Packing therapy may be helpful for people with autism who also have catatonia.
Catatonia is a condition that may include rigid muscles, and little or no response to other people. Packing therapy is a type of therapy that is usually provided by occupational therapists. The occupational therapist wraps the entire body of the child in damp cloths, leaving the head and face unwrapped. The therapist encourages the client to talk about what they are feeling while wrapped. This study tested 6 patients (13-17 years old) with catatonia who did not improve when treated with drug therapy. One patient also had autism, and another Asperger's syndrome. The authors said that packing therapy helped 4 out of the 6 patients, including the 2 with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The authors encourage therapists to consider packing therapy as an option.
Autism Therapy: occupational therapy (OT)
No Factsheets to Display
- Clinical Neuropsychiatry, by Cohen, D., Nicoulaud L., Maturana A., and Danziger N., published in 2009, summarized Nov 30, 2009
- Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, by Van-Rie, GL, and Heflin LJ, published in 2009, summarized Sep 9, 2009
Sensory-based activities may help some children with autism stay focused on a task.
Children with autism may have sensory integration problems that make it hard to focus on school work and come up with the right answer. Some therapists use sensory activities that may help children with these problems. For example, children may swing slowly on a swing or bounce quickly on an exercise ball. Usually the children enjoy the sensory activities very much. The researchers wanted to find out if a reward system would motivate children to give correct answers to some questions. Three children (ages 6-7) were offered a choice of sensory activities to do before a session. That activity would then be their reward for answering 12 correct answers. The session started when the therapist asked the child to open their workbook. As their task, children were then asked to identify pictures of community helpers and safety. The children earned a token for every correct answer. They needed to earn 12 tokens in order to get the reward of going on the swing or the exercise ball. The researchers added an interspersal procedure by mixing questions that the child clearly knew the answer to with others that they might need to learn the answer to. The sensory activities as rewards helped two of the three children give correct answers when asked to identify what was in the picture. The interspersal procedure also helped motivate children to give the correct answers.
- Exceptional Parent, by Schriber-Orloff, SN, published in 2009, summarized Sep 3, 2009
Children may develop autism-related social and academic problems in middle school years.
Children with autism may have social and academic difficulties in elementary and middle school. There may be many reasons for these problems. In some cases, the problems may come from symptoms of autism. In this article, the author answered a question from a parent of a 10-year-old girl. The girl's older brother was diagnosed with autism, but she was not. The mother described her social and reading difficulties. She also said that her daughter's problems seemed to be getting worse as she gets older. The author said the mother should get the daughter a full psychological and occupational therapy assessment. She told the mother to ask the school to provide testing and appropriate services.
- Medical Anthropology Quarterly, by Park, M., published in 2008, summarized Jul 2, 2009
Acting out imaginary scenes may help children with autism begin a process called the "healing of belonging."
This article described social science theories about the human need for belonging. Children with autism may have a need to find the feeling of belonging. The author believes that acting out imaginary scenes can help children with autism imagine things being better, and give them hope and desire to heal and belong. The author observed sensory integration therapy sessions for 5 preschoolers, and 3 of them had autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Over 27 sessions were observed, and 27 were videotaped. In the article, the author described the imaginary play of the children. Children acted out different scenes that they created. For example, one child was a bird sitting on phone wires who might fall off. Another child was a Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur. Their choices may show how they currently feel (worried about falling down) or how they hope they might be (strong and powerful like a dinosaur).
Occupational therapy students will soon add neuro-feedback training to their field practice with children with autism. The University of Texas, El Paso OT students will participate in hands-on neuro-feedback at the Omega Rehab Center. In addition to the "brain exercise that monitors brain waves and displays them back to the child in the form of a video game or movie," students will receive training in physical, speech, and occupational therapies. Students have found that field practice adds valuable experience when it comes to actually working with their own clients. "Field work is crucial to our education because it allows us to put theory into practice," said Jesse Aguirre, graduate occupational therapy student. Neuro-feedback is finding advocates in El Paso among parents of kids with autism.
Read original article: Occupational Therapy Students May Get Chance Pediatric Field Experience
The Ministry of Education on St. Kitts, with UNESCO funding, held an autism training workshop. For two days, preschool teachers, special education professionals, day care supervisors, and nurses learned about recognizing early signs of autism in children. The Principal at the Special Education Unit on Nevis, Mrs. Violet Clarke, hopes this education results in an early intervention center. “The centre will be set up as a demonstration environment to provide training for parents, nurses, preschool providers and teachers. Children will have the opportunity to be screened and receive intervention programmes designed by a multi professional team,” she explained. The focus therapies for the children will be speech and occupational therapies in order to best increase social and communication skills. Clarke hopes this goal will prompt different governmental and educational agencies to work together, sharing knowledge and funding.
Read original article: UNESCO Workshop on Nevis Draws Attention to Federation's Children with Autism
Luke's parents noticed a difference in him from their other two children from the beginning; he was recently diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. They got involved with a state-sponsored early intervention program, Early Steps. Luke receives occupational therapy (OT), which has been key in helping decrease his sensory integration issues. Luke's mom said they are doing floortime at home that helps with social and communication skills. Dana L. Johnson, a pediatric therapist has been working with Luke, and at not-quite-2, Luke is speaking complete sentences and learning to read.
Read original article: Therapy Brings Son Out From His Autistic Shell and into the Arms of His Thankful Parents
Gina Luna-Bermudo and a college classmate, Mary Rose Ramoso-Pena, both have children with autism. In this article, they share how they have coped, found resources, and used various autism therapies with their kids. What the moms have done is inventive and supported by the Autism Society Philippines. Both have found that their children have strengths, such as athletics and academics, which can be fostered. Both agreed that the earlier years were the most difficult as they tried to find time for occupational therapy, speech therapy, and behavioral therapy while coping with daily activities. Interestingly, both moms take the media to task as they present autism in various ways that might not always be accurate.
Read original article: How Two Moms Deal with Autistic Children
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Responding to insurance
Sep 13, 2011 by AnonymousWe have private insurance for which we pay a premium and deductible. It covers occupational therapy, language therapy, physical therapy and psychological therapy but at a combined 75 visits for calendar year. This is not for each therapy but rather 75 total for all together. Thus, even with illness or vacation times taken, we do not have enough alotted time slots covered to continue therapy for a full year. Once we run out of the 75 covered slots, we must pay out of pocket. We pay a copay of $20 per visit. So, for example, if my child sees a language/speech therapist and the ot once per week it is $40 out of pocket until we hit the magic 75 allowed under the insurance. Then we woud have to pay $150 for one therapy and $160 for the other per week. The psychology/psychiatrist appointments are monthly. All of these therapies would be available more frequently and I am told by the therapists very helpful if we could do more than once a week for 1/2 a session but we cannot afford to do this. The children on the autism spectrum benefit greatly from these therapies and it is something that should be covered under the insurance policies, just as any health or mental health issue should be.
Responding to animal-assisted therapy (AAT)
Jun 2, 2011 by AnonymousThank you for this article. It is such a great reminder of how invaluable of a resource AAT is for children! We've seen such great responses to our program and we're just in training stages. Children in speech/occupational/and physical therapy are just in love and work extra hard to communicate. It's just amazing. AAT is just a treasure that many people aren't familiar with.
Dorshan
President/Founder of Pawsitive Therapeutic Consulting Services
Your partners in creating BiG PaWsabilities through Animal Assisted Therapy & Activities
Meet Berlin our Great Dane in AAT/AAA training (click here)
Ayurveda for Autism Spectrum Disorder
Jan 4, 2011 by sunethriayurved...Hi everybody,
I am Dr.Prasad M, MD (Ay.), working with autistic kids from 2002 onwards. I went through the article mentioned. Let me share with you an unbiased information on the scope of Ayurveda, the age-old Indian system of Vedic medicine, in the treatment of ASD. This is based 100% on my personal experiences. Kindly see the following passages. Comments and criticisms are welcomed whole-heatedly.
Scope of Ayurveda in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Trials with Ayurvedic medicines and treatments for their efficacy in ASD are going on at various centres in India and abroad. The main advantage of ayurvedic medicine is that it has got a magazine of safe therapeutic preparations of various forms which are developed by continuous trials and rectifications over thousands of years. There are many preparations like kwatha (decoction), churna (powder), arishta (self-fermented beverage), gudika (pill), ghrtha (medicated ghee), thyla (medicated vegetable fats) etc. In recent times, many of the herbs used in Ayurveda are proven to have excellent detoxifying effect as well as free radical- scavenging potential. The therapeutic preparations like kwatha are combinations of many herbs. These combinations are originally developed on the basis of ayurvedic principles. Till recent times these formulations were not given due consideration by the western scientists. But now the picture has changed. More and more ayurvedic preparations are under their evaluation. In Ayurveda, the compounds as well as single herbs are used for different purposes of health care like pacifying vitiated functional units called doshas, eliminating excessive toxic accumulations, providing targeted nutrients to tissues, tuning the mind-body coordination, sharpening the efficacy of sense-organs, and so on. These prescriptions are based on personalised evaluation of different aspects like body constitution, doshik status, power of digestion and assimilation, status of bowel evacuation, physical strength, mental constitution, and etc which is done by experienced physicians. Mind is an important factor in the healing of any ailment. It is assumed that mind is like ghee which is held inside a pot called body. If the ghee is hot the pot also gets warmed and if the pot is hot definitely the ghee also will be hot. You cannot expect warm ghee in a cool pot and wise versa. Similarly, food is given the supreme role in the healing process as well as in the maintenance of health. It is a basic concept in Ayurveda that there is no use for any medicine if one stick on to pathya (wholesome) food (as it brings about health spontaneously) and there is no use for any medicine if one stick on to apathya (nasty) food (as there is no scope for functioning of the medicine). In the context of autism, these assumptions are extremely important and seen exceptionally beneficial.
The care of autism, as per ayurvedic principles, is based on the protocol of a three-step intervention.
Again, though the stages are generalised the execution will be personalised.
The first stage is based on medicines almost completely. Medicinal preparations like purgatives, specific formulations for de-worming, for enhancing the functions of the liver and pancreas, for enhancing the digestive fire (Agni), and for regulating the intestinal motility are used in this stage. Certain preparations meant for squeezing out heavy metals from the tissues are also used. Turmeric, garlic, curry leaves, etc are having this advantage.
Second phase is mainly comprised of massages. Traditional methods like abhyanga (hot-oil massages), udwarthana (dry powder massages), pindasweda of various types, thalapothichil, pizhichil, etc are used here. These manoeuvres improve the muscle tone, reduce hyperactivity, create better motor coordination, and normalize most of the obsessive repetitive movements. Child sleeps well. The bowels become more regular at this stage. He/she will be more receptive to commands or suggestions. The demand for sensory stimulation slows down considerably and the symptoms like increased sensitivity to certain sounds (hyperacusis) slowly disappear. There will be oral medications parallel to the therapies and a few of these medications will be carried over to the next phase as well.
Third stage is very specific and sold not be started before the proper completion of the first two. This is an important point as there is a general tendency to mark the condition as mental retardation and to prescribe brain tonics and memory boosters to all autistic kids indiscriminately.
The major therapies in this stage are shirodhara (pouring of liquids like oils on the head), shirovasthi (holding of medicated oils on the head inside specially designed leather-rims), shiropichu (wetting the scalp with oil bandages), dhoopanam (fumigation with specific medicines) etc along with specific medications like kallyanakam kashayam, indukantham kashayam, gorochanadi gudika,balakanakapathradi kashayam, sidharthakam gudika etc. Certain specific herbs like sahadevi, sankhapushpi, vacha, vishnukranthietc are also used. Follow up is done with ghee preparations like mahakallyanaka, mahapaisachika, brahmighrtha, saraswathaghrtha, etc.
Conclusion
It is seen that the classical ayurvedic treatment done systematically give promising results in kids diagnosed with ASD. But it should be emphasised that the level of improvements is different from child to child. Another important point is that these interventions are made in a corrective manner. The child gets relieved of a lot of physical problems and tantrums. But this will not make him/her a normal child. Intensive training and special education are needed to put him on track and to catch up the peers. This requires the dedicated involvement of parents, special educators, and skilled professional like occupational therapists.
Responding to visual schedules
Dec 28, 2010 by AnonymousOne of the most important things to remember is that our words disappear, visuals (pictures) do not.. We all use visuals in one form or another, calendars, post it notes, grocery lists, etc. We all look to visuals for information for instance on the highway for a hospital, gas stations, places to eat and restrooms, divided highway ahead, merge to the right, speed limit 35 and Stop. Visual strategies though, are created with an intended focus of giving particular person information that they are not picking up naturally. If one mentions an abstract word to a group of people, they all may have a different vision of what that word means or looks like. A picture of the correct definition puts everyone on the same page with regards to comprehending the intended meaning of the word for that purpose. For instance your child may associate “eating” with their favorite cookie so when you say “we are going to eat” they are envisioning getting their favorite cookie, when in fact you are talking about giving them an egg for breakfast. There is confusion and probably a meltdown because they have a different view of what “eat” means. Visuals can help take away that confusion for them as well as their expectation of getting the cookie, especially if they are looking at a picture of a plate of eggs, then they are prepared as well for eggs for breakfast, or for what “we are going to eat.”
Visuals can be used to teach so much more than just schedules. I am the mother of a daughter with autism, who is now 16. I began using visual strategies with her when she was 3. They were affordable, I could do this myself and I did not need expensive equipment to find success. My daughter did have speech and occupational therapy and she did have a supportive team at school. I used visuals to teach routines, behaviors, social and academic rules, academics and the list goes on and on. I used them mainly to teach comprehension of our very abstract language and to also teach preparation for change. I created transition tools for moving from one environment to the next. She had bookmarks for the rules of the library, she had another bookmark with the class rules for doing seatwork as well as a foam cutout of a lunchbox with what to do when the lunchroom gets too noisy rule. I found the visuals were the bridge or the key to her understanding. They need to be used consistently, and you must have patience and you cannot give up. When my daughter looked confused, I would ask myself what it was about the situation she did not understand and then I created a visual to show her.
My daughter is now 16, a junior in high school, and is taking honors classes and two AP college level classes. She is fully included and was on the yearbook and school newspaper for two years. She has a great interest in sports and so her articles involved interviewing coaches and players for the articles. I believe the early intervention; with the use of visuals throughout the years is a major part of her success.
I co-authored a book with Linda Hodgdon, who is well known internationally in the use of visual strategies for individuals with autism. Linda has written two great books “Visual Strategies for Improving Communication” and “Solving Behavior Problems in Autism”. These were my constant companions and you may find them helpful as well. As a result of using all these visuals with my daughter over the years, I co-authored an e-book with Linda called “Practical Communication Tools for Autism-Visual Strategies for Lifelong Success”. It is about the journey with visuals and how they worked as well as pictures of many of them with my daughter. These can be found at www.usevisualstrategies.com
No matter what resource you use, the bottom line is to get started, be patient, consistent and to not give up trying. You don’t need to be trained in using a “system”, use your gut instinct. I tore apart magazines for pictures and used cereal box tops for cereal choices. This was before the age of the digital camera and film was expensive, but I did take a lot of pictures as well. I had to teach my daughter how to point and until she could. I read her facial expressions when I placed her hand on a picture. We did a lot of detective work and we worked through many obstacles until we got it right, but it was so worth it. Visuals have no side effects and are easy to use and affordable…best of luck