Category Archives: Intervention

Getting the Most From OT

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I personally reached out to Meg and invited her to share with us because I was so impressed with her when I first met her in January and then again, when she was our guest at Jackson Autism Center, to speak about picky eating. She is a great resource and is currently accepting new families in Mississippi and North Carolina to work with. Make sure you check out her new website also!             ~Dr. Becca

Getting the Most from OT

As a parent, sometimes occupational therapy can be confusing. What is it exactly? Sensory therapy? Fine motor? What’s a child’s occupation, anyway? To make matters even more confusing, what OT looks like from one therapist to another can be totally different! Here are some things to look for during OT no matter who your therapist is or where you see them.

  1. THEY SHOW YOU WHAT TO DO AT HOME

What might be happening. Let’s say you see your child’s OT in a sensory gym. You child loves playing on the swings and big exercise balls. He’s in a good mood for about an hour after therapy….and then everything goes back how it was.  You wonder if this is really helping. But he likes it, so you keep going.

How to get more. Next time you go to the clinic you ask, “How can I use this at home?” The therapist mentions that your child is better at doing his homework after he swings for a bit. The two of you talk and decide that he can go to the park and swing after school before you go home to do homework.

  1. THEY LET YOU TRY

What might be happening. You go to therapy and either watch the therapist or wait in the waiting room to hear about what happened. You try to do the same thing the therapist did later at home, but it doesn’t work the same when you try it.

How to get more.  Next time you go to therapy you ask, “Can I try that while you watch?” The therapist talks you through how you can help your child, and gives you feedback on what you can try differently when things don’t go well. When you get home, you feel confident that you know how to use the new strategies, and your child isn’t surprised when you try these new approaches at home. Your child makes progress so much faster because you are doing therapy all week rather than just for one hour.

  1. THEY WORK ON THINGS THAT MATTER TO YOU

What might be happening. You may not have gotten a chance to tell your therapist what your goals are for your child, or they may have changed since you started therapy. So your therapist helps her with some activities, but they aren’t the things you are really struggling with.

How to get more. An occupational therapist helps with a child’s daily occupations, meaning any activity they need and want to do. When you are having difficulty with your child’s daily activities like play, self-care, homework, or following a schedule, you ask your therapist to show you what you can do.  They revise the plan of care to make sure they are addressing the most important goals for your child, or they refer you to someone who can help.

  1. THEY UNDERSTAND AUTISM

What might be happening. Therapy just isn’t working. You really like your therapist, but she doesn’t seem to get your child. Everyone is frustrated, and after months and months he isn’t making any progress.

How to get more. You ask your therapist for a referral to someone else. You have to try out a few different new therapists, but eventually you land on someone who works well with you and your child. Your therapist isn’t surprised or hurt by this, because all therapists know that even the best therapist is not the right fit for every child.

Choosing a new therapist? If you aren’t in occupational therapy, these scenarios can help guide you in choosing a therapist who will be a good fit. When talking to a potential new therapist, consider asking questions like:

“How will you help me learn what to do at home?”

“During therapy, can you teach me to use the strategies?”

“I’d like to work on x, y, z, is that something you can help with?”

It can feel uncomfortable at first, but everyone benefits when your child gets more out of his or her time in therapy!

See more tips on getting more from therapy at learnplaythrive.com

Meg Proctor is an occupational therapist and autism specialist. She offers online occupational therapy for families in Mississippi and North Carolina, and free ebooks and video tutorials for parents. You can find her at learnplaythrive.com.

Why am I so Emotional?

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Recently, I have had the joy and honor to speak to others through a few different venues about autism spectrum disorders…and I tear up each time. I ask myself- why is something I do every day having such an emotional reaction when talking to others? Let me answer that…after much contemplation…I am so passionate about autism and making a difference not only for kids, but for families also, that speaking to others about it just makes me cry. I love making a difference for kids every day…and more importantly, for their families too! I do not take the work I do lightly and each moment and each accomplishment means so much to everyone involved. When a child says mama for the first time, we swell with pride…and the accomplishments my kiddos are making are just as phenomenal. It’s amazing when you look at the world with rose colored glasses because every single thing means the world to you and you just can’t wait for the next “little” thing. So, to my life of “little-not-so-little accomplishments,” I’m so happy to be a part of your child’s daily, weekly, monthly accomplishments.

A Sentence Can be a Labor of Love

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One of the most exciting moments for me as well as a family I work with recently was a journal that included a picture and a sentence. What may you ask is so special about a sentence a first grade child wrote? Because this sentence, my friends, was composed completely independently and written quickly and fluently, with requests to spell a word when needed by a child who has written very few independent thoughts/sentences. So, this was a day we rejoiced!

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“The whale is whooshing.”

The Prism Project

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For Autism Awareness Month I’d like to highlight an exciting arts program that I learned about last summer at the Mississippi Summer Arts Institute. For the past three years, Madison Avenue Elementary K-2 has participated in an arts grant created to bring arts integrated instruction to children in special education classes in Mississippi schools. Through my involvement in this program, I learned about a project called the Prism Project, led by Ryan Hourigan and Amy Hourigan. Ryan and Amy are husband and wife professors of music at Ball State University in Indiana. They have two personal children on the autism spectrum. Prism Project is a dramatic arts program offered on Saturdays and as summer day camp to children with disabilities who live in the Ball State area. University students interested in the arts and/or special education assist children as needed with their participation in the arts. Recently, the Prism Project has expanded to New Orleans. Please follow the Prism Project link to read about this exciting and innovative program. There’s something for children of all ability levels, including children who are non-verbal and/or need assistance with mobility or attention to task. I especially enjoyed reading about the impact of arts participation on social competence for this population of children.

Check out the videos of student performances for a parent audience. Two of my personal favorites are The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Snowy Day. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could have a program like this in the Jackson area?!

*This post has been written by a guest author, Lisa Gerard. Lisa Gerard has been a special education teacher at Madison Avenue Elementary in Madison, MS for the past nine years. During this time she has been awarded Madison Avenue Teacher of the Year (2011), Jackson Metro Area Teacher of the Year (2015) and the Arts Advocacy Award from the Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education (2015) for her efforts at integrating the arts into the special education curriculum at Madison Avenue. Lisa is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Special Education with a focus in Autism. She has done contract work in the past for Jackson Autism Center.

Success with a Speech Generating Device

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On April 1 and 2, 2016, LAMP Words for Life will be half off…that is, $150 instead of $300. What can a speech generating device mean to an individual with autism? I want to share a story of a student a friend of mine works with who used a speech generating device…until he didn’t need it anymore! He became so verbal that he passed it along.

This is not to say that verbal speech is always the result of using a speech generating device (SGD), but it can be a possibility! Research has not shown that kids who utilize speech generating devices are any less likely to become verbal than any other children. SGDs can only help speech development, not hinder it.

“Party” Says a Teenager using His Speech Generating Device

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One of the most joyous moments recently was with a teenager I have been working with for 2 years. We have been using LAMP Words for Life for over a year now and he will request where he wants to go eat and tell me step by step what to draw, including what color to use, but no completely spontaneous language beyond that. He reads using WFL and loves to spell.

Recently, he was hanging out before our session started and I was getting another student to tell about his birthday party and how old he was, what he ate, etc. My teenager was standing still or pacing during this conversation.

When we started our session, he kept going to different things on Words for Life, but not settling on saying anything. I could tell there was something he wanted to say and continued to wait and encourage him. After a few minutes, he said “party.” He wanted to talk about the other little boy’s party or perhaps have one of his own. He didn’t give anymore details. This was so exciting for him to take what we talked about as a group, when he seemed to possibly not be paying attention and want to talk about it again with me. This was a huge moment for us!

LAMP Words for Life celebrates April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day and puts WFL, which is only available through Apple, half off for April 1 and 2, 2016 only. This makes such an impact for so many families who are waiting and watching for their child to ask for “popcorn” or “tickles”…or “party.” Party on, Wayne!