Behavioral Management in the Developmentally Disabled
This paper will dwell on the behavioral management for the developmentally challenged individual. This paper seeks to provide a general understanding on how the on how clients with developmental disabilities are improve with regard to their conditions.
Therefore, the following will be discussed: • The process of Occupational Therapist in modifying behavioral development of disabled person; • Techniques employed to assist the developmentally challenged individual;
• Way used by the Occupational Therapist to help a disabled individual write; and • Identify the techniques and tools used by the Occupational Therapist in behavioral management for developmentally challenged individual. Moreover, this paper will focus in two developmental disabilities that exist today in the society. More specifically these are autism and dyslexia. Functions of Occupational Therapist There are four functions of occupational therapists.
First, they are ask to put into application the knowledge, skills and abilities they have acquired in their years of training in the academe for the benefit of enabling people to live normal lives and immerse themselves with the daily tasks (“A Definition of Occupational Therapy,” n. d. ). Second, is to assist, maintain, regain and enhance the independence of an individual who is ill, injured, disabled and psychologically impaired (“A Definition of Occupational Therapy,” n. d. ).
Third, engage the relatives of the client and other people who are connected such as the caregiver (“A Definition of Occupational Therapy,” n. d. ). This can be achieved through comprehensive assessment and therapy with the goal of increasing the capacity of client to participate in daily activities (“A Definition of Occupational Therapy,” n. d. ). Lastly, to accordingly deal with the problems of the client by focusing on three things: ability to accomplish, undertakings of the client and the environment where the undertakings are performed (“A Definition of Occupational Therapy,” n.
d. ). Meaning of Autism Autism, also classified as classical Autism is considered as the most prevalent condition amongst the family of Autism Spectrum Disorder or better known as ASD (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NINDS], 2006). One can discern Autism through the following symptoms: a) “impaired social interaction,” b) “problems with verbal and nonverbal communication,” and c) “unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests” (NINDS, 2006).
In addition to this, the cluster of Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD includes other conditions. These are – a) “Asperger syndrome,” b) “Rett syndrome,” c) “childhood disintegrative disorder,” and d) “pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD-NOS)” (NINDS, 2006). Statistics shows that in every 1000 children three to six will be affected by autism (NINDS, 2006) Furthermore, Men are four times more prone or at risk of acquiring such behavioral disorder like autism than women.
(NINDS, 2006) Meaning of Dyslexia Dyslexia, pronounced as dis-lek-see-uh is a type of learning disorder that some of the children encounter that impairs their ability to read and spell (“Dyslexia,” n. d. ). What may seem C-A-T to normal people would appear A-C-T to dyslexic individuals. It is not a measure of whether a child is intelligent or not but is rather an impairment of the brain (“Dyslexia,” n. d. ). In fact, a number clever and gifted people are suffering from dyslexia (“Dyslexia,” n. d. ).
In the United States, the condition is classified as a “specific learning disability” or as a “specific reading disability” by the related federal legal statutes that has special education in its scope (Allington, 2006) However, the main idea of all these explanations comprises the indeterminable hardships encountered by a dyslexic individual when it comes to reading. Moreover, there is no consensus with regard to the definition of the illness that causes the stakeholders confusion that renders them not to use the term (Allington, 2006).
Behavioral Management and Techniques in Autism There are three behavioral management and techniques used by the occupational Therapist in able to develop and assist their clients that are suffering from Autism. These are all aimed at a holistic approach to treating the symptoms and addressing the difficulties that come with it. The three techniques are discussed in the next section. Educational/behavioral interventions Occupational Therapists use well reliable and thorough skill-oriented exercises in able to help their client enhance their language and social capabilities.
Counseling the relatives and the family of the their client is better a technique to assist the entire clan deal with the specific obstacles and difficulties in taking care of the autistic client (NINDS, 2006). Medications Occupational therapist could as well seek for the help of a doctor. A medical doctor usually recommends an antidepressant prescription in able to deal with the symptoms of a) “anxiety,” b) “depression,” or “obsessive-compulsive disorder” (NINDS, 2006). In a sense, these Anti-psychotic medicines are helpful to lessen the burden brought about by the symptoms of behavioral disabilities (NINDS, 2006).
Attacks, on the other hand, can be prevented with the administration of variety of doses anticonvulsant medicines (NINDS, 2006). Prescription of stimulant drug that is specifically given for the children suffering from the attention deficit disorder or better known as ADD is an effective technique used by the Occupational Therapists to cut down the incident impulsivity and hyperactivity (NINDS, 2006). Other therapies Controversies abound the therapies that are formulated to treat autistic children (NINDS, 2006).
This has made the use such be attached with caution before these are adopted by the parents or guardians (NINDS, 2006). Furthermore, an insignificant number of these are backed up with thorough scientific research (NINDS, 2006). Writing for the developmentally disabled individual Therapeutic Sessions for autism With the aim of teaching the developmentally challenged person it is important to have focus and patience together with appropriate learning strategies that will help the disabled individual in writing and learning process.
Likewise, it is necessary to conduct follow up sessions with the therapist and at home with the help of the parents and other relatives. Behavioral Management and Techniques in Dyslexia According to website article, a recent game was developed with the purpose of helping children and other individuals cope with the difficulty they suffer from reading (Briggs, 2001). In the study, a group of seven-year-old children served as the respondents of the study and this resulted to a positive outcome for the research on reading difficulties (Briggs, 2001).
The game included activities that require the respondents to match certain shapes to particular sounds (Briggs, 2001). They are asked to press a space bar after a series of sequences and then they will be greeted with a smile (Briggs, 2001). This resulted in higher rates of accuracy and an increase in the speed of reading for the 24 children who are diagnosed to have dyslexia (Briggs, 2001). Conclusion The role of the occupational therapist is a four-fold task. This is aimed towards uplifting the condition of the client.
It is the aim of the occupational therapist is to be able to address the needs of the client and the chance to fulfill their responsibilities. There are different ways by which the therapist could help the clients in making their lives better through these techniques. It has become a better way of making people live a fulfilling life. These are different techniques of writing such as video games. References A Definition of Occupational Therapy. (n. d. ). Retrieved July 5, 2008, from http://steinhardt. nyu. edu/ot/definition
Allington, R. (2006). “Dyslexia. ” In Microsoft® Student 2007 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation. Briggs, H. (2001). Computer game helps dyslexics. Retrieved July 05, 2008, from http://www. dyslexia-teacher. com/t113. html. Dyslexia. (n. d. ). Retrieved July 5, 2008, from http://kidshealth. org/kid/health_problems/learning_problem/dyslexia. html National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NINDS]. (2006). Autism Fact Sheet. Retrieved July 5, 2008, from http://www. ninds. nih. gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism. htm
