INTRO
Welcome to the autism 360 podcast the 360 method a weekly podcast where we talk about everything autism 360. each week we’ll be catching you up with what’s going on in the program chatting with team members and special guests and talking all things mindset as well as exploring relevant ideas that autism parents think about this week I’m so excited to chat with one of our gorgeous OTS Andrea who’s here on the program and she’s going to demystify the world of occupational therapy and also share some stories about her wins here on the program hi welcome everyone glad that you’ve been join us yes um Andrea hail’s from Sydney Australia and has been working in occupational therapy for 20 years um she’s been with autism 360 for about a year right I what I was thinking I was like oh my gosh it’s her one year birthday and very soon yeah that’s what I thought that Andrea lives with her partner two kiddos and their dog and loves netball and I am your host Ella Bailey I’m an Autism 360 veteran coach and Explorer of all things parenting support before becoming an Autism 360 team member I worked in psychological research and behavioral psychology and this week is my three-year autism 360 anniversary I know I’ll be expecting cake so welcome to you our lovely listeners we’re so grateful to have you with us and we care about your thoughts and experiences so whether you’re a program member or not we would love to hear from you please do drop us a line at hello autism360.com we would love your feedback and questions and if you’ve got more questions for Andrea well we might just have to never again and get it back on to answer your questions uh before we get started I’d like to acknowledge the gadigal and wangle people of the eora Nation on Whose land I live and work and from where this podcast is being broadcast today and also make the disclaimer that this podcast does not substitute for medical advice if you’re concerned about yourself or about a loved one please do reach out for medical support So Andrea
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I’m excited to dive into the world of OT because sometimes it’s sometimes I’m just not sure you know I I feel like it people are kind of uh not necessarily sure about what OT is all about or what they should be expecting so I guess we should start at the beginning and like what Drew you into being interested in being an OT what’s your what’s your inspo story ah wow so funny that you asked because I was always going to be a primary school teacher right up until year 12 and then for some reason I just thought I think you know a few people said oh don’t do teaching so I was like oh what else can I do and then OT just popped in my head and really the only kind of exposure I’ve had to occupational therapy was um my dad had a car accident when I was younger and he was in hospital he did lots of rehab and he had an OT and so obviously I kind of had that context of what OT did in terms of Rehabilitation after an accident um and so I went in and um yeah but then along the way I think probably my first year at Uni I’m like oh wow thank you they’re kids too well bonus there we go I’ll do that totally so you got to have a little column A a little a colored B and like happy meat in the middle Daddy I had a friend who a very talented friend who I was at Uni with um on the same campus and she did OT and we shared uh I think we did human bio together in first year like a very kind of broad um introduction to human bio and I remember just sort of thinking like something something similar to Physio I’m gonna leave it there you know um and that was kind of my only understanding but when do you think was the first time that you ever really felt the like aha this is this is my place this is where I belong I found my thing feeling yeah I think um see when probably when I did get to do my placement week um when I was in uni and I did get to do a pediatric placement I was like this is great this is really what I want to do um my first job was in a hospital so I didn’t get to work in Queens straight away just because there wasn’t any openings but yeah kind of took the first opportunities I’ve got to kind of move into working in Pediatrics so I kind of just knew that yeah that’s what I wanted to do oh my God I don’t know I just think kids are really cute until you have your own and they I don’t shoot anymore and then um the picture becomes a bit more complicated oh that’s amazing um and I mean what do you think most people think that OT is and do you think that they’re right well that’s the funny one I remember at Uni having people go oh so you’re going to become a basket Weaver I was like like what is that apparently that comes from back in the war so like in the 1920s when OTS worked with soldiers recovering from the war um so and one of the activities they’ve sometimes got them to do was make baskets and leave baskets so yes so it comes from all the way back there so I I don’t personally know how to weave the basket so I’ve never learned that at you under qualified Andrea where’s your basket weaving skills amazing I know I know I know so it’s really interesting
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I think OT started off back like in the early 1900s and they used to work in some of the mental institutions and it was kind of when they really start to kind of Branch away from that medical model and it all being about medication and realizing that you know like if we can keep people active and participating in you know daily routines having Leisure Pursuits quality of life that actually made their recovery better so yeah so it’s really interesting so initially OT kind of started in the TV the tuberculosis sanatorium when people were kind of isolated to those you know hospitals to recover oh I didn’t know that yeah yeah soldiers after the war and then it’s just branched out and I think the problem might so hard for people to kind of Define what OT uses it’s very very broad yes so depending on where you’re coming contact with the Note 3 is usually kind of what you think so they do obviously aged Care Mental Health they’ll even do workplace assessments return to work half the people have had workplace injuries and accidents Rehabilitation and then obviously with children um so I think the thing that draws all of those different things together is this idea that um that whatever you do so your occupation which for a child would be play would be maybe being a student once they get to school might be learning might be being a friend being a sibling being a child so a son daughter so that that’s really valuable and really important and that idea that people can succeed and have Mastery and feel like I’m doing a good job I can do this I can be independent I can succeed but that’s so good for their mental as well as their physical and emotional health so I think that is kind of the underpinning of whatever area you’re in is that functioning in life whatever you choose to do in your role whether it be work Leisure hobbins that you can do that achievement and enjoyment from that yeah amazing I love the idea that like a child’s occupation is play play totally it’s totally play I love that like that’s their main job yeah yeah I think it’s a shame that you know we sometimes push the academic so early in schooling and I know other countries like Sweden don’t do that you know they wait till the children are seven before they hit four more schooling so I think as much as we can if we can keep learning fun and play based yeah it’s um yeah so I think not again with kids it’s very buried but we’ll come back to okay what’s really important for that child and that’s their family where do they want to get success and answer story um and it can be things like you know play some of some children like autistic children that won’t come naturally to them um and obviously learning how to play alongside play with children um learning how to do and participate in some of the self-care tasks um then kind of being able to participate at school so um yeah lots of people will kind of see will kind of say oh so you work on handwriting that’s another one I get a lot so I’m like oh yeah we do if it’s important I don’t always feel like it’s necessarily the most important thing but obviously if it helps the child participate at school then sure we’ll we’ll look at that so we kind of look at the physical motor stuff like you know can they physically do a task how can you make it easier but we also look at the sensory aspect um and the kind of cognitive aspect like learning memory retention processing that kind of thing so um and really we work with it we work as a team so it’s really important because obviously speeches and psychologists bring so much to the table as well so I think if you can work in a team and work with the family because basically your parents are the experts you know your child in and out um I see them maybe once an hour once a week and you’re with them all day every day absolutely and I think that’s something that I see a lot when parents come to us they’re sort of very um and by us I mean the kind of autism 360
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clinicians they’re very they very much you know will come to us for answers and and be wanting us to help them problem solve and then by the end they’re kind of understanding so much more themselves they feel so much more like they can problem solve independently around their kids needs I love seeing that sort of thing you’re right it’s about teamwork But ultimately like parents and carers they know what they’re they know what’s up yeah yeah absolutely speaking of parents and carers I’m so I love hearing like people’s success stories do you have any like any good ones that you want to share any um any successes from the program of clients you’ve had wow yeah I was thinking about this lovely little boy and he said that I’ve been working with um and I just think they have just made phenomenal progress like it’s just so lovely and I was just saying to the mum yesterday you know like it’s because you really she takes on board ideas and she just runs with it and we talk a bit about like a brainstorming and then she’ll kind of pick what she thinks might work for him you know so we’ve actually worked through like kind of like a bit of a spectrum of things so we started off working like around emotional regulations so being able to identify and communicate like his feelings and what you know what he was feeling um and then we kind of worked on also kind of managing the emotions kind of next so once we can kind of identify and um so he had great success with you know the um Carmen cars would go and do it together um so that worked really really well um and I think um mums learn heaps of ways to kind of avoid you know those triggers and really manage from such an early the Early answer so I mean that’s always wonderful isn’t it yeah oh my gosh preventatives I love that and sort of um things proactive rather than reactive regulatory strategies are just chef’s kiss so so good and this little boy wouldn’t let mum ever kind of go anywhere um on his own on her own so he would always have to go mum couldn’t pop to the shop and we’ve worked on some separation strategies and he just really took that idea of the invisible strength and it really worked for him and just gradually gradually gradually that’s really become so much easier mum can pop to the shop and go and get things where you can be dad or Grandma I mean how many friends that can kind of make to your life quality of life isn’t it it’s quality of life Improvement and that’s just makes my heart sing absolutely I remember I had sent a client to you and this client was struggling I think with some core stability issues and you suggested a bunch of fun play-based um like swinging type activities and those sorts of things and oh my gosh did that family take that and run with it and our little kiddo was struggling to be able to do full days at school um because his core was weakening and he was getting really tired and starting to stumble it was affecting his gate kind of later in the day but they’ve been so good with the the exercises that you gave them that he’s now back up to full five days at school I know yes and he loves school and he was you know he was bummed out that he couldn’t make it the whole day and and be with his friends and those sorts of things and now he’s he’s doing full things I know I know it’s really really good I’m so delighted for them totally [Music] it’s just it’s so good isn’t that when you can kind of make make a real lasting shift yeah that kind of really helps the child do something that they want to do or um so good so good and again it’s that like what’s important to that child like what’s their occupation and his occupation is he wants to be at school with his friends like being engaged with his life tea dead heroes and I have this really interesting question um from a listener who I thought um could benefit from your wisdom and her name is Esther she’s from Perth and she says my child’s OT just plays games with them there isn’t much time to get updates after session and I’m not sure what we’re achieving in these sessions how can I tell if my child is making progress in these sessions good one right I feel like I’ve heard that before as well yes yes I have and different versions of that so look I think seriously at a way to kind of say to that look ot’s do use a lot of games and play because um that’s a fun way to help children engage in learning new skills particularly that might be hard for them so
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children are much more likely to to practice this skill learn a new skill if it’s presented in a fun way so that’s definitely a big strategy because if the child doesn’t want to come um doesn’t want to practice then we’re not going to make much progress so games are great right um but also I think that um that communication with the therapist is so important so what I would recommend um would be to have a conversation with the therapist and just kind of say look um is there an opportunity that we can catch up and do I used to call them like um a parent only session right and it could be just in place of your child fashion just say look one week can I do a catch up with you instead of your usual session with my child can we do a catch up where we just talk about progress where my child got how things are going what can I do at home because I really feel that is where and Improvement happen so yeah you could do that monthly you could do that once a term um twice a year you could just say look can we allocate the first 15 minutes or the last 15 minutes to a parent chat sometimes that can be hard when the child’s present um so that’s why sometimes it can be good to just do it in place of if you can get a babysitter for your child or leave them at school rather than take them early and have a chat I think it’s really really important that you understand the why so talk about your goals because you know sometimes um you know your therapist might be working on handwriting that you’re having major issues taking your child to the shops or getting your child to go to bed and you need to communicate back to your therapist and make sure they know what you want to work on like you know I think it’s really important that you set goals together with your therapist so this is and that’s how you know you’re making progress which is the other element of this question you know so I think if you can really establish a goal together find out okay what’s happening now and how do I want it to be improved so um it might be you want to see a reduction in tantrum it might be you want to see your child allow you to brush their teeth um and then you can really kind of then see if that functional skill is improving because OT should really be about function like something that you can see improving and then you can kind of go oh wow we only had two meltdowns or two Tantrums this week instead of ten or my child every second night my child’s letting me brush his teeth then you know you’re making progress so it’s those kind of things um yeah and yeah so I really think have a good chat about it so that the goal is clear and measure you know that pre and that post right we’re going to do a term of OT maybe you want to see the handwriting the more legible okay well what would that look like will it have spaces between the words well the letters sit on the line things that you can see and then at the end of the block you go okay let’s have a look at the handwriting and oh wow look I’ve got 10 spaces in my page instead of Narnia you can then measure the progress which I think you you need to do and ndis wants to see that as well you know that’s really important progress towards your goals otherwise you do you need to rethink if
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this therapy is working for your child if they’re making any progress and if not then looking at a different style of occupational therapy and you know trying someone else to see if it fits better yeah yeah totally and I think something that you that you touched on there is sort of um again brings us back to quality of life like yes you might be working to improve your handwriting say but if your OT doesn’t know that oh actually we’re having more struggles with actually getting kid to school um then that’s gonna be a much big have a much bigger impact on your quality of life if your OT can help you work on that but they can’t know that unless um you know parents and carers really reach out and carve a Communication channel that works for both parties um yeah yeah yeah and it could be I mean it could be email even you know totally have to talk to your therapist um I know they’re busy but um you can just say like you know let’s do 45 minute sessions yeah absolutely half an hour with sessions and then can you allocate that extra time to answering my emails or having a phone call with me um yeah exactly I think they really do need to know really all those things you won’t know unless you ask them if they can help you with it totally behavior issues at home they might go oh wow I think that sense three related I think I can help you with that and if not they might point you in the direction of something for someone else yes yes absolutely I hope that’s helpful Esther um if it is get in touch um if it isn’t get in touch and we can brainstorm again um but Andrea I’ve got to let you go you’re a busy woman but thank you for coming and chatting with me I appreciate your time is there some like I don’t know maybe some key points or um anything you would like to emphasize for our for our wonderful listeners well I just think to like ask a question I think the best thing is to you know really engage with your therapist um think of it as a partnership you know where you can both give and take like and think about communicating goals to them that are really going to make the biggest difference in your and your child’s life um and work just really on small steps you know it only has to be small steps that you make towards those things that are going to make a big difference whether that be self-care skills or emotional regulation um and that little bit of practice try and ask them for things that you can do in your everyday activities so that it’s not an extra job for you to do but there might be something that you can do while you’re driving in the car or while you’re eating having dinner or while they’re playing outside in the backyard if there’s something
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else that you can include that will help reach towards you all yeah I love that idea it’s so much more sustainable isn’t it to embed it within your family’s current routine then trying to add something into lives that are already pretty busy and just remember that you’re the one if the parent that’s going to make the biggest difference in your child’s life and you know your child’s there so go for it you can make the difference yes how good is that thank you so much yes to you Andrea and thank you to our lovely listeners for tuning in this week we’ll be back next week uh with another um episode um with uh another interesting guest um so thank you uh so much again to Andrea for coming um and until then I hope you bring the progress home
