Re: Digest Number 3599

[Guest guest]

,

When I heard about this room, I thought that most autistic kids didn't like

too much stimulation, but I haven't kept up with new trends. We were told

to take everything off the walls of the classroom because they couldn't

handle it. I haven't kept up with what works for autistic kids since I quit

working in the kindergarten room. I would be interested to see if this room

works as well as most patients with dementia don't like unfamiliar

surroundings. If I take my Mom to a different part of the nursing home

she's in she is confused and agitated for the rest of the day, even if it

is something nice, like a tea in the auditorium, not sure if it's all the

people or just something different and she feels uneasy. I'd be interested

in seeing what an autistic child would do in a room such as this, as it

sounds like you just let the child do what he or she wants to. I'll have to

see if there are any studies being done with this room in my upcoming

meetings. I certainly don't think we will have one here, like you said much

too expensive. One thing that a nursing home my Mom isn't in did was to

make a sensory quilt out of all kinds of materials and textures and I guess

residents will stop and feel the quilt go away, and come back to it. So it

is interesting to them. I'll keep my ears open for further studies on this.

Kerry

Good luck with your videotaping evaluation sessions, sounds like a lot of

work.

8b. Re: OT Autism

Posted by: " nancydewolf " nancydewolf@... croppingwoman

Date: Sun Feb 24, 2008 5:08 pm ((PST))

Hi Kerry,

I went to the site and then googled it and did some more reading about it.

It is interesting but so far, very few studies have been done to document

its effectiveness in treating sensory integration (part of autism) or

anything else and just from the quick reading I did about it I'd be very

suspicious of it as a therapy tool for that. It certainly has great

potential for helping people to relax (it looks very inviting and comforting

to me) but it seems far too passive for it to actually help integrate

sensory functioning. It is also amazingly expensive to build one of those

rooms (I looked at prices for various pieces of equipment on the website you

pointed to). I don't see much of anything on the website that says what the

various pieces actually are used for (beyond relaxation) and what

therapeutic benefits they have (beyond stress relief or stimulation) nor

could I think of too many myself. I didn't see anything documented on other

websites either. (I know very little about Alzeheimer's though and am not

even attempting to comment on its uses with that population.) I work with my

son's OT clinic on various projects (I'm going to start videotaping initial

evaluation sessions starting this week) and the owner can't even afford to

pay me what I usually earn for freelance writing (so we trade services

usually) let alone figure out a way to buy equipment for a room like this

without lots of evidence showing it has dramatic results and why. Thanks

anyway though, it was something I'd never heard of and was interesting. I'll

be interested in long term studies on its uses especially with autistic kids

when/if they're done and will keep my eyes open for them.