Occupational Therapy

Our primary goal is to enable children to participate in the activities (occupations), which give meaning and purpose to their lives.  The occupations of children include school, self-care (dressing, feeding, toileting, grooming), and play.  In the school setting, a child’s occupational performance may be impaired by physical, developmental, sensory, attention and/or learning challenges. CCDE occupational therapists aim to improve the student’s performance of tasks and activities important to success at school through:

• Task adaptations and modifications
• Assistive devices
• Environmental modifications
• Sensory supports
• Direct intervention to improve, restore, maintain or prevent deterioration in the skills required for functioning in the school environment  and to address sensory needs
• On-going classroom consultation

Sensory Dysfunction:

• Information obtained via the senses that is not synthesized and organized by the brain
• Learning is blocked

Implications – children with autism are commonly characterized as:

• Aggressive, agitated
• Noncompliant, impulsive
• Low intellectual functioning
• Nonfunctional skill repertoire, repetitive

Philosophy:

• All human beings learn via their senses
• The learning process is input, processing, and appropriate responding
• Children with ASD seek organization and predictability because it provides boundaries allowing them to negotiate their environment
• Intervention seeks to mediate the environment for the child, helping the child begin to organize information and respond appropriately
• Cognition should be encouraged and used to help children learn to compensate for sensory weaknesses, develop self-management, & manage sensory sensitivities
• Independent performance must always be the goal