Introduction to Forensic Rehabilitation February 24 2025

Video: Introduction to Forensic Rehabilitation

This video introduces Dr. Kelly Deeker and Dr. Matthew Dodson, and use a case example to describe services that occupational therapists and other rehabilitation team members can provide to assist families whose child has a serious disability.

Forensic rehabilitation is an advanced set of professional services that are the natural extension of skill sets that rehabilitation professionals develop after five years to 10 years of practice.  This type of practice provides the occupational therapist, vocational evaluator, rehabilitation counselor, physical therapist, or physician the opportunity to broaden his or her purview and ability to provide advanced services.

Forensic rehabilitation is practiced in a wide variety of settings to help resolve legal issues that occur when  a disability affects a person's ability to work and earn a living.  While the largest market for these services are found in the workers' compensation and Social Security disability areas, persons with disability also engage with rehabilitation professionals in cases involving long-term disability, product liability, and personal injury litigation.

The case example in this video is of a 15-year-old boy who experienced severe burns and a traumatic brain injury in an automobile accident. We describe the evaluation model and the methods that we employ to aggregate and analyze the information obtained in work capacity evaluation using the Functional Assessment Constructs Taxonomy (FACT) system.  We describe the three major steps in determining an adolescent's loss of earning capacity.