A Recipe for Learning
The best way to learn a skill or task is to practice it over and over again.
If you want to perfect a batch of brownies, the more you practice making them, the better they will be—not too fudgy or too cakey, just to your liking!
This is no different for children or adults learning a skill. However, sometimes therapy focuses so much on the micro-skills of the task that we lose sight of the big picture, which is what counts (e.g., engagement, participation, forming connections with people, independent living, etc.).
A bottom-up approach involves building and refining the supporting skills. For example, let’s look at handwriting. It requires integrating vision, motor skills, and perceptual skills. If you break down these subcomponents and focus on a single aspect, does this mean your handwriting will improve? Will you write a better birthday card? Possibly not. However, practicing the skill in a meaningful way is the best way to learn. This is also known as a top-down approach, where you start with the end goal.
The same goes for sports. You’re not going to shoot more hoops in basketball if you only focus on building shoulder strength in the gym. However, you will score more hoops by practicing again and again, at different times of the day, with different people, on different courts, etc.
As OTs, there are many ways we support people to engage in or improve their performance in everyday activities. So, it’s our obligation to our profession and the people we support to work together in a way that will achieve results, represent value for money, and keep the end goal in mind.