The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through one's thoughts, experience, and senses.
Knowledge and cognitive skills: Acquired skills that reflect an individual's ability to think. Cognitive skills include verbal and spatial abilities, concentration, memory, perception, reasoning, planning and organisation, flexible thinking, and problem solving.
- Introduction
This course requires knowledge of theory and the skills of cognition, literacy, and numeracy. Consistent and effective knowledge and cognitive skills must be demonstrated to provide safe and competent occupational therapy services. - Description of inherent requirement
Student demonstrates:
- Capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information
- Ability to process information relevant to practice
- Ability to integrate and implement knowledge in practice in a timely manner.
- Justification of inherent requirement
Safe and effective delivery of occupational therapy is based on comprehensive knowledge
that must be sourced, understood, and applied appropriately. - Adjustments
Adjustments must ensure that a clear demonstration of knowledge and cognitive skills is not compromised or impeded. - Exemplars:
- Ability to conceptualise and use appropriate knowledge in response to academic assessment items
- Applying knowledge of theory, research evidence, policy, and procedures in the practice settings.
Literacy (language): This relates to the ability to acquire, understand, and apply information in a scholarly manner.
- Introduction
Competent literacy skills, in English, are essential to provide safe and effective delivery of care. - Description of inherent requirement
Student demonstrates:
- The ability to acquire information and accurately to convey appropriate, effective messages
- The ability to read and comprehend a range of literature and information
- The capacity to understand and implement academic conventions to construct written text in a scholarly manner.
- Justification of inherent requirement
The ability to acquire information and to accurately convey messages is fundamental to ensure safe and effective assessment, treatment, and delivery of care. The ability to read, decode, interpret, and comprehend multiple sources of information is fundamental for safe and effective delivery care. - Adjustments
Adjustments to address literacy issues must demonstrate a capacity to effectively acquire, comprehend, apply, and communicate accurate information. - Exemplars:
- Demonstrating the ability to convey a spoken instruction to a client and communicate effectively in a clinical setting
- Paraphrasing, summarising, and referencing in accordance with appropriate academic conventions in written assignments
- Producing accurate, concise, and clear occupational therapy documentation which meets legal requirements.
Numeracy: This relates to the ability to understand and work with numbers.
- Introduction
Competent and accurate numeracy skills are essential for safe and effective care. - Description of inherent requirement
Student interprets and correctly applies data, measurements, and numerical criteria. - Justification of inherent requirement
Competent application of numeracy skills is essential in occupational therapy to facilitate the safe and effective delivery of occupational therapy care. - Adjustments
Adjustments must enable the demonstration of a capacity to interpret and apply concepts and processes appropriately in a timely, accurate and effective manner. - Exemplars:
- Recording accurate measurements in client notes
- Prescribing adaptive equipment such as a wheelchair prescription that correctly meets client measurement requirements.