon occupation: Future applications of Occupational
Science to pediatric occupational therapy. Occupational
Therapy in Health Care, 6(4), 19-32.
ABSTRACT: Occupational
therapy has been an invisible profession, largely because
the public has had difficulty grasping the concept of occupation.
The emergence of occupational science has the potential of
improving this situation. Occupational science is firmly rooted
in the founding ideas of occupational therapy. In the future,
the nature of human occupation will be illuminated by the
development of a basic theory of occupational science. Occupational
science, through research and theory development, will guide
the practice of occupational therapy. Applications of occupational
science to the practice of pediatric occupational therapy
are presented. Ultimately, occupational science will prepare
pediatric occupational therapists to better meet the needs
of parents and their children.
Primeau, L.A. &
Ferguson, J. M. (1999). Occupational frame of reference.
In: Kramer, P. & Hinojosa, J. (Eds.). Frames
of reference for pediatric occupational therapy. 2nd
Ed. Philadelphia, PA; Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins. (pp. 469-516.).
Reilly, M. (Ed.)
(1974). Play as exploratory learning: Studies of
curiosity behavior. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Rodger, S. &
Ziviani, J. (1999) Play-based occupational. International
Journal of Disability, Development & Education, 46(3),
337-365.
Abstract: This
paper provides an overview of how occupational therapists
view play; illustrates how occupational therapists' view of
play has evolved, generating a shift in focus for intervention;
introduces a model of play as occupation to illustrate how
children's ability to play may be influenced by developmental
disabilities; outlines occupational therapy assessment and
treatment using play as the basis for intervention; and, finally,
identifies aspects of best practice. The term developmental
disabilities refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders.
Because it is not within the scope of this paper to provide
detailed discussion of play-based occupational therapy intervention
for all the children who comprise this group, the authors
have chosen to illustrate various points made with examples
of different types of children with various types of disability.
Saunders, I.,
Sayer, M. & Goodale, A. (1999). The relationship
between playfulness and coping in preschool children: A pilot
study. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy,
53(2), 221-226.
Abstract:
Effective play and coping skills may be important determinants
of children's adaptive behavior. In this study, the relationship
between playfulness and coping skills in young children is
explored. The play behaviors of 19 randomly selected preschool
children (aged 36-63 months) were rated by researchers using
The Test of Playfulness. The children's coping skills were
rated by their teachers with the Coping Inventory. A positive,
significant correlation was found between children's level
of playfulness and their coping skills. Overall, girls were
rated as more playful than boys and scored higher in coping
skills. Younger children (36-47 months of age) were rated
as better players and copers than older children (47-57 months
of age). This pilot study supports occupational therapy intervention
in children's play environments and playful
Scaletti,
R. (1995). Children's occupation the beginning
of the work personality New Zealand Journal of Occupational
Therapy, 46(2), 10-14.
ABSTRACT: It is
hypothesised that children's biological needs and drives,
and recognition and encouragement of these by parents, families,
and teachers, determine the course of their development and
ultimately the nature of their work personality. Children's
occupations, or the roles they occupy over time in relation
to significant others in their lives, are dynamic and change
in response to the innate occupational needs of the individual,
and influences of family and culture. Play, the universal
role of children is seen as a precursor to, and major determinant
of, the work personality. The manner in which play influences
the development of children's occupations and the work personality
is discussed within the context of differing theoretical opinions.
Segal, R.
& Frank, G. (1998). The extraordinary construction
of ordinary experience: Scheduling daily life in families
with children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 5(3), 141-147.
ABSTRACT: Interest
in the concept of occupation as a basic human phenomenon,
and the establishment of the discipline of occupational science,
are prompting a renewed appreciation among occupational therapists
of the temporal dimension of patients' lives in and out of
the clinic. Although most clinicians know that the orchestration
of activities in daily life can support or hinder treatment,
the organization of occupations into daily routines has not
yet been studied extensively in occupational therapy or occupational
science. The present study examines the adaptation of
families raising children with attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) in terms of the extraordinary work they perform
to construct daily schedules within the ordinary pattern of
time use. Seventeen families with children with ADHD
were interviewed about their daily schedules and routines.
This paper focuses on parents explanations of their family's
afternoon (i.e. after-school) schedules, particularly how
the parents scheduled times for homework, dinner, and free
time. Parents' scheduling considerations included their
children's abilities to concentrate, the children's other
physiological and emotional needs, and parental work schedules.
The cultural relevance of the afternoon schedule and its importance
for designing occupational therapy intervention at the homes
of children with special needs is discussed
Spitzer, S.L.
(2001). No words necessary: An ethnography of daily activities
with young children who don't talk. Los Angeles, CA: University
of Southern California. (Dissertation)
ABSTRACT: Understanding
and participating in the activities of young children, especially
children with developmental disabilities, such as autism,
can be difficult for adults. In this qualitative study,
the guiding question was "How do young children with
developmental disabilities create and convey meaning through
their daily activities?" The participants were a total
of 5 three- and four-year old children, with a diagnosis of
autism, who did not consistently use language to communicate
spontaneously. Participant-observation was used to collect
the data in the home and other natural settings in which the
child engaged in daily activities. Interviews with key
adults in the child's daily life provided supplemental information.
Analysis of fieldnotes and transcripts was focused on the
children's occupations, that is, meaningful, directed activities
that occupied their time. Unique patterns and preferences
were identified and described for each child and his or her
activities. The meaning, from the child's perspective,
was interpreted with close attention to how a child did the
activity and its relationship to the child's needs, desires,
and abilities. Findings were related to the following
conceptual topics: defining occupation, framing an occupation,
the nature of changes within an occupation over time, temporal
links to past occupations, occupational structure, self-direction,
and reframing of required activities into more satisfying
occupations. Although they shared a diagnosis, through
their engagement in activities, the children were seen as
unique individuals with their own particular interests and
abilities. Categories of the children's activities with
others were identified as being equipped (accepting materials
from another), guided (accepting assistance from another),
mentored (incorporating another's suggestion), and shared
(maintaining reciprocal interaction). The participants
used their bodies, sensory perception, objects, and scripted
action instead of words to mediate and focus their interaction
on an activity with shared meaning. There was an implicit
agreement about the shared meaning of the activity--what they
were doing, why, and how. Through these shared activities,
the children seemed to be connecting and building relationships
with other people. Suggestions were made for balancing
person-centered and family-centered services for children
with developmental disabilities.
Stagnitti, K. &
Unsworth, C. (2000). The importance
of pretend play in child development: An occupational therapy
perspective. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy,
63(3), 121-127.
ABSTRACT: Play
is a complex behaviour and is defined as being more internally
than externally motivated, transcending reality as well as
reflecting reality, controlled by the player, involving more
attention to process than product, safe, usually fun, unpredictable,
pleasurable and spontaneous and involving non-obligatory active
engagement (Bundy 1997, Stewart et al. 1991). Pretend
play, which occurs between the ages of 18 months ad 6 years,
reflects these qualities of play. Using the World Health
Organisation's classification of body functions and structures,
activities and participation (ICIDH-2, WHO 1999), this paper
outlines the skills that are essential for pretend play ability
and asserts that if there are any impairments in these skills
the child experiences a reduced ability to pretend play.
This leads to possible participation restrictions in the child's
life, such as difficulties in fulfilling usual social roles.
Cognitive, social and emotional skills are presented as having
the biggest impact on pretend play development, while the
motor and sensorimotor skills that enable the child to manipulate
objects in the environment are presented as being of secondary
importance. Two models are offered which illustrate
the importance of pretend play to child development and the
sequence of play development. The paper concludes by
recommending that occupational therapists address and reduce
the participation restrictions that some children experience
in learning and social situations by enabling a child to increase
activity in pretend play.
Some pertinent
Web Sites:
http://www.kidsource.com
The
Nature of Children's Play By David Fernie
Fair
Play for Children - is dedicated
to a Simple Proposition: "Play is the natural business of
the child"
The Children's
Play Councilaims to raise awareness of the importance
of play in children's lives and the need for all children
to have access to better play opportunities and play services.
KidsHealth
from the Nemour Foundation*
The
Power of Play
Learning
Through Play, and AOTA Fact Sheet
*This site also
has a section that a section with material on "Smallpox, Anthrax
& Terrorism" directed at the parent, kid, and teen. |
