Therapeutic Approaches
Occupational therapy helps children succeed and build skills in important areas of their lives. These areas include gross- and fine motor-, cognitive-, socio-emotional- and play development as well as personal independence skills such as eating and sleeping. Occupational therapists look at children from a holistic perspective. Assessment and intervention strategies are planned through combining various therapeutic approaches that are appropriate for each child, family and concern
Three main therapeutic approaches utilised in this practice that are used in combination with other approaches and with each other are; Ayers Sensory. Integration (ASI), Neurodevelopmental Therapy (NDT) and the SOS Approach to Feeding.
Ayers Sensory Integration - ASI
"Sensations can be seen as 'food for the brain'; they provide the knowledge needed to direct the body and mind." Jean Ayers
ASI is a specialised, clinical therapeutic approach for the assessment and treatment of children with functional disorders in sensory processing. This approach is based on the work of Dr. A. Jean Ayers, an occupational therapist and psychologist whose brilliant clinical insights and original research revolutionised occupational therapy practice with children.
Sensory integration (SI) is an unconscious process of the brain in which information detected by a person's senses (touch, movement, gravity, position, sight, hearing, smell and taste) are organised and processed to give meaning to what is experienced. "A large part of a child's capacity for learning is the ability to integrate sensory information".
Your baby's Sensory integration (SI) development begins in the womb as the fetal brain senses movement and continuous deep pressure touch sensations of your body. An enormous amount of SI must occur and develop in the first year of life to produce crawling and standing up.
A child develops SI by interacting with many things in the world mainly through play and adapting his body and brain to various physical challenges during childhood.
If sensorimotor processes are well organised in the first seven years of life, the child will have an easier time learning mental and social skills later on. However when babies experience SI difficulties they may struggle with developmental milestones such as rolling, tummy time, sitting, standing and crawling as well as experience misunderstood behaviour on a socio-emotional level. Later they may have trouble learning to tie their shoe laces or ride a bicycle without training wheels. SI difficulties may also affect a baby's sleep patterns, feeding development and self confidence significantly.
Research indicated that ASI intervention had a significant positive effect on infants’ sensory processing needed for developmental, self-regulation and behavioural outcomes. Early ASI intervention contributes to enhanced cognitive, language, motor, social-emotional and adaptive motor development as well as functional outcomes related to behaviour, sleep and eating.
As parents become more aware and sensitive to their child's sensory processing difficulties and functions, they will be able to help their child lead a happier, more confident and successful life.
Neuro-Developmental Therapy - NDT
Neuro-Developmental Therapy (NDT) is a therapeutic approach used for the treatment of children who have difficulty controlling muscle movement as a result of neurological conditions such as Cerebral Palsy and muscle tone abnormalities.
NDT aims to inhibit atypical movement patterns through the facilitation of normal movement patterns in the correct postural alignment to enhance function and optimal development.
Opportunities are provided through preparation- and handling techniques, soft splinting, providing assistive devices and structuring the environment to enable your child to engage in play activities and activities of daily living such as dressing, washing or eating to reach and maintain optimal independence and active participation.
Sequential-Oral-Sensory Approach to Feeding (SOS)
The Sequential-Oral-Sensory-Approach to feeding (SOS) is a multidisciplinary clinical programme for assessing and treating children with feeding difficulties. The programme is internationally recognised for helping all children develop a healthy and enjoyable lifelong relationship with food. It was created and refined by Dr. Kay Tooney and her multidisciplinary teams over the past 30 years.
When your child is not eating well it can cause tremendous anxiety and frustration; understandably since as a parent your role is to nurture your child and see that he is growing and thriving. There is always a reason why a child don't eat well and it could be a result of many factors such as pain, malaise or discomfort, immature motor, oral-motor and/or swallow skills, sensory processing problems, learning or behavioural problems, nutritional concerns, child or parent factors. It is very important to understand the reasons your child is not eating to be able to help and support him on his journey towards eating better.
Addressing feeding difficulties is however a process that involves the whole family. The clinical programme consists of a thorough assessment and possible involvement of more multidisciplinary team members if necessary, weekly feeding therapy meals, if indicated addressing other issues such as sensory processing difficulties, a home programme and family meals.
At our practice we aim to provide as much information and resources as possible to our parents and involve everyone in the process. Our therapy meal sessions received the name "Food Fun" from one of our star little candidates and the name stuck since having fun and forming positive relationships with food are our main objectives in all our sessions.
For more information on the SOS approach: Sos Approach to Feeding