Overview
Occupational therapy (OT) helps people work on cognitive, physical, social, and motor skills. For people with autism, OT programs often focus on play skills, learning strategies, and self-care.Occupational therapy helps people across the lifespan to master the skills that help children develop, recover and maintain daily living skills and also to improve thinking and reasoning. OT strategies can also help to manage sensory issues.
The occupational therapist will begin by evaluating the person's current level of ability. The evaluation looks at several areas, including how the person:
- Learns
- Plays
- Cares for themselves
- Interacts with their environment
Based on this evaluation, the therapist creates goals and strategies that will allow the person to work on key skills. Some examples of common goals include:
- Independent dressing
- Eating
- Grooming
- Using the bathroom
- Fine motor skills like writing, coloring, and cutting with scissors
Occupational therapy usually involves half-hour to one-hour sessions. The number of sessions per week is based on individual needs.
The person with autism may also practice these strategies and skills outside of therapy sessions at home and in other settings including school.
Some OTs are specifically trained to address feeding and swallowing challenges in people with autism. They can evaluate the particular issue a person is dealing with and provide treatment plans for improving feeding-related challenges.
Occupational Therapy at Adhyayan
Occupational therapists provide services to children, families, caregivers, and educational staff within a variety of programs and settings. Regardless of where the evaluation and intervention services are provided, the ultimate outcome is to enable the child to participate in activities of daily living, education, work, play, leisure, and social interactions.
Why occupational therapy at Adhyayan?
At Adhyayan, we are committed to provide the best Occupational Therapy in Faridabad to patients of all ages. Our highly trained team occupational therapists give patients the chance to independently perform various activities of daily living and work-related functions through:
- Psychosocial rehabilitation such as cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioral therapy, activity scheduling, and vocational rehabilitation
- Sensory integration therapy
- Balance and coordination training
- Hand functioning training
- Handwriting training
- Splinting and adaptive devices
- Daily activity training
- Work simulation
- Oral motor therapy
Which is why, when you choose Adhyayan for Occupational Therapy in Faridabad, you can expect swift diagnosis, a warm and friendly environment, and thorough treatment — all at an affordable price.
Importance
Information on the importance of occupational therapy for development and skill-building.
The occupational therapist collaborates with the student, parents, and educators to identify the skills of the student, the demands of the environment, and appropriate solutions for interventions. Another example is the family of a newborn baby with poor feeding skills. The occupational therapist may provide training and support for the family to enhance the baby's ability to drink from a bottle.
Occupational therapy practitioners provide services that enable people to organize, manage, and perform their daily life occupations and activities.
Occupational therapy services support a child's participation in activities of daily living, education, work, play, leisure, and social interactions.
Occupational Therapy is an important part of overcoming
- Autism
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- Learning difficulty
- Developmental delay
- Cerebral palsy
- Down syndrome
Occupational therapists value both occupation and activity and recognize their importance and influence on health and wellbeing.
Occupational therapists focus on the following occupations: activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, education, leisure, play, social participation, and work. The occupational therapy service delivery process includes evaluation, intervention, and outcomes.
During the evaluation, the occupational therapist must gain an understanding of the client's priorities and his or her problems engaging in occupations and activities.
- Performance skills (e.g., motor, process, and communication/ interaction skills);
- Performance patterns (e.g., as habits, routines, and roles);
- Context (e.g., physical and social environments);
- Activity demands (e.g., required actions and body functions); and
- Client factors (e.g., neuromuscular, sensory, visual, perceptual, digestive, cardiovascular, and integumentary systems)
Many children can benefit from getting occupational therapy. They do not need to be behind on anything to benefit from this type of therapy. However, if your child is behind on any type of development, they will get even greater benefits from customized occupational therapy.
Children do not see occupational therapy as work. Instead, they see occupational therapy as games to play. They get to have fun while mastering new skills. The more games they play, the more of those skills they will master and the further ahead they will get. Occupational therapy covers all types of skills, and allows children to get caught up, and in many instances, move ahead of their peers.
Assessment
Occupational Therapy Assessment is a detailed assessment of Sensory-Motor and Neuro-motor Development of a child with standardized tools
The sessions include:
- Planning, Balance, Bilateral Coordination and Sequencing, Visual Perception and Visuo-Motor Integration.
- Sensory Processing Measure (SPM): A standardized parental questionnaire that measures parent perception of sensory over or under responsivity to various sensory experiences with their child.
- Assessment of Oral Sensitivity using Oral Placement Therapy Assessment tool.: A standardized tool that assess oral placement/feeding/speech problems based on muscle systems.
- Sensory Processing Checklist questionnaire.
- Observations during unstructured play.
- Structured clinical observations of Sensory Integration.
- Interview with parents.
A detailed report is formulated using results from SIPT, SPM, Sensory Processing Checklist questionnaire and clinical observations. The report also includes activities for home,
strategies, school and life-skills recommendations. Recommendations may also include occupational therapy or structured monthly reviews with therapists.
Procedure of occupational therapy
Evaluation, Intervention, and Outcome
Many professions use the process of evaluating, intervening, and targeting intervention outcomes that is outlined in the Framework. However occupational therapy's focus on occupation throughout the process makes the profession's application and use of the process unique. The process of occupational therapy service delivery begins by evaluating the client's occupational needs, problems, and concerns.
Understanding the client as an occupational human being for whom access and participation in meaningful and productive activities is central to health and well-being, is a perspective that is unique to occupational therapy. Problems and concerns that are addressed in evaluation and intervention are also framed uniquely from an occupational perspective, are based on occupational therapy theories, and are defined as problems or risks in occupational performance.
During intervention, the focus remains on occupation, and efforts are directed toward fostering improved engagement in occupations. A variety of therapeutic activities, including engagement in actual occupations and in daily life activities, are used in intervention.