What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy is a client-centered health profession concerned with promoting health and wellbeing through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life.
The Occupational Therapy department of EARLY AUTISM SERVICES INDIA offers occupational therapy services in an educational setting with a diverse work environment. Areas of expertise are pediatric care and rehabilitation.
Identifying the need for Occupational Therapy/ When Can We Help?
Does your child face difficulties with day-to-day activities at home, school, or in the community?
If you answered yes, there’s a high likelihood that your child could reap significant benefits from occupational therapy services!
Occupational Therapists are highly trained healthcare professionals that evaluate and assist children that are having difficulty participating in meaningful activities or “occupations” that are needed to conduct their daily routines and live their life to the fullest. Some areas that occupational therapy can help with include:
- Fine motor skills
- Gross motor skills
- Motor planning skills
- Sensory processing difficulties
- Visual motor and visual perceptual skills
- Self-care
- Prewriting and handwriting skills
- Oral motor challenge’s
- Problems with self-regulating, transitioning, or engaging with peers
- Struggling to achieve age-appropriate milestones
We serve to a wide range of conditions including :
- Autism
- Down’s Syndrom
- Celebral Palsy
- ADHD
- Learning Disablity
- Sensory Processing Disorder
Services Offered at OT Department (EAS) :
Sensory Integration
Occupational therapists can help children with sensory processing differences to regulate and integrate sensory information. Through sensory-based interventions, OT can help children improve the processing and integration of sensory inputs in order to gain appropriate adaptive responses to everyday stimuli. As a result, the approach not only improves the child’s ability to engage in daily activities, but also enables them to navigate their environment effectively.
Prewriting and Handwriting remediation
Handwriting is a means of expressing language, just like speech, and it also leaves a lasting trace. Sometimes called ‘Language by Hand’, it is a physical way of expressing thoughts and ideas and a means of communicating with others. It is a very complex skill to master, one which involves linguistic, cognitive, perceptual and motor components, all of which have to be coordinated in an integrated fashion.
Visual -perceptual Skill
Visual Perceptual skills are important as it allows a child’s brain to process what he or she is seeing, helps in recognition and identification of words, sequencing of alphabets, reading comprehension, mental math’s, writing, puzzles, conceptualization, and completing day to day tasks.
Motor Skills
It involves the large muscles of the body that enable such functions as walking, kicking, sitting upright, lifting, and throwing a ball.
Gross Motor skills are important for major body movement such as walking, maintaining balance, coordination, jumping, and reaching. Gross motor abilities share connections with other physical functions. A student’s ability to maintain upper body support, for example, will affect his ability to write. Writing is a fine motor skill. Students with poor gross motor development, may have difficulty with activities such as writing, sitting up in an alert position, sitting erect to watch classroom activity, and writing on a blackboard.
Self-Care and Independence
Occupational therapists assist neurodiverse children in acquiring essential self-care skills such as dressing, grooming, feeding, and using the toilet. Moreover, they also work on promoting independence and building routines that empower children to perform these tasks efficiently and with confidence. Most children eventually want to try out acts of independence, including everything from making their own sandwich to riding bikes on their own. The professionals at EAS note that your child’s strong desire to “do it myself” is natural and even vital to her development.
Self-help skills enable your child to meet his own needs and involve activities and behaviors that eventually lead to independence. Skills such as dressing on his own, learning how to set a table or pouring his own juice express growing maturity. However, self-help skills also involve emotional and cognitive growth, such as learning to express anger with words rather than throwing a toy, respecting property of others and someday reading a book without your help.
The purpose of ADL training is two folded- One is to remediation of identified deficits and second is compensatory techniques to safely accomplish the task.
Neuro- Developmental Therapy
Neuro-developmental Therapy (NDT) is a hands-on treatment approach developed in order to enhance the function of children who have difficulty controlling movement, as a result of neurological challenges such as – cerebral palsy, pediatric stroke, Down’s syndrome, developmental delays, etc. In the safety protected environment of EAS where the therapists provide opportunities to the child to engage in activities that are primarily aimed at reaching highest level of function possible, so that relearning of normal movements is encouraged, rather than adapting to compensations.
Adaptive Strategies and Environmental Modifications
By working together with families and educators, occupational therapists help build adaptive strategies and modify environments to support the unique needs of neurodiverse children. In this regard, an occupational therapist specializes in assessing the child’s home and providing comprehensive feedback on modifications in order to minimize hazards, promote functional independence, and improve the quality of life.
Occupational Therapy at EAS: An Integrated & Holistic Service
Occupational therapists provide services to children, families, caregivers, and educational staff within a variety of programs and settings. Regardless of where the evaluation and intervention services are provided, the ultimate outcome is to enable the child to participate in activities of daily living, education, work, play, leisure, and social interactions.
In collaboration with highly skilled occupational therapists, Early Autism Services (EAS) is dedicated to providing result-oriented OT services, tailored specifically to neurodiverse children and their special needs. Besides, we believe in the significant potential of a holistic approach that takes into account your child’s individual strengths, challenges, and unique sensory profiles.
Collaborative Approach
At EAS, we have the ability to interact with an interdisciplinary team by having in-house experts in ABA Therapy and Occupational Therapy all under one roof. We value collaboration with caregivers, teachers, and therapists outside of EAS and realize that collaboration is essential in creating effective carry-over from our clinic to the home and school.
Our therapists work with a wide variety of abilities. We enjoy working with any child who needs extra support to meet his/her full potential!
And if you’re ready to provide your child with the best occupational therapy services in Bangalore, fill out this form to reach out to us at the earliest!
For More Information Contact
Phone- 9606374767/ 9606366228
Email- kjonathan@earlyautismservices.in/ vsinha@earlyautismservices.in
Website- www.earlyautismservices.in
Meet The Team
Vandna Sinha
Lead Occupational Therapist EAS (India)
Vandna is a Lead OT at EAS India. She has approximately 10 years of experience in the field. She has experience working in Hospitals, special schools and NGOs with different setups. She has completed her master degree from SVNIRTAR, Odisha. She is a certified in Sensory Integration module 1 and 4. She is also certified in Brain Gym 104, Crispiani movement program and Wheelchair Manual training by WHO. She is certified Oral Placement therapist at level 1 and 2. She is equipped with a range of skills such as parent training, using standardized OT assessment tools, working with young clients using a play-based approach to increase compliance in OT activities. She believes that every child has potential and equal opportunities should be provided to all. She also strives to empower parents and caregivers to become the best facilitator to their children.
Lakshmi Sadanandan
Occupational Therapist (Sahakara Nagar Branch)
Ms. Lakshmi is an Occupational Therapist at Sahakara Nagar branch. She has completed her Bachelor of Occupational Therapy degree from Manipal College of Health Professionals, Manipal University, Karnataka. She has a considerable amount of experience at Kasturba Medical College during her internship and training. She has worked as an Occupational Therapist at Thanal Child Development Centre, Calicut for a year. She has a keen interest in working with the Pediatric population. She is equipped with excellent interpersonal and communication skills and is enthusiastic about working with young clients using a play-based approach to increase compliance in Occupational Therapy activities.
Shamik Han. S.
Occupational Therapist ( ITI Layout Branch)
Mr. Shamik is working as an Occupational Therapist at ITI Layout branch. He has completed his Bachelor in Occupational Therapy from JKKM Medical Research Foundation College of Occupational Therapy, Komarapalayam, Tamilnadu. He has a considerable amount of working experience at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and at St. John’s Hospital during the course of his internship. He has attended various workshops and seminars to enhance his knowledge and skills in the field of OT. Shamik has been recognized as the Best Outgoing Occupational Therapist for the year 2022 (undergraduate category) by Tamil Nadu branch of Occupational Therapist Association. He has a keen interest in working with the pediatrics population. He is equipped with excellent interpersonal and communication skills and is enthusiastic about working with young clients using a play-based approach to increase compliance in Occupational Therapy activities. He believe that creativity and passion are the essential traits to work with children.
Kamali Sathish
Occupational therapist- Yelahanka
Ms. Kamali is working as an Occupational Therapist at Yelahanka branch of Early Autism Services, India. She has completed her Bachelor in Occupational Therapy from JKKM Medical Research Foundation College of Occupational Therapy, Komarapalayam, Tamil Nadu. She has a considerable amount of working experience at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and at St. John’s Hospital during the course of her internship. She was working in Parrot Child Development Center, Kerala as a consultant Occupational Therapist. Her experience includes working with individuals in the age range of 2.5 to 12 years. She has attended various workshops and seminars to enhance her knowledge and skills in the field of OT. She shows a keen enthusiasm about working with young clients using a play-based approach to increase compliance in Occupational Therapy activities.
FAQ
Do you provide Occupational Therapy services to children who do not have Autism diagnosis?
YES, we accept the children with any diagnosis for Occupational therapy services if required. Regardless of diagnosis our goal is to provide the ultimate care and services to enable the child to participate in activities of daily living, education, work, play, leisure, and social interactions.
My child has significant behavior challenges, are they ready for Occupational therapy?
Absolutely! There are no specific expectations or behavioral criteria for your child to participate in therapeutic interventions. Our OTs at EAS are trained to provide services for every child. The collaborative approach also helps our therapists better understand your child’s behavioral needs in order to maximize success and progress.
How does the Occupational therapy process work?
Occupational therapy is different for every child and depends on the child’s specific abilities and needs. To help ensure that we meet the needs of your child and family, after we receive a referral, we conduct a caregiver consultation and assessment to identify goals and construct a therapy program that is specific to the needs of your child and family. After that, we begin the individualized intervention plan to improve your child’s skills and abilities and maximize his or her independence in daily life. Finally, we complete an outcomes evaluation, or re-assessment, to ensure that goals are being met and/ or make changes as needed.
How is Occupational Therapy different from ABA therapy?
Applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy is aimed at enhancing social, learning, and communication skills through positive reinforcement. In comparison, occupational therapy (OT) is a form of care that focuses on helping children perform daily tasks more easily and efficiently.
What differentiates OT from other forms of therapeutic approaches is that it focuses on enhancing a neurodiverse child’s ability to engage in meaningful activities and daily routines, thereby promoting independence and overall well-being.
What are the Sensory Processing challenges/issues?
Sensory processing challenges are difficulties with organizing and responding to information that comes in through the senses. Means that it is an inability to take in, organize and respond to sensory information in a meaningful and appropriate way.
In some children, for example, the sound of a leaf blower outside the window may cause them to vomit o. Some may scream when touched. Some may recoil from the textures of certain foods. Also others may be in others seem unresponsive to anything around them. They may fail to respond to extreme heat or cold or even pain. Many children with sensory processing disorder start out as fussy babies who become anxious as they grow older. These kids often don’t handle change well. They may frequently throw tantrums or have meltdowns.
What should you expect to be included with Occupational Therapy services?
An individualized evaluation to determine your family and child’s specific abilities and areas of need.
A customized intervention plan to improve your child’s ability to perform daily life activities and reach his or her specific goals
An outcomes evaluation, or re-assessment, as well as progress summaries to ensure that the goals are being met and/or make changes to the intervention plan