Tag: Autism

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Research Update| Muting, filtering and transforming space

In this 2022 article; “Muting, filtering and transforming space: Autistic children’s sensory ‘tactics’ for navigating mainstream school space following the transition to secondary school.”, the take-home messages are:

There are sensory challenges in mainstream school environments for ASD children.

Working with young people post-transition to secondary school has highlighted these challenges.

Sensory challenges exist across the school environment: Classrooms, lunch halls, playgrounds and even corridors can feel overwhelming.

Muting, filtering and transforming space ‘tactics’ are ways that young people deal with feelings of sensory overload.

Teachers, parents and therapists can use this understanding of these sensory tactics to support the design of more inclusive school spaces.

Read more here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1755458622000044

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Coffee and Chat | Sensory Integration, ARFID and Travel

FREE| Wednesday 2 March 7.30 pm GMT

Book Here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2022-asi-wise-coffee-chat-talking-ayres-sensory-integration-registration-238213722657

Dr Yana Wengel is an associate professor at Hainan University. Yana takes a critical approach to tourism studies; her interests include volunteer tourism, tourism in developing economies and nature-based tourism. Her dissertation examined the social construction of host-guest experiences in volunteer farm tourism. Her current projects are focused on nature-based tourism and leisure and travel experiences of patients with an eating disorder. Yana is interested in creative methodologies for data collection and stakeholder engagement. She is a co-founder of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® research community.

Publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8131-4137  

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yanawengel

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Research Reminder: Sensory differences in Autism extend beyond reactivity and modulation.

Here is another study reminding us about the sensori-motor differences typically co-occurring in Autism.

Sensory registration and discrimination are necessary for praxis. Information from the vestibular system, tactile and proprioceptive systems are especially important, and work together with information from the visual and auditory systems to help us know what we are doing in any given moment. Then when we get new information (when something happens in our own body or from the world around us) this “happening” can triggers our sensory system into action “Right body, brain just registered things have changed – time to do something different”. And then our brain uses this new information, alongside what we already know from past to learning, to create and choose from a list of next possible actions, choose the one that is likely to result in best possible outcome. Then our brains help us and plan the sequence and orders the what we will do and the how. As we carry out and action our plan, the brain via the senses monitors the what and how do we adapt and alter our actions in the here and now, hopefully ensuring a successful outcome.

Difficulties registering and perceiving sensory input can interfere with and discombobulate that process as any step or stage, resulting in sensory motor challenges that can disrupt process that should ensure successful outcomes in a person’s participation in everyday life.

Assessment of sensory differences for clients with Autism should extend beyond Sensory Profiles, reactivity and modulation. Comprehensive testing with tools like the SIPT and EASI will help ensure comprehensive testing to identify strengths and difficulties to inform person specific intervention planning.

Read more here – the full article:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2016.00124/full

How does this research relate to adults with autism? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27924217/

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Autism and Homelessness: Why does it matter to OT’s? And it should!

city urban bw brazilAlthough today I was sent a copy of a link to an article entitled “First significant study on autism and homelessness”, this is not the first I have known about the increased risk of homelessness in those with Autism or ways that as a profession Occupational Therapy can offer something to help reduce this risk.

For a number of years, OT’s have been talking about the risks of loss of occupation, social connection and homelessness for their clients with Autism. We know once the structure, safety and services of childhood and school and sometimes higher education are gone, things can become tricky. And we know about Ayres’ Sensory Integration, can help minimise the impact of sensory differences on development and skills necessary for everyday life.

In 2015 a briefing for frontline staff on Autism and Homelessness suggested that 12% of people diagnosed with autism in Wales had experienced homelessness. while among rough-sleepers in Devon, 9/14 might be classified as being on the autistic spectrum.

To read the 2015 briefing click here
The new study found almost identical data to the small study from Wales. The new study agrees that 12.3% of homeless people have traits of autism highly suggestive of an Autism diagnosis, in contrast to 1% in the general population.
This latest study in the peer peer-reviewed journal, Autism supports this earlier small-scale study evidence that adults with autism are over-represented among the homeless.
Now, the researchers and many organisations including the National Autistic Society are calling for more research to understand the links between autism and homelessness, so that prevention strategies can improve and support those who are at risk of becoming or are already homeless.
action alone beach boy
As an Occupational Therapist, I am perplexed and confused. Occupational Therapists working with young people with autism have for a long time repeatedly highlighted the risks of not addressing the difficulties of their paediatric clients. Ayres’ Sensory Integration therapy is about developing and learning transferrable play, school and life skills.
When this does not happen, as part of typical development, and remain unaddressed, then our young clients grow into adults with the same difficulties and challenges  – this is just common sense.
“The profession of occupational therapy should now wholeheartedly embrace the opportunity to grow our profession’s reputation – addressing sensory difficulties that challenge our clients with autism and prevent them from full participation in the occupational activities they choose to engage in.”        Smith @ ISIC 2018
These skills are usually learned through play, as part of typical development when a child is able to take in, make sense of and respond to the sensory events around them and within their own bodies. It is through this repeated interaction and learning via our senses that we use feedback to make memories and develop patterns of behavours.
adult alone bracelet casualWe use then use feedback and memory to think about and anticipate (feed-forward) what to do in new and novel situations – and to make the best choice of plan and carry it out. It is this that allows us to keep doing and learning, developing patterns of behaviour and increasingly more skillful behaviors and abilities. It is our ability to accurately process and integrate sensation that allows children to eventually become independent, capable adults, participating and functioning fully in all the occupational activities that are part of our adult life.
“Sensory Integration sorts, orders and eventually puts all the sensory inputs together into whole brain function. What emerges from this process is increasingly complex behavior, the adaptive response and occupational engagement.”
Ayres 1979
We have been left a rich history and legacy by Jean A Ayres and colleagues who first developed and then tested sensory integration theory in practice. Progress in the field of neuroscience has led to further development of the theory and tools for practice;  more recent developments in the field include the Fidelity Tool, Data Driven Decision Making Tool and, in development right now, the EASI (Evaluation of Ayres’ Sensory Integration), with increasingly more robust research studies with improved methodology.
More than any other profession, Occupational Therapists trained in Ayres’ Sensory Integration* have within their toolboxes the therapeutic skills to make meaningful measurable changes to their young and older client’s abilities to process and integrate sensation; learning that is truly life-changing.
Occupational Therapists trained in Ayres’ Sensory Integration* are able to address the underlying sensory challenges that research suggests underpins the difficulties commonly associated with Autism, that can impact on the development; movement, play, self-care and social interaction skills necessary to participate in occupation as we grow older.
You can read more in a recent journal publication; Linking Sensory Factors to Participation: Establishing Intervention Goals With Parents for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

A recent research study from a randomised control trial (one of the best types of research there is) in the USA by Schaaf and colleagues; An Intervention for Sensory Difficulties in Children with Autism: A Randomized Trial has shown Ayres’ Sensory Integration* makes a big difference to some of the skills children need to develop to become increasingly independent from caregivers as they get older.

Young people in the study group scored significantly better after therapy with Ayres’ Sensory Integration than young people in the care as usual group. Goal Attainment Scales scores and scores about self-care and socialisation skills all showed that after Ayres’ Sensory Integration Therapy* there was a significant improvement not seen in those just getting care as usual.

 

 

*Ayres’ Sensory Integration Therapy is usually a postgraduate qualification, and it is recommended that practitioners have qualifications equivalent to ICEASI Level 2. Please ask your therapist about their level of education in Ayres’ Sensory Integration.

 

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ASC/ASD, Mental Health and women- What are you reading for CPD right now, and how does it enhance your clinical reasoning and intervention planning?

I am loving reading this book – it is a fantastic tool for therapy – working with adolescents and adult as we piece together their complex histories on that sometimes tricky journey to get a diagnosis. The book is written beautifully, with just the right amount of science and evidence and not too much jargon – this makes it very accessible!

A must for the bookshelf of health and social care professional with adults with mental health difficulties. Especially important for helping us all contribute to the MDT discussions and helping make sure the signs of autism in women don’t get missed!

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