Does occupational therapy play a role for communication in children with autism spectrum disorders?

Abstract

This study investigates occupational therapy for early communication in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The research explored the role of occupational therapists in supporting children with ASD to become better communicators by considering their inter-professional collaboration with speech-language pathologists. Convenience samples of 21 clinical occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists were recruited to participate in semi-structured audio-recorded focus groups, using a qualitative design. Distinct views included a child-centred focus from speech-language pathologists, whereas occupational therapists spoke of the child through societal viewpoints, which later pointed to occupational therapists’ proficiency in enabling skill generalization in ASD. An equal partnership was consistently reported between these clinicians, who identified the same objectives, shared strategies, joint treatments, and ongoing collaboration as the four main facilitators to inter-professional collaboration when treating children with ASD. Three unique roles of occupational therapy comprised developing non-verbal and verbal communication pre-requisites, adapting the setting, educating-partnering-advocating for the child, and providing occupation-based intervention. These three themes meshed with the discipline-specific occupational therapy domains represented in the Person–Environment–Occupation framework. When working in inter-professional collaboration, speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists agree that occupational therapy is indispensable to early intervention in enabling communication in ASD.

Keywords::

• Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
• Early childhood
• Intervention

Acknowledgements

This study was possible thanks to McGill University, the University of Vermont, the Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital and CRIR, the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Mental Lexicon Project, Judith-Kornbluth Gelfand Paediatric Fellowship, Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation, Eleanor Côté Foundation, and participants in Quebec and Vermont. Underlined is the valuable support of graduate students, faculty members, as well as family and friends.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.