Re: OT question and others

[Guest guest]

It also sounds as if he is dealing with sensory integration

dysfunction. The problems you are decribing e.g. hair combing, brushing

teeth are really familiar to me. My twins can " technically " complete

these tasks but because of very ASD-typical sensory integration

problems would rather not. We were lucky to find an OT who is very

familiar with sensory problems and worked on those deficits during the

boys' sessions. Part of the therapy included the Wilbarger Brushing

protocol which made a big difference in one of the kids.

[Guest guest]

I have read about " dysgraphia " - primarily a handwriting issue but can also

affect other fine motor skills - but not all

Re: OT question and others

It also sounds as if he is dealing with sensory integration

dysfunction. The problems you are decribing e.g. hair combing, brushing

teeth are really familiar to me. My twins can " technically " complete

these tasks but because of very ASD-typical sensory integration

problems would rather not. We were lucky to find an OT who is very

familiar with sensory problems and worked on those deficits during the

boys' sessions. Part of the therapy included the Wilbarger Brushing

protocol which made a big difference in one of the kids.

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[Guest guest]

>

> He needs to see an occupational therapist who is familiar with the

> activities of daily living skills (ADLs) a person with autism

requires. He does sound

> like he has motor planning problems, which an OT should be able to

help with.

> He probably could benefit from physical therapy too. You just need

to find a

> better therapist.

Thanks everyone for all the responses. It was very helpful to learn

some of the buzzwords like the one above. After sleeping on it, I

think you all are right--we probably just need to find a better

therapist. I think you all have given me some good places to start.

Interestingly, the speech pathologist (which we want to see for

pragmatic language) at this same facility seems very good, and I think

we'll stick with her.

Ruth

[Guest guest]

>

> I'm having problems getting to the bottom of certain types of my 13yo

> AS son's problems. His OT tests keep coming back " normal " , but he

> can't do things like comb his hair, tie shoes, ride a bike, coordinate

> team sports, brush his teeth, etc. There are some things he can do,

> like buttons, zippers, using the toilet, using a knife, but he is very

> slow. Does anyone know what this is about?

>

> >>Big snip here<<

Ruth,

You could have been describing my 10 yr old who also has AS. It is

strange because some of the things your son can do are almost

impossible for my son but mine is able to do some of the things that

are difficult for yours. I firmly believe it is a motor planning

issue. I, too, have had difficulty finding someone who thinks that

there is a clinical problem that needs to be fixed. I did finally talk

the school into giving us help with the buttons, zippers and brushing

teeth. I was having a difficult time finding elastic waist pants and

velcro tennis shoes in my son's size. I argued that these were

adaptive behavior skills that fell squarely within the functional needs

that IDEA covers. It did help a lot. My son can now wear jeans to

school and tie his own shoes. I also do not have to brush his teeth

for him anymore, but he is not great at it. I figure he will get

better with more practice. I still have to brush his hair for him. We

try to focus on adding just a little to his repertoire at a time.

If you end up finding effective help, let us know how you did it.

S.

[Guest guest]

I may have missed this in a previous post, but what area are you in?

Our therapy clinic (in Dallas) where my son receives OT truly believes motor

planning issues like you describe are something an OT can absolutely

address.

On Sat, Mar 15, 2008 at 6:54 AM, Stallard

wrote:

>

> >

> > I'm having problems getting to the bottom of certain types of my 13yo

> > AS son's problems. His OT tests keep coming back " normal " , but he

> > can't do things like comb his hair, tie shoes, ride a bike, coordinate

> > team sports, brush his teeth, etc. There are some things he can do,

> > like buttons, zippers, using the toilet, using a knife, but he is very

> > slow. Does anyone know what this is about?

> >

> > >>Big snip here<<

>

> Ruth,

>

> You could have been describing my 10 yr old who also has AS. It is

> strange because some of the things your son can do are almost

> impossible for my son but mine is able to do some of the things that

> are difficult for yours. I firmly believe it is a motor planning

> issue. I, too, have had difficulty finding someone who thinks that

> there is a clinical problem that needs to be fixed. I did finally talk

> the school into giving us help with the buttons, zippers and brushing

> teeth. I was having a difficult time finding elastic waist pants and

> velcro tennis shoes in my son's size. I argued that these were

> adaptive behavior skills that fell squarely within the functional needs

> that IDEA covers. It did help a lot. My son can now wear jeans to

> school and tie his own shoes. I also do not have to brush his teeth

> for him anymore, but he is not great at it. I figure he will get

> better with more practice. I still have to brush his hair for him. We

> try to focus on adding just a little to his repertoire at a time.

>

> If you end up finding effective help, let us know how you did it.

>

> S.

>

>

>

--

Peace,

Staci

http://gabesjourney-gabesmom.blogspot.com

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause

and reflect.

~ Mark Twain

[Guest guest]

> I, too, have had difficulty finding someone who thinks that

> there is a clinical problem that needs to be fixed.

The neurobehavioral clinic where we took him for his neuropsych eval

thought he might have " developmental coordination disorder (DCD) " . I

tried to look that up, and it looks like a catch-all for these types

of problems that can't be explained by anything else. Cerebral palsy

has to be ruled out. However, we haven't found an OT who knows what

that is or how to test for this stuff. One thing is, if someone can't

put a label on what is problem is, our insurance probably won't cover

it. Which reminds me, when the clinic talked to us about the DCD,

they said they weren't sure about the DCD, but if they didn't put

something down the insurance wouldn't cover the OT evals or therapy.

Despite the fact that coordination problems are often part of AS,

apparently that isn't enough.

I did finally talk

> the school into giving us help with the buttons, zippers and brushing

> teeth.

I wish I could talk our school into this! My son only has a 504

(although he is still under observation), so I know they won't do that

at the moment. That'll be great if we can do that privately anyway

though. You're making me feel encouraged!

I was having a difficult time finding elastic waist pants and

> velcro tennis shoes in my son's size.

LOL! In case anybody is interested--Land's End has elastic waist

pants/shorts with fake zippers (so they look normal) up to at least

size 18. They have both cargo-style pants and regular pants, and you

can even get them in denim. They have a great sizing chart online

too. CWD Kids (I think just online) has them too, and I've gotten

them there. My son finally agreed to try denim next time. And

Academy has velcro shoes in adult sizes. There is also a shoe store

called Vans (kinda expensive) that has all kinds of slip-on shoes (not

velcro).

> We

> try to focus on adding just a little to his repertoire at a time.

Yes, that's what we're figuring out (my son wasn't diagnosed until age

12, although I was pretty sure myself by the time he was 11). We're

kind of starting all over.

> If you end up finding effective help, let us know how you did it.

I will. A lot of people seem to have difficulty with this.

Ruth

[Guest guest]

>

> I may have missed this in a previous post, but what area are you in?

> Our therapy clinic (in Dallas) where my son receives OT truly

believes motor

> planning issues like you describe are something an OT can absolutely

> address.

Arg, I'm in the Houston area (north). One person has given one place

that they really like in The Woodlands that I'm going to try. I'd

still like any other recommendations since who knows if the insurance

and everything will work out.

I'm still wondering if anyone has any experience with Beyond

Boundaries in Conroe?

Ruth

[Guest guest]

My insurance covers my son's OT sessions, the diagnosis the clinic uses:

781.3 - Lack of coordination

728.9 - Muscle/ligament DIS NOS

On his chart the name of the therapies used are:

CPT code 97112 Neuromuscular re-education

CPT code 97530 Therapeutic activities

CReece

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[Guest guest]

Ruth and All,

That is exactly like my 10 yr. old AS son. A neurologist

diagnosed him as having Dyspraxia early on when he was around 5 and

he has

recieved OT since. From reading the other posts, I never thought

about

his lack of coordination for brushing hair, teeth and tying shoes as

sensory. Our public school provides an in-home trainer to help with

ideas, for example the teeth brushing, she provided a picture chart

that I taped to the mirror and had to implement daily. That

literally

meant time and effort on my part. I stood next to him for months and

made sure he looked at the pictures and we talked it thru and now all

I

have to do is ask him did you brush your teeth? If the answer was no,

then I prompted, " don't forget to follow your directions. " It's not

perfect but as he grows it seems that those once very hard

coordination

tasks seem to be getting better. I think mostly due to growing up,

continuing OT (private and school, which he came back normal range in

testing but I brought work samples and private OT report),swimming

all

summer, believe it or not has really helped, having him play with

peers

in his neighborhood (so hard sometimes to watch and heartbreaking,

but

I had to get him out there).

He did finally learn to tie his shoes, acutally last week with his

private OT. I video taped it on my cell phone and he does it

wonderfully now, not perfect, but he is there!!! Our OT just

provided

a white canvas shoe and had him do it on the ground in front of him

over and over.

Food issues were the same as your son, but instead of letting it

frustrate me I made it fun. I would say, " if you eat one _________ (I

put a very small new item on the plate) you can earn 30 min. of game

tieme. I then give the rules here like, but you have to keep it in

your mouth for 5 seconds and then you have the option of spitting it

out. If it is successful we make a big deal about it WAY TO GO! or if

he absolutely hated it, we are encouraging, Wow you were a real

trooper

for trying that, go ahead and play for 20 min. because you really

tried

something new.

I could go on and on but wanted to share this with you and hope that

some of this will be insightful.

Praying for you both,

>

> I'm having problems getting to the bottom of certain types of my

13yo

> AS son's problems. His OT tests keep coming back " normal " , but he

> can't do things like comb his hair, tie shoes, ride a bike,

coordinate

> team sports, brush his teeth, etc. There are some things he can do,

> like buttons, zippers, using the toilet, using a knife, but he is

very

> slow. Does anyone know what this is about?

>

>