Occupational therapy autistic kids

[sbog]

Hello,

Has some one experience of how Occupational therapy deal with autistic children? My toddler is autistic and they don't want to offer the right support required to help my child in terms of development regarding social skills and playing.

Many thanks

Occupational Therapists make suggestions of strategies that help people to function on a daily basis.
Each person with autism is an individual with individual needs, but many children with autism have considerable sensory differences and that is often an area that OTs work with. This will sometimes (not always - refer back to 'individual') include food sensory plans. Often they work with supporting children with developing toileting. They might work with other independence / self help skills, such as dressing or drinking or using simple tools such as cutlery.

What is giving you the impression that they don't want to offer the right support required ?

What age is your child? I’m a teacher of autistic children and a large part of their education is social skills, play, communication. OTs work with us offering sensory support and advice, things like chairs/mobility aids, exercises etc.

We used private occupational therapy to help our son with coordination and sensory integration because his particular variant of autism had strong overlap with dyspraxia (under sensitive tactile, proprioceptive and vestibular senses. Our son's balance and gross motor skills have definitely improved a lot as a result of OT. The fine motor skills definitely still need work.

Is the question if OT is worth it? definitely. You might have social issues not simply because you lack understanding but additionally because you are disregulated due to sensory needs. It’s helped my dc and feel it’s absolutely as critical as teaching social skills, and the earlier you can get help from OT the more you can embed good supportive routines.

What you are looking for, re social skills and playing you’d want a social skills coach for.

@dressedforcomfort Would you mind sharing who you use? My DD is occasionally seen by CAMHS but has never had OT. I would be interested.

Thanks to all for your feedbacks. Honestly I don't have idea about who deals with social and play skills as I had to differents versions from both NHS therapists (SALT and ot). The first one said that is ot that works on them, the second one told something totally different. I found out private therapists and the ot said she can manage to work on social and playing, but I have also seen that a private SALT deals with the same matters. If I may save some money going with just one that would be helpful as my child needs assistance on communication skills too.

If you think about how much of anyone's social life - or even social interaction with people they come into contact with during a day - is reliant on being able to speak, then any child / person who doesn't have a reasonable (age appropriate) understanding of language, and a reasonable ability to speak, is always going to struggle with communication.
You say your little one is a toddler, and that they are autistic, so I am going to presume they either have no language, or very few words ? It may well be that there is a lot of work to be done on communication skills long before speech however.
BUT, as pps have said, if they are dysregulated, then some sensory circuit work might also be something that can help them be more receptive to learning communication skills. So, in truth, they probably both CAN help.

You ought to be able to get some input from OT on the nhs? Agree there is overlap and suspect you’ll end up trying many things over the years.

The role of SLT and OT is to give you strategies to support your child's development in their everyday life. Autism is a neurotype, not something you can change, treat or therap.

Try and find out if you can access the Hanen More Than Words programme through NHS SLT or privately. It is the gold standard intervention for pre-schoolers with autism. It's a parent training course that teaches you how to support communication, play, understand sensory preferences and build independence in to daily routines. There's loads of good information and advice for parents on the Hanen website too.

You could also try contacting Differabled.