Occupational Therapy with Autism
Understanding AUTISM
Autism is a developmental disability that affects how the brain functions, specifically those areas of the brain that control social ability and communication skills and likely to have restricted interests and repetitive behavior. Boys are more likely to develop Autism, and most children are diagnosed before the age of 3.
Children and adults with autism typically have difficulty in both verbal and nonverbal communication. People with autism may have a difficult time relating to the outside world and may have unusual reactions to the people around them. People with autism may demonstrate aggressive behavior that may cause injury to themselves or others. The disorder also may cause sensitivity to the senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
It has long been presumed that there is a common cause at the genetic, cognitive, and neural levels for autism’s characteristic triad of symptoms However; there is increasing suspicion that autism is instead a complex disorder whose core aspects have distinct causes that often co-occur. Autism has a strong genetic basis, although the genetics of autism are complex and it is unclear.
About half of parents of children with Autism notice their child’s unusual behaviors by age 18 months, and about four-fifths notice by age 24 months. As postponing treatment may affect long-term outcome, any of the following signs is reason to have a child evaluated by a specialist without delay:
- No babbling by 12 months.
- No gesturing (pointing, waving goodbye, etc.) by 12 months.
- No single words by 16 months.
- No two-word spontaneous phrases (other than instances of echolalia) by 24 months.
- Any loss of any language or social skills, at any age.
What Does an Occupational Therapist Do for People with Autism?
Children are assessed in terms of age-appropriate life tasks. Occupational Therapy addresses areas that interfere with the child’s ability to function in such life tasks. O.T. may be provided to children in the form of play activities which are used to enhance or maintain play, self-help and school-readiness skills. O.T. consultation is warranted when functioning in these areas is significantly compromised.
Since people with autism often lack some of the basic social and personal skills required for independent living, occupational therapists have developed techniques for working on all of these needs. For example:
- Provide interventions to help a child appropriately respond to information coming through the senses. Intervention may include swinging, brushing, playing in a ball pit and a whole gamut of other activities aimed at helping a child better manage his body in space.
- Facilitate play activities that instruct as well as aid a child in interacting and communicating with others. For the OT specializing in autism, this can translate specifically into structured play therapies, such as Floortime, which were developed to build intellectual and emotional skills as well as physical skills.
- Devise strategies to help the individual transition from one setting to another, from one person to another, and from one life phase to another. For a child with autism, this may involve soothing strategies for managing transition from home to school; for adults with autism it may involve vocational skills, cooking skills and more.
- Develop adaptive techniques and strategies to get around apparent disabilities (for example, teaching keyboarding when handwriting is simply impossible; selecting a weighted vest to enhance focus; etc.)
- Occupational Therapists use a variety of theories and treatment approaches when providing services. Such approaches may include: developmental theories, learning theory, model of occupational performance, sensory integration, play theories and others. The choice of therapeutic methods depends upon the specific needs of the individual child and the Occupational Therapist’s background. Many O.T.’s choose to employ a combination of approaches to meet those specific needs
There is no known cure. Children recover occasionally, so that they lose their diagnosis of Autism. This occurs sometimes after intensive treatment and sometimes not. It is not known how often recovery happens, reported rates in unselected samples of children with Autism have ranged from 3% to 25%. Most children with autism lack social support, meaningful relationships, future employment opportunities or self-determination. Although core difficulties tend to persist, symptoms often become less severe with age
References:
Abrahams BS, Geschwind DH (2008). “Advances in autism genetics: on the threshold of a new neurobiology”. Nat Rev Genet 9 (5): 341-55. doi:10.1038/nrg2346 PMID 18414403 and ot
Written by Dr.hala on March 20th, 2009 with
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