The goal of occupational therapy interventions is to enable individuals to participate in everyday occupations. This may be achieved through a range of therapy approaches such as modification of tasks and/or the environment to match individuals’ abilities, to develop skills such as posture and coordination, or for the development of daily routines and to facilitate adaptive behaviours (National Institute of Child Health and Development, 2005). Occupational therapists work with children in their natural settings; in the home with their families, in the school and in the community. Occupational therapy treatment has focused on two main areas: Sensory Motor Integration In the past, one of the more frequent sensory motor interventions in occupational therapy was sensory motor integration. However, there is evidence that children with autism do process sensory information differently from other developing children (National Institute of Child Health and Development, 2005).
Therefore, the focus in Occupational therapy has shifted to understanding how and when a child is reacting poorly to a sensory experience and structuring the environment to accommodate or minimize such reactions. Occupational therapists can use a mediator or consultation approach to work with parents and teachers providing strategies to prevent reactions to sensory experiences from limiting daily activities. For example, if a child with autism is upset by excess noise that may occur at end of a school day, they could get ready to go home before others leave. If a child is bothered by a specific clothing material (e.g. wool), this type of material could be avoided in their clothing. By adapting the tasks and environments as well as working with the families on how to teach new skills and build calming or alerting activities into their everyday routines, Occupational therapists can make a difference in the family’s day to day life.
In particular, occupational therapy focuses on self care issues, feeding, bathing, hygiene and sleep which are significant issues for children and enormous stressors for the family. In the school setting, a student’s occupational performance may be impaired by sensory, developmental, inattention and/or learning challenges .Occupational therapists may adapt classroom tasks and the school environment to promote a child’s participation. Occupational therapists can assist teaching caregivers and teachers with understanding the impact of sensory processing difficulties on daily functioning and how they can modify what they need do to maximize the child’s participation and reduce behavioural difficulties. There are 4 types of supports that could potentially have a positive impact on the lives of children with autism. The environmental supports suggested are: temporal supports (events over time – this would allow a child to prepare themselves in advance for a change in activity), procedural supports (including instructions for activities or relating people to events), spatial supports (allowing the child to organize themselves within the environment), and assertion support (aiding the child in social interactions).