Occupational Therapy Interventions for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Evidence Connection articles provide a clinical application of systematic reviews developed in conjunction with the American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA's) Evidence-Based Practice Project. In this Evidence Connection article, we describe a case report of an adolescent with autism spectrum disorder. The occupational therapy assessment and treatment processes for school, home, community, and transition settings are described. Findings from the systematic reviews on this topic were published in the September/October 2015 issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and in AOTA's Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Each article in this series summarizes the evidence from the published reviews on a given topic and presents an application of the evidence to a related clinical case. Evidence Connection articles illustrate how the research evidence from the reviews can be used to inform and guide clinical decision making.

Issues in implementing a comprehensive intervention for public school children with autism spectrum disorders.

Many students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are educated separately from their typically developing peers, while others are placed in inclusive classes but without supports that would help them benefit from less restrictive placements. The needs of students with ASD who are in inclusive settings are often not planned for or met appropriately, resulting in continuing problems and movement to increasingly restrictive environments or private placements. There is a critical need for school models to fill the gap in appropriate services for this population of children with ASD. These models should include those that are inclusive and academically challenging, that can be implemented by many school districts, and that are responsive to the unique combination of strengths and deficits in these students. In the current article, the authors describe the development and core components of the model, and implementation of the ASD Nest program in public schools in New York City.

Efficacy of the Get Ready to Learn yoga program among children with autism spectrum disorders: a pretest-posttest control group design.

Occupational therapists use school-based yoga programs, but these interventions typically lack manualization and evidence from well-designed studies. Using an experimental pretest-posttest control group design, we examined the effectiveness of the Get Ready to Learn (GRTL) classroom yoga program among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The intervention group received the manualized yoga program daily for 16 wk, and the control group engaged in their standard morning routine. We assessed challenging behaviors with standardized measures and behavior coding before and after intervention. We completed a between-groups analysis of variance to assess differences in gain scores on the dependent variables. Students in the GRTL program showed significant decreases (p < .05) in teacher ratings of maladaptive behavior, as measured with the Aberrant Behavior Checklist, compared with the control participants. This study demonstrates that use of daily classroomwide yoga interventions has a significant impact on key classroom behaviors among children with ASD.

Relationships between sensory modulation and social supports and health-related quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: We explored the relationships between sensory modulation and health-related quality of life (HRQOL), social supports, and mental health symptoms of anxiety and depression. METHOD: Twenty-eight adult volunteers ages 18-60 participated in the study. Fourteen adults were sensory overresponsive (SOR), and 14 adults in a matched comparative group were not sensory overresponsive (NSOR). All participants were tested using self-administered measures of sensory processing. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between SOR and NSOR groups on symptoms of anxiety, depression, and 4 of 8 indicators of HRQOL. CONCLUSION: Several analyses exploring the relationships among the variables tested suggest that sensory response style, whether comparing SOR and NSOR groups or exploring the correlation of the response quadrants of the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile, appears significantly and differentially related to symptoms of affective mental health and quality-of-life indicators, including social participation.

Performance challenges for children and adolescents with difficulty processing and integrating sensory information: a systematic review.

A systematic review of the literature related to performance difficulties for children and adolescents with difficulty processing and integrating sensory information was completed as part of the Evidence-Based Literature Review Project of the American Occupational Therapy Association. The review focused on functional performance difficulties that these children may exhibit in areas of occupation including play and leisure, social participation, activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, rest and sleep, education, and work. The results suggest that children and adolescents with difficulty processing and integrating sensory information do exhibit functional performance difficulties in key areas of occupation. However, further descriptive studies are needed to tie these difficulties to their specific sensory and motor issues. Researchers are encouraged to include functional performance measures and measures of social participation in their studies to further elucidate these relationships.