Occupational Therapy Adelaide: Occupational Therapy With Sensory Integration Adelaide

Occupational therapists use The Sensory Form to identify sensory strategies to help people participate in everyday contexts. They do not use the tool to remediate sensory processing differences but rather to highlight coping and proactive strategies that can support participation.

The children who participated in this study significantly improved cognitive skills and self-help activities. They also experienced better fine motor and perceptual motor skills. For more information about occupational therapy with sensory integration Adelaide, click here.

Occupational Therapy

Our Occupational Therapists (OTs) work with children to help them achieve their functional goals. They take a holistic approach that looks at all aspects of a child’s life, including their lifestyle and environment.

It includes looking at their interests, values, habits, skills and abilities and how they interact with their family and peers. They may also look at their ability to participate in activities of daily living such as eating, grooming and dressing.

This study used rating scales to measure outcomes for 32 children with learning, coordination and behavioural difficulties who received weekly direct treatment using sensory integration principles in an OT clinic. The child’s parents and teachers completed the ratings. The results showed that using a sensory lens in OT practice can improve outcomes for children. However, a limitation of this rating system was that it required therapist knowledge and training to use. Therefore, it may not be suitable for use by non-therapists.

Executive Functioning

Executive functions are the cognitive processes that allow us to plan, organise, initiate and complete tasks. They include the ability to pay attention, recall information and regulate responses. Individuals with difficulty processing sensory information often have difficulty with these skills. For more information about occupational therapy with sensory integration Adelaide, click here.

Overall, therapists had positive perceptions of The Sensory Form and felt it was helpful to guide their practice around appropriate assessment and intervention to address sensory processing differences. However, a fundamental limitation of the tool was that it did not capture teachers’ perceptions of the sensory strategies. Teachers may require a different approach when selecting and implementing classroom sensory strategies. The tool could be improved by including a teacher-specific section.

Sensory Processing Skills

How people perceive and process sensory information can impact their ability to participate in daily activities. When this processing is atypical, it can hurt a person’s overall functioning.

Sensory integration therapies involve using fun activities in a controlled environment to teach your child new ways of responding to their senses. The therapy also helps them to develop sensory discrimination, which is the ability to identify what type of input was received and how intense it was. For more information about occupational therapy with sensory integration Adelaide, click here.

Therapists identified four strengths of The Sensory Form. These were participation focus, facilitating professional reasoning links between assessment and intervention, providing a structured tool to support collaboration with families, and being easy to use. They also noted the benefits of having all relevant and complex information on one page.

Sensory Integration

In OT with sensory integration, children learn through play to re-train their senses and how they perceive and respond to their environment. It involves playing in environments outfitted with specialised equipment such as swings, trampolines, and shaving cream to help them cope better with their sensory responses. For example, if a child is overreactive (hypersensitive) to vestibular input, they may need to jump, bounce and swing so that their brain can learn to regulate this sensory response.

The Sensory Integration Theory is one of the most well-researched treatment models for people with sensory processing difficulties. It improves social communication, cognition, academic ability, motor skills, and more. It has also been shown to improve comfort and quality of life. Families should carefully explore data on any model or treatment approach before pursuing it so that they can be confident it will help their child. For more information about occupational therapy with sensory integration Adelaide, click here.