Our All-Inclusive Occupational Therapy Toolkit Review

If I had to pick one and only one textbook or resource to use as both a student and as a new occupational therapy practitioner, I would hands-down 100% pick the Occupational Therapy Toolkit (currently in its 7th edition). It is written and illustrated by occupational therapist Cheryl Hall, an OT with over 30 years of experience.

I’ve used this resource so much and emphatically recommend to anyone who hasn’t heard of it or who doesn’t yet own it. Even after four years of practicing OT, I still use my OT Toolkit regularly for the patient handouts easy access to get some quick information.

I believe in this book and want to share my honest, unbiased review. My intent is to help you as a fellow OT practitioner understand if it’s worth spending your hard-earned money on.

Why I think this book is so great…

1. It Has 787 Pages of Current Research and Handouts

The OT Toolkit has 787 pages of current research and best practice that includes sections on specific interventions for Apraxia, Balance, Cognition, Fall Risk Assessment and Prevention, Home Safety and Modification, Therapeutic Exercise, and Visual Perception.

2. It’s Perfect for Students and Entry-Level OT Practitioners

If you work in the adult rehab, physical disabilities, and/or older adults settings it covers everything entry-level that you need to know. Whether you’re in a SNF, acute care, inpatient rehab or home health, you’ll likely find the information you need.

It’s so much easier to grab this book and find your topic/handout quickly versus spending too much excess time trying to Google something that might not even be easily searchable. This book truly was a lifesaver during my SNF and inpatient rehab Level II Fieldworks.

3. It Covers Comprehensive ADLs/IADLs

The Occupational Therapy Toolkit contains all of the general conditions and diseases along with ADLs/IADLs sections. This includes every ADL you can think of – from dressing and bathing techniques to managing finances and handwriting, with helpful handouts provided.

4. It Also Includes Patient and Family Education

It is jam-packed with 354 full-page patient education handouts that are written specifically for your patients and caregivers that include simple instructions and illustrations, including hemi-dressing techniques, bathing/showering tips and adaptive equipment, managing medication and MD appointments, home exercise programs, and so much more.

Basically, almost any concern/topic of education you may have for your patient and their caregivers is included in these patient handouts. 

5. It Has Extremely Helpful Visuals

The illustrations are a massive help for someone like me that often has a hard time interpreting written text into body mechanics. And Cheryl Hall did all these illustrations herself!

 

One Downside of the Hard Copy

If you purchase the textbook version (like I did, as I prefer hard copies), copying the handouts from a copier to give to your patients doesn’t work easily since the book is so thick and often cuts the page in half.

Cheryl does give the excellent suggestion to have the binding removed at an office supply store, three hole punch the pages and place them into a binder. I did this and find it so much easier to copy the handouts this way.

If you don’t have time to do this and need a handout on the fly, you can take a picture of the handout page on a scanner app, email it to yourself, and then print it out.

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After several years of using the OT Toolkit, I have to give it a 10/10 for its comprehensiveness and ease of use. 

I really love that all of the information you need is in one easy-to-find book, and that it isn’t extremely dense and hard to follow like many other occupational therapy textbooks.

If your school requires this book for your curriculum (as mine did), I would definitely say it’s one of the most necessary textbooks to purchase. I promise you will absolutely have a use for it after you graduate if you plan on working with adults.

If you don’t have it as a required school purchase, you can find both new and used copies of the 7th edition Occupational Therapy Toolkit here on Amazon.

I hope you found this Occupational Therapy Toolkit review helpful! Let me know if you have any questions about the OT Toolkit in the comments below.

And if you have any questions for the author, Cheryl Hall, you can find her contact information and website here, or say hi to her at any AOTA conference! 

This post was originally published on May 17, 2016 and updated on April 30, 2020.