What can be expected from occupational therapy in ALS?

Occupational therapists have specialized qualifications, methods and skills to “train” people with ALS to compensate for motor deficits. The focus here is on three strategies: adaptation, compensation and substitution. With “adaptation”, patients learn a specific, desired activity (e.g. handling cutlery) with adapted handling (e.g. through a modified gripping technique). In the “compensation” approach, the same function is supported by compensating for a deficit (e.g. handling cutlery with angled and thickened handles).

In the concept of “substitution”, strategies are demonstrated and trained to replace the deficient (or lost) function with an aid (e.g. instruction and training in the use of a robotic arm for food intake in the event of loss of bilateral arm function). Numerous aids to compensate for motor deficits require instruction, training, practice and adaptation in the event of use, which is carried out by occupational therapists.