The Messenger - Has Autism Touched Your Life Yet?

Search

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

Home

Articles

Has Autism Touched Your Life Yet?

PDF

| Print |

E-mail

Written by by Angela R. Baker, PhD, OTR/L & Christina Bell, MA, OTR/L

Occupational Therapists
have been using holistic
and alternative
treatment approaches
to assist children
with disabilities
for decades,

A current study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that as many as 1 in 150 children born today will have a diagnosis of autism (2007).

As school-based Occupational Therapists (OTs), we have found ourselves helping a burgeoning population of children with autism to achieve school success. Parents and Special Education Teachers have welcomed our holistic approach to helping children with autism and other disabilities at school. We have recently published a book (see below) to share many of our original and creative therapeutic activities. People with autism frequently have difficulties with practical abilities such as motor planning novel tasks, initiating movements for fine, gross, or visual motor tasks. Deficits in these skill areas can cause problems in the classroom. For example, the inability to smoothly track visually across midline would cause problems when reading from the board, copying from a text book, attending to all portions of a project, or even playing 4-square with friends at recess.

Occupational Therapists have been using holistic and alternative treatment approaches to assist children with disabilities for decades. Occupational therapy (OT) has played a significant role in helping children with autism to experience success in school settings. In addition to working on musculoskeletal and sensory systems, we often address oculomotor and visual processing skills. As OTs we strive to enable students to use the full range of motion of their eyes, including proficiently visually moving to points from far right to far left, in the top middle and bottom of their visual field. It is important to encourage movement patterns such as diagonals and circles. If you are familiar with yoga, you may recognize these exercises as similar to Netra Vyaayaamam, which has been recognized for centuries as an important part of daily practice. These exercise not only strengthen the ocular muscles and enhance acuity, but also promote interhemispheric integration of the brain.

In OT sessions, we use fun, functional activities to engage school children in their therapy. Here is an example of developmental eye exercise from our book, Autism and DD at School; OT to the Rescue.

Fly Frog Game

• Squat down like a frog (with support on toes and fingertips) on an imaginary lily pad and become the hungry frog in this story:

• “You are a very hungry frog hunting for juicy bugs to eat. You see a bug buzzing around in front of you. You quietly hunt the bug, following it with your head and eyes. Buzz, buzz, buzz, around and around he goes! Uh Oh! I think the bug sees you! Keep your head still and hunt him only with your eyes. I think he’s getting tired; he’s starting to slow down. You’re almost ready to catch him, so warm up your long froggy tongue. Follow that bug with only your tongue. Back and forth and up and down. Catch the bug and crunch, crunch, crunch him up!”

• Be sure to hunt bugs that fly across visual midline and through quadrants (upper right/lower right/upper left/lower left) using complex patterns.

• Note: The bug should be a bite-sized snack and it should be flying through the air held by the OT/teacher/parent.

For more activities geared towards helping children with autism and developmental disabilities, see our book, Autism and DD at School; OT to the Rescue.

ANGELA BAKER, PhD, OTR/L and CHRISTINA BELL MA, OTR/L own OT to the Rescue, an occupational therapy company that provides evaluation, treatment, consultation, workshops and special needs yoga in Southern California. See www.OTtotheRescue.com for more info.

[ Back ]

Main Menu

Home

Media Info & Rates

Articles