Tiare Aubryn Fenrich
Occupational Therapist
Tiare is an Occupational Therapist at our Martensville office who works primarily with child and adolescence. Tiare has extensive experience supporting a wide range of mental illnesses and challenging behaviours with all ages, since graduating in 2008 in New Zealand. She has cross cultural experience and is a firm believer in person-centered care, adapting a strengths-based approach into her practice.
The primary role of an Occupational Therapist is to enable people of all abilities to function in their everyday lives. They assess an individual’s situation by drawing upon evidence-based approaches and applying their specialized knowledge and skills to recommend a course of preventative or corrective action that will help people lead more productive and satisfying lives. Occupational Therapists look at three main areas of occupation that are essential for human health:
- Self-care: These activities are performed for the purpose of maintaining oneself, such as showering, dressing, and eating. These are also known as activities of daily living.
- Productivity: These activities fill the bulk of one’s day, such as employment, being a student or completing tasks.
- Leisure: These activities are one’s personal preferences and interests, such as soccer, gardening, or playing outside.
When working with people diagnosed with autism, the most common support given is working with their sensory processing system. An Occupational Therapist can help determine which sensory system(s) someone has difficulty regulating. They can provide strategies and recommendations to help regulate their nervous system, with the goal of being better able to communicate, complete important tasks, and/or socialize.
The Occupational Therapist will also work with the client and/or their caregiver or teacher, to identify and address areas of difficulty they experience with everyday activities. Some examples include:
- Fine motor skill development
- Printing readiness skills
- Printing
- Computer access
- Self-care skills (i.e., toileting, hygiene, dressing, eating, etc.)
- Transportation
- Transitions
Once the areas of difficulty are determined and assessed, the OT can complete the following:
- Teach new ways to accomplish tasks
- Help with developing new skills
- Suggest environmental adaptations to the home or classroom
- Provide effective strategies for accommodation of task(s)
- Prescribe devices
Typically, the first three or more sessions are focused on building rapport with the child and discovering what interests them; whilst Tiare assess their abilities. Once this information has been gathered, she am able to provide some preliminary recommendations for what kinds of intervention would be recommended. At the end of the intervention stage, Tiare will provide a summary, which outlines what was accomplished thus far, and any further recommendations to follow. Her goal is to work closely with the parents/guardians to ensure their concerns are adequately heard and understood, to determine what is required to best meet the needs of their child.