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The Major Goals Of Occupational Therapy In Autism

21st November 2022

Research shows that children with autism benefit from occupational therapy. In general, children with autism face difficulties to develop gross motor skills, satisfactory motor skills, social skills, life skills, and aptitude to make transitions. However, working with a skilled occupational therapist can help kids with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) to improve these essential aptitudes.

A skilled occupational therapist aids with different barriers that affect an autistic child’s emotional, social as well as physical requirements. The therapy supports autistic children’s play, improves their school performance, and helps their everyday activities.

What is Occupational Therapy?

Professional occupational therapists (OTs) work in a cycle. They work with an autistic child’s parents / family, educators along with other therapists to estimate the sensory, motor, cognitive, social, and communication skills of the child. The role of the therapy is to support the kid to contribute in the various things that they need to do through therapeutic use.

It is a holistic approach to the child’s wellbeing. The therapy addresses the physical, psychological, and cognitive characteristics of the child. The child can take the assessments in his/her home, school, in the community, and virtually too.

The Big Major Objectives Of Occupational Therapy In Autism

Following are the major objectives of OT services in Autism ---

Developing Fine Motor Skills: The first and foremost aim of Occupational Therapy in Autism is developing fine motor skills. Completing small-small milestones can be a big confidence boost for the child. Eventually, this in turn will support and foster social skills.

With the help of different practices in a quiet, controlled setting with plenty of positive support, a skilled occupational therapist will be able to develop fine motor skills can be improved. A trained occupational therapist usually provides a lot of age-appropriate toys that will boost fine motor development. Legos and blocks are mostly used along with the brightly-colored wax-coated strands of yarn.

Teaching Life Skills: Fine motor skills with life skills impact an autistic child’s ability to care for himself/herself. The therapist will let the child chance to practice different life skills such as dressing, feeding, hygiene, tooth-brushing, etc. Dolls are generally wonderful tools, for boys and girls identical. Autistic children generally have very focused interests so use this point well.  The major goal is to keep the child focused as well as engaged while he/she practices the new life skills.

Enhancing Social Skills: An occupational therapist will aid in improving an autistic child’s social skills. Various kinds of social skills like interaction and communication which are crucial to the child’s development can be enhanced. OT therapists usually work on conversational skills also and work on various non-verbal indications such as body language or facial expressions.

Learning To Manage Transitions: Generally, autistic kids face difficulty in transitions. Nevertheless, children do have children some difficulty in major transitions but autistic children find even the most trivial transitions challenging. A trained occupational therapist can help by making transitive conditions within a controlled environment of the treatment room. It is practically no way to plan every minute of a child’s life however, letting the child recognize any strategic deviations in the routine can be a helpful thing to do.

Well, it is also important to know that Occupational Therapy is not limited to treatment for autism.

To End With

The bottom line is the major goal of occupational therapy is to support the autistic children to improve their daily life and to engage them in everyday activities. Online courses on Autism will help you in supporting autistic children in a better way. Occupational therapists can aid autistic kids to improve their physical, emotional, spiritual, or social wellbeing.

Are you a special education aspirant and want to earn an autism awareness certificate? Then feel free to reach us at +91-9830061531 or 6292197604. Our experts will explain to you every detail about the certification, international accreditations, placements, global job opportunities, visas, etc.

Written By: Sheetal Sharma