Occupational Therapy
Case Study (2024-2025)
- Name: A (initials used for confidentiality)
- Age: 11 years
- Gender: Female
- Diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Referral Reason: Difficulty with sitting tolerance, cognitive challenges, fixations on specific interests, and stubborn behaviour impacting daily functioning and academic performance.
1. Previous Condition (Initial Evaluation)
- Cognitive Skills: Below age-expected level in executive functioning, attention span, and problem-solving abilities. Difficulty with flexible thinking and transitions between tasks.
- Behavioural Patterns: Rigid and repetitive behaviours with intense fixations. Stubborn or oppositional behaviours, especially when routines are interrupted.
- Physical and Motor Skills: Poor sitting tolerance (able to sit for only 5–10 minutes without fidgeting or leaving the seat).
- Sensory Processing: Sensory sensitivities to certain sounds and textures, leading to distractibility.
- Social-Emotional Skills: Limited engagement with peers. Difficulty understanding social cues.
- Educational Impact: Frequent disruption in classroom activities. Challenges in completing homework and structured tasks.
2. Interventions Provided
A. Occupational Therapy Goals:
- Improve sitting tolerance to 20+ minutes during structured activities.
- Increase flexibility in thought processes and task transitions.
- Enhance cognitive skills related to memory, sequencing, and organization.
- Manage sensory sensitivities and develop coping strategies for behavioural regulation.
B. Intervention Strategies:
- For sitting tolerance: Use of dynamic seating, therapy ball, cushioned mat and graded activities with movement breaks
- For improving cognitive skills: Task sequencing games, memory cards, problem solving tasks
- Behavioural management: Positive reinforcements and choice-making opportunities to reduce oppositional behaviour
- Sensory integration: Tactile input activities and heavy work activities (pushing-pulling and lifting)
- Social skills: working on turn taking skills and topic maintenance through board games
3.Improvements Noted
- Sitting Tolerance: Increased to 20–25 minutes during occupational therapy sessions and classroom activities without requiring frequent breaks.
- Cognitive Skills: Improved ability to complete 4–5 step tasks independently. Better organizational skills with visual supports.
- Behavior: Reduction in fixations during therapy by introducing and practicing topic-shifting strategies. Decreased frequency of stubborn behaviour when provided with structured choices.
- Sensory Processing: Improved self-regulation with use of sensory strategies (e.g. requesting movement breaks).
- Social Engagement: Participated more frequently in peer interactions during group activities, demonstrating better flexibility in play themes.
The parents happily mention that there is a huge improvement in their daughter since she joined the school, and occupational therapy, and that they don’t have to sacrifice their social commitments anymore, as she is socially much easier to manage now.
