Occupational therapists and children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Mondays were always the day that the teacher knew Hailey would be coming. She was the occupational therapist for the special education units at the school. Several of the students with autism spectrum disorders qualified for her services.

Hailey always had a lot of energy and was wonderful with the children in Room 103. As usual, Hailey had a big smile on her face. She asked the teacher if little Andrew was here today. "Oh yes," said the teacher. "He seems a bit sleepy but I bet you’ll get him going". Hailey asked, "How has he been doing lately?" The teacher answered her, "Well, Andrew has started tapping on his chest a lot. The funny thing is he suddenly started singing about turtles. I bought a bucket of toy turtles and he will do most anything for them." Hailey laughed and said, "It is amazing how many of these children love animals." Then she went into the next room to set up for the boy.

The teacher brought the little boy over to Hailey and he sat down. She held out a bright blue bag in front of Andrew. The boy knew what to do and climbed inside. It was a big body sock that allowed the child to stretch in all different directions. It was tight around the boy and he loved the sensation. "Shake a, shake a?" Hailey asked. Andrew answered, "Shake a, shake a." Then Hailey began to shake and move Andrew around the bag. He loved the feeling inside the stretched bag.

After a while, the therapist moved the boy into an activity to strengthen his hands. Andrew was given tweezers and a big bucket of turtles. He moved the turtles with the tweezers slowly, one at a time, to another bucket. The boy, though 6, was still unable to independently write his letters. He traced the word turtles and loved writing it. The paper had big picture of a turtle on it. At the end, Andrew’s reward was to play with the bucket of tiny turtles, his latest favorite toy.

Hailey knew that sensory integrated activities were essential in the development of a child. In a school setting, to expect a child to be writing did not make sense if the child wasn’t ready developmentally yet. In Andrew’s case, he was just beginning to speak in 1-2 word sentences and could trace some simple letters. Developmentally, he wasn’t quite at a 3-year-old level in his abilities.

Dr. Greenspan and Dr. Wieder, specialists in early childhood development for ASD children, recommend occupational therapy up to twice a week for very young children with autism. These specialists are trained to improve a patient’s ability to perform daily tasks in their home and working environments. These highly specialized professionals work with individuals who suffer from mentally, physically, developmentally or emotionally disabling conditions.

For children with ASD, occupational therapy should include sensory integration. The therapy can involve the us of specialized balls to enable a child to sit calmly at a desk. A therapist may use water play to help a child focus prior to beginning a work activity. Hiding objects in sand to aid a developmentally delayed child explore an environment is an example of a sensory activity used by many occupational therapists. This activity leads to an increase in a child’s concentration. Ultimately, the goal of occupational therapy is to help the individual live the best quality of life possible at home and at work. More information on occupational therapy will be continued next week.