How Occupational Therapy Works - in Autism / OT / Priyanka Gupta

Summary

Priyanka Gupta, a pediatric occupational therapist, unfolds the various aspects of occupational therapy (OT) for children, emphasizing its holistic approach. She describes how OT assists in improving children's gross and fine motor skills, cognitive and academic skills, sensory processing, visual perceptual skills, and self-help skills. Techniques include using engaging activities, sensory diets, board games, and parent training to enhance skills and independence in home, school, and community settings. OT employs creative strategies and tools to make learning enjoyable and effective for children with diverse needs.

Highlights

• Priyanka Gupta demystifies how Occupational Therapy aids children’s development in various key areas 🎓.
• Fun and engaging activities are at the heart of OT, promoting both gross and fine motor skills with games and exercises 🌟.
• Sensory diets and cleverly designed tools help manage sensory processing issues, aiding a child's daily functioning 🎨.
• Cognitive exercises, including board games, enhance children's attention and problem-solving abilities, crucial for academic success 🎲.
• Practical strategies and aids in OT empower parents to support their children's self-help skills development at home 🏠.
• OT combines creative play and structured learning to support children’s growth, making therapy a fun and integral part of learning 🤹.

Key Takeaways

• Occupational Therapy (OT) uses a holistic approach to help children improve various skills like motor, cognitive, and sensory processing 🧠.
• Gross motor skills are enhanced through fun activities like jumping, crawling, and climbing 🎉.
• Fine motor skills involve using small objects for precise movements, improving hand-eye coordination and dexterity 🖐️.
• Sensory processing skills are addressed through sensory diets and stimulating activities, helping children manage sensory input effectively 🎨.
• Cognitive skills are developed using board games and sequencing tasks, enhancing attention, memory, and executive functions 🔍.
• OT emphasizes the role of parent training and natural settings to foster self-help skills at home and in the community 🏡.

Overview

Priyanka Gupta, an experienced pediatric occupational therapist, shares insights into how occupational therapy (OT) works, particularly for children. She highlights OT’s goal of empowering kids to engage in everyday activities at home, school, and in the community. The therapy adopts a holistic approach to address various developmental needs - from physical skills to cognitive capacities.

The video elaborates on how OT involves dynamic and engaging activities to improve gross and fine motor skills. Examples include exercises that focus on jumping, balance, and hand dexterity through fun, playful methods. Priyanka explains the importance of sensory diets in managing sensory processing issues using tools like swings and sensory games, which are pivotal for children’s daily functioning.

Moreover, Priyanka underscores the significance of cognitive skill development using strategies like board games and creative tasks that boost attention, sequencing, and problem-solving abilities. She stresses the vital role of parent training in enhancing self-help skills within a natural environment, ensuring children can enjoy independence and capability in their daily lives.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Occupational Therapy The chapter introduces the basics of Occupational Therapy with a particular focus on pediatrics. Led by Priyanka Gupta, a pediatric occupational therapist, the chapter aims to clarify the fundamental aspects and workings of occupational therapy. Gupta invites the audience to explore more through a link provided in the description box for those who seek a deeper understanding of what occupational therapy entails.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Occupational Therapy Goals for Children This chapter discusses the goals of occupational therapy for children, emphasizing its purpose to enable children's independent participation at home, school, and in the community. Pediatric occupational therapy employs a holistic approach to address the various physical challenges faced by children.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Improving Physical Skills The chapter titled "Improving Physical Skills" discusses various types of skills that are crucial for a child's development. These include gross motor skills, fine motor skills, cognitive and academic skills (referred to as learning skills), visual perceptual skills, sensory processing skills, and self-help skills which encompass daily routines. The chapter also touches on social interaction and play activities with peers. It highlights the role of occupational therapy in helping children enhance these skills.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Gross Motor Skills Gross Motor Skills: the chapter discusses the development of physical skills, specifically focusing on gross motor skills which involve big movements. Examples include standing, jumping, running, hopping, climbing, and skipping. An occupational therapist's role in enhancing these skills is also mentioned.
• 02:30 - 04:00: Fine Motor Skills The chapter focuses on activities aimed at developing fine motor skills in children. It highlights the use of various activities such as crossing hurdles, jumping over targets, and using hula rings or other obstacles to enhance body awareness. The chapter also emphasizes incorporating music, songs, and rhymes to make the exercises more engaging and tailored to children's interests. Additionally, it mentions the importance of repetitive use of certain exercises to aid in skill development.
• 04:00 - 06:00: Sensory Processing Skills The chapter discusses the importance of practicing various physical activities such as crawling, kneeling, and jumping to enhance gross motor skills in children. It also emphasizes the role of core strengthening, a focus area for occupational therapists, in improving these skills. The chapter concludes by transitioning into a discussion on fine motor skills, indicating a continuation from gross motor skills to fine motor skills.
• 06:00 - 08:00: Cognitive and Academic Skills The chapter focuses on cognitive and academic skills, specifically fine motor skills, which involve manipulating small objects using fingers and hands. Occupational therapists use various methods to improve these skills, such as legal toys, blocks, puzzles, and activities that involve transferring small objects like beans or macaroni from one container to another. The use of clipping activities and repetitive practice is emphasized to enhance fine motor skills.
• 08:00 - 09:00: Visual Perceptual Skills The chapter on 'Visual Perceptual Skills' focuses on various activities that aid in the development of these skills in children. It highlights using toothpicks to create patterns and manipulating clay, which not only enhances visual perception but also strengthens muscles. Stacking cubes is another activity mentioned that assists in improving hand-eye coordination and precision. Additionally, the chapter touches upon the significance of fine motor skills in academics, particularly through activities like gripping, making strokes, and coloring within lines without crossing boundaries. These activities collectively contribute to the overall development of visual perceptual skills and fine motor abilities.
• 09:00 - 11:00: Self-Help Skills The chapter titled 'Self-Help Skills' discusses the progression of skills development, beginning with imitation and copying, leading up to handwriting skills. It then highlights the importance of sensory processing skills, where an occupational therapist plays a crucial role in providing the appropriate challenges for a child. The therapist helps to balance sensory overload or underload to optimize the child's sensory experiences.
• 11:00 - 11:30: Conclusion The chapter concludes by discussing the use of various sensory equipment, including different types of swings (platform, disc, bolster), slides, and scooter boards, as well as multi-sensory media like sand and water. These tools form what is known as a 'sensory diet,' which is emphasized as being important for sensory engagement and development.

How Occupational Therapy Works - in Autism / OT / Priyanka Gupta Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hello everyone i am priyanka gupta pediatric occupational therapist today i am going to open the closed window about how occupational therapy works if you all have any confusion regarding what is occupational therapy please check out the link below in my description box so let's come back to
• 00:30 - 01:00 how occupational therapy works in children so when we talk about the goals occupational therapy goals in children is to enable them to participate at home school and community independently so pediatric occupational therapy is a kind of therapy which uses holistic approach to deal with children's who are facing trouble in different physical
• 01:00 - 01:30 skills physical skills may be gross motor skills fine motor skills cognitive academic skills which we called as learning skills visual perceptual skills sensory processing skills self-help skills which includes daily routine activities social interaction play activities with peers so let's take one by one how occupational therapy works to help the children to improve or
• 01:30 - 02:00 enhance their physical skills in physical skills let me come to the gross motor skills when we talk about cross motor skills it is about big movements for example standing child is jumping running hopping climbing skipping so occupational therapist
• 02:00 - 02:30 uses different kind of activities for example crossing over the hurdles jumping over the target using hula rings or any kind of particle of a particular obstacle there are different body awareness activities which can be used with music different kind of songs or rhymes as per the child interest repetitive use repetitive use of certain exercises
• 02:30 - 03:00 for example practicing of crawling practicing of kneeling practicing of jumping really helps to improve gross motor skill in children core strengthening is one another area which is looked up by occupational therapists in case of children to improve their gross motor skills as well now let's come to fine motor skills
• 03:00 - 03:30 fine motor skills is manipulating the small objects using finger and hats so occupational therapist uses many legal toys or blocks to have hand movements different kind of puzzles are used use of twizzle to transfer the object or small beans macaroni from one jar to other jar use of clipping activity repeatedly through repetitive practice
• 03:30 - 04:00 making different patterns with the help of use of toothpicks manipulating the clay so that muscle strengthening could be taken care of use of stacking cubes if we talk about the academic skills how fine motor is used there um gripping then making strokes coloring coloring without the boundaries
• 04:00 - 04:30 within the boundaries then imitation then copying and finally coming to the handwriting skills let's come to sensory processing skills so occupational therapist gives the right challenge to the child to optimize the sensory load sensory overload or under load of the child with
• 04:30 - 05:00 the use of different kind of sensory equipments in the form of different kind of swings it could be a platform swing disc swing then bolster swing different kind of slides scooter board colors multi-sensory uh medias for example sand water so this is all called as a sensory diet sensory diet is important
• 05:00 - 05:30 for the child with sensory processing difficulties it is also important to know the sensory need of the child through the occupational therapy assessment so there could be the use of alerting activities for example jumping on the trampoline or skipping the rope or fast movements fast rhythmical movements inside the tunnel or inside the house so we talk about the calming activities
• 05:30 - 06:00 those are like heavy joint activities heavy pressure activities use of push and pull exercises animal walks then frog jump so these exercises and activities helps the child to calm down sensory pits gardening use of sand water clay watercolors all these medias are used in sensory integration which is
• 06:00 - 06:30 actually helpful in alerting as well as coming calming calming the sensory system of the child accordingly now let's come to the cognitive and academic skills [Music] it involves attention memory problem solving many executive function for example sequencing organization so here
• 06:30 - 07:00 occupational therapists give different kind of board games so that it enhances the attention of the child different kind of proper receptive core strengthening activities also helps in attention then occupational therapists work on floor exercises and floor jumping activities a very good example is snake and ladder on the floor where child has to put attention he has to
• 07:00 - 07:30 sequence and organize to jump over the target to play the skein snake and ladder games then there are different targets given on the floor with the use of the hula rings which he has to achieve there are different repetitive activities use of memory games then timers visual schedules to improve the cognitive skills of the child
• 07:30 - 08:00 when we comes to academic where we talk about reading and writing we use multi-sensory approach to improve the reading skills use of different kind of papers use of different kind of medias maybe it's clay maybe it's beans maybe it's different kind of crayons let's now come to visual perceptual skills
• 08:00 - 08:30 so visual visual means what you see and perceptual means what your brain is perceiving so visual perceptual skill so whatever you are seeing your brain is perceiving it and asking you to perform the action so visual perceptual skills are very impo important for daily living as well as for academic in school so occupational therapist uses lots of
• 08:30 - 09:00 puzzles wall mazes paper mazes dot to dot games matching of different uh objects or topics for example vehicles fruits vegetables different visual cards to start and end the activity then searching for the object so without seeing with the help of touch now let's come to self-help skills
• 09:00 - 09:30 as i mentioned in my earlier videos also we basically concentrate on toileting eating brushing bathing buttoning unbuttoning zipping unzipping lacing unleashing so basically here parent training is very important in natural setting so if we talk about toilet training we give uh lots of counseling we give the sequence
• 09:30 - 10:00 of the strategies to be followed timingly in the natural environment at home maybe with the use of the visual schedules during the toileting activity use of bathroom with proper modified equipments for example modified seat for the child putting it over the commode use of modified brush for example vibrator brush or use of orderless paste or use of some height its tool so that
• 10:00 - 10:30 child could enjoy standing in front of was basin and mirror so all these strategies are very important to be taken care during the parent orientation or awareness program because uh all these natural settings we cannot provide into the ot room same is with eating if we train the parent about the eating activity about the posture table chair manners how he has to sit how he has to
• 10:30 - 11:00 maintain the postural stability use of different kind of utensils preferences for the food all the these things when we um give counseling and training to the parents it really helps the child it really helps to improve the child and self-help skills thank you so much for listening and watching me today and i hope you will check out my next video about occupational therapy process