Occupational Therapy

Does it really work?

As you all know, we are currently living in sunny Cyprus as my husband is in the military and we are currently posted here until 2024. Due to us being in Cyprus, there are some differences from the system you would expect in the UK. We don’t see Cypriot doctors or professionals or anything like that but there can be some restrictions to access to some things and OT is one of them. There currently isn’t an occupational therapist that we have access to here in Cyprus for Billies age group. Instead, we were referred to an OT in the UK and seen via Teams. We had to wait quite a while for this appointment, as I’m sure everyone is at the moment regardless of what country they are living in. Before the appointment, I also had to watch an hour long you tube video that gave a background on our senses and how they can be linked to our sensory needs and how they can affected if you have ASD.

I definitely went into the appointment quite naive and I honestly didn’t know what I would get out of it. I was really in the head space on thinking it couldn’t help us or Billie if they don’t see her or assess her in person. After all, they didn’t want to see Billie at all and I didn’t really understand what they could tell me that would improve Billies life if they don’t assess her. To be honest, I do still kind of stand by that thinking as a general overview but the teams seminar wasn’t about that at all and that’s where my naive thinking comes in.

The seminar was with two OT’s that specialised in Sensory Processing Disorder related to ASD and also approximately 7 other parents. It was 2 hours long and it mainly focused on sleep issues, eating issues and meltdowns but the option to ask any questions you wanted was also there. You could ask questions throughout the whole thing and they were really helpful with their answers. Now, I can’t exactly go through every detail with you as this would be one hell of a blog but I can honestly say I learned so much! The main message I got from it was not treat your child like society expects you too or claims you should. Your child doesn’t fit into society norms so don’t force them. Adapt your life around your child, not the other way round.

One of the main issues that we are finding with Billie at the moment is her refusal to sit down and eat. This has been going on a little while but over time, it is getting worse. We always sit her at the table with her food but she will continue to get out her seat and want to stand or walk around whilst eating. She won’t stand at the table though, she will get her plate of food and walk to the television stand and want to eat it there. No matter how many times we sit her back down, it doesn’t work. She will simply just not eat. I know they have tried repeatedly at nursery to get her to sit at the table and eat but again, it’s just not working. I asked about this with the OT’s and their response was simple: why does she have to sit down and eat? In which I explained that because that’s just what you’re supposed to do. She then said that we could try a couple of things such as a highchair that are designed for older children or get a child size table and chairs and see if that works but effectively, she explained the reason Billie does this is because in order to regulate herself to be able too eat and take on all the extra sensory stimuli that comes with that, she needs movement. So again, just because society tells you that you must do one things a certain way like Billie must sit down and eat, it doesn’t mean that is the right thing for your child.

This message seemed to be an occurring one throughout the rest of the seminar. Although this is a message I feel that I have been saying for a while now, there was something about it being said in this way that really stayed with me. It’s really opened my mind to a different way of thinking. They repeated that Billie isn’t ‘normal’ so stop trying to get her to behave in a way that is accepted as ‘normal’. Eating whilst moving comes as natural as sitting down to eat comes to you and I. By asking her to behave in a different way is asking her to not behave like herself. It isn’t right, fair or kind to ask these things of her.

We then moved on to sleep. I’ve discussed sleep with all of you in a previous blog and as you know, we are very fortunate that this doesn’t seem to be an issue that Billie deals with. She is generally a very good sleeper and truthful be told, I couldn’t ask for anything better from her in that department. However, I did also tell you about her parties in the night. Every now and then, maybe once or twice a week, Billie can wake in the night. This could be for 30 minutes to 3 hours. She doesn’t cry or ask for anything or anyone, she is just awake. She will stay in her bed and basically just stim for the entire time. She has done this since she was around 7 months old - maybe even younger. I asked the OT’s if this is something I should be taking action on or am I doing the right thing by just leaving her to it. Their answer was that if she is not affected by the lack of sleep the next day then continue doing what we’re doing. They also, gave some tips on what could help relax her mind that little more before she does to sleep as over stimulation in the day could be what’s causing her wake ups in the night. They said having a snack before bed or a drink could be helpful but only foods such as oats, bananas & turkey or pure cherry juice for a drink as they can aid with sleep. They also suggested white noise, sleep lights such as dark blue coloured and also a sleep sack that she can lie in for 10 minutes before bed.

The last big discussion that was had was about meltdowns and how being over simulated can contribute towards these. Again, I have discussed with you in the past about Billie and meltdowns and they aren’t very common. However, I did learn about such thing called ‘silent meltdowns’. She’s can be the exact thing as your stereotypical autistic meltdown except they can display behaviours differently such as scratching or pinching themselves, pulling hair on banging body parts such as arms, legs or head of the walls or floor. When she spoke about this, it was like a lightbulb went on in my brain. Although Billie doesn’t have many meltdowns that you would imagine such as screaming, hitting, punching etc she can scratch herself quite hard when she can get upset. I don’t mean a whinging upset, I mean full on tears and a loss in control. I’ve never made the link that her scratching herself or banging her legs off the floor with her having a meltdown but now, it all makes so much more sense. It was very educational and it has helped me enormously as only a few days after, this exact thing happened and now I know it’s a meltdown, I knew exactly how to deal with it.

Other topics we discussed we such as dummies and why autistic children have such an attachment to them. Billie is very much attached to her dummy but a lot more so at night to the point I don’t think she would be able to fall asleep without it. This is the case for a lot of children. However, it was explained that when Billie seeks her dummy in the day, it could be related to her being over or under stimulated and her trying to regulate herself. Billie is extremely sensory with her mouth and she will put anything and everything in it- no matter what! So that’s what she uses the dummy for. The suggested to buy some sensory mouth toys and replace the dummy with them in the day but don’t just take the dummy and not replace is as that can be seen as punishing her for simply being a very sensory seeking child.

There were other topics discussed but honestly, if I keep going, I’ll be here all day!

I had heard various opinions on how occupational therapy affects those with ASD and the long standing affect it has on those people but so far, I am a fan. It’s helped me a lot which in turn will help Billie. I think, if you’re given the opportunity, then definitely give it a go- you never know, you might learn something helpful for you or someone you may know. Everything is worth a try, right?

Thank you for reading once again and I’ll be back soon with another blog for you guys!

Speak soon, xo