TRDC 2001 Therapeutic Recreation: Client Assessment

Assessment for Therapy
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Assessment for Therapy
Client assessment is a crucial process as it is the baseline that is used in the placement of the clients in the various therapeutic recreation programs which are appropriate for their needs and desired outcomes.These are programs that play a vital role in the lives of the client as they are directed at helping them change some of the aspects in their behavior such attitudes, abilities, knowledge and skills. The assessments have the ability to help place the right clients in the right programs. It is important to note that the placement process is one that can be very demanding in reference to the energy, problem solving and even thought on the therapeutic recreation specialist (Stumbo, 2002). While some of the steps are intuitive some are not and as such are associated with some challenges. These are challenges that hinder in the achievement of the outcomes and the goals of the clients along with those of the specialists.
There are various purposes that the assessments are carried, one of them is the identification of the problems associated with the client. This is crucial as it helps with the correct placement in the programs that are best going to assist them. At the same time the interventions necessary can be designed as well as monitored and evaluated. Assessments are also carried out for research purposes (Stumbo, 2002). This will help with ascertaining the most effective interventions possible for other clients in the future with the same characteristics. Thirdly, the assessment is crucial when it comes communication, knowledge and even memory. This is to mean that the people within the profession are able to communicate with each of the professionals and each other. In the fourth reason is the purpose related to administrative requirements, which is from the professional bodies, local agency's mandate and external bodies (Stumbo, 2002).
There a number of challenges that are associated with the processes and one of them is associated with the selection of the appropriate assessment tool. This is a crucial step in the management of the objectives of the client and that of the specialist. Were they not in a position to select the right assessment tool, this means that even the rest of the processes are going to be compromised. It is very hard to get it wrong in the assessment stage and get it right in the rest of the stages of the placement and review of the outcomes (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2006). Where the specialist selects the wrong assessment tool, this means that even the results that are generated from the assessment tool are not reflective of the client they are dealing with. As such, even the selection of the interventions to be used to correct the shortcomings of the client are skewed and wrong.
It is also important to point out that there is a challenge associated with the availability of the assessment tools relative to the variegated population that is to be served (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2006). The deficiency in the numbers of high quality assessment tools means that there is a chance that the assessment professionals are bound to have a hard time establishing the q...