In honor of Occupational Therapy Month, the Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA) at Lone Star College-Tomball is raising awareness for this life-changing profession.
Occupational therapy helps people of all ages to rise above an injury, illness or disability and achieve independence through the use of purposeful activity. Unlike physical therapy, which aims to treat the injury itself, occupational therapy focuses on evaluating and improving the functional abilities of people with physical and/or cognitive impairments.
An important objective of occupation therapy is to enable individuals to perform the occupations or activities that are meaningful to them. The purpose is to go beyond the problem(s) and find the solutions that help a client live life to the fullest.
The profession draws from many fields, including medicine, psychology, sociology and anthropology. Occupational therapy can improve numerous conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, amputation, autism, brain injury, cerebral palsy, hand injuries, hip fractures, learning disabilities, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and spinal cord injury.
To raise awareness on the LSC-Tomball campus, SOTA will hosts its annual Easter Egg Hunt on Thursday, April 21. That day, SOTA members will hide plastic eggs all around the college campus. Inside the eggs will be slips of paper that provide facts about occupational therapy. The slips can also be redeemed for fun prizes.
To learn more about occupational therapy or other SOTA activities in April, call 281-357-3732 or visit LoneStar.edu/TomballOTA. LSC-Tomball is one of only two colleges in the Lone Star College System to offer the Occupational Therapy Assistant program.
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With more than 69,000 students in credit classes for Spring 2011 and a total enrollment of more than 85,000, Lone Star College System is the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and the fastest-growing community college system in Texas. Dr. Richard Carpenter is the chancellor of LSCS, which consists of five colleges: LSC-CyFair, LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Montgomery, LSC-North Harris and LSC-Tomball; six centers; LSC-University Park; LSC-University Center at Montgomery; LSC-University Center at University Park; Lone Star Corporate College; and LSC-Online. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.