Published on 12, July, 2020
Has anyone had OT as an adult? Would it be a specialised form of OT for autistic adults and how might a person benefit?
I am trying to encourage my older son (26) to access this but, although he had initial advice from the Tuke Centre and was going to go ahead straight away, he's now feeling more uncertain, especially due to the costs involved. I think the NHS waiting list would be too long as he's already been having problems for quite a long time so I'm trying to reassure him on that score too. some personal experiences of the benefits (if any) might help.
Hi, I am a final year occupational therapy student, and I am very passionate about working with children and adults on the spectrum. As occupational therapists, our aim is to assist adults on the spectrum to achieve independent lifestyles, which includes independent living and participation in meaningful occupations, including employment. The breadth of occupational therapy services for adults is very wide, so how about you briefly describe your aims or your son's aims, in seeking occupational therapy services (e.g. for further education, employment, social training, etc.)? However, regarding the costs involved, I am unable to provide any advice as I am not from the States, so things may be different where I am. Hope this helps!
We are in the UK, just forced into the private sector due to excessive waiting lists and very much against our principles. My son's areas of difficulty include socialising (making friends plus coping with the interactions demanded of him in jobs and education), dealing with setbacks on courses and managing to complete them, accessing employment, motivation and coping with what he describes as "maladaptive daydreaming."
He has dropped out of his university course twice now and that was after a false start on an unsuitable course which also involved him waiting for another year to start the one he's on. This has also impacted us as a family, both emotionally and financially (the latter because, by the time he drops out of the course, we are already committed as guarantors for the accommodation he's in and, given that it's uni accommodation, if he were to move to benefits he'd be declassified as a student and thrown out (losing the few friends he has).
Our son was advised at the Tuke Centre and signposted to an OT service but I think, for himself, he probably wouldn't have sought it due to very low motivation amd a conviction that nobody understands. That said, he would probably be up for a social skills programme, advice on handling the requirements of his course and improving skills to enable him to remain in a job (so far he's had several low skilled jobs in shops/hotels which haven't lasted very long as he finds them depressing, demainding of skills he can't easily muster and he can't cope or understand why anyone would want to stay in such a job).
In terms of employment, an OT will conduct a few assessments to identify your son's level of work readiness, and vocational interests and skills. And from there, an OT will provide vocational training to better prepare your son for employment, such as forming the desirable work behaviors and habits (e.g. punctuality), social communication skills (e.g. how to deal with anger or rejection, how to express ideas, dealing with anxiety, etc), as well as the necessary self-management skills (e.g. discipline in getting work done, stress management). An OT also acts as an advocate for your child in the workplace/educational setting. So the OT will educate those in the management about autism spectrum disorder and how they can support and facilitate their participation in work/education.
An OT may also use the cognitive behavioral approach in addressing issues relating to his motivation and negative perceptions in participating in activities. How this works in general is the OT will assist your child in identifying his negative thoughts, and how these thoughts are not beneficial for him and that these thoughts (e.g. nobody understands the things he goes through) are not true. Using this method, the OT will guide your son in forming more positive thoughts to replace the negative thoughts, hence setting his mindset on the right track to promote activity participation.
Occupational therapy services can definitely benefit your son's current condition. Worthwhile going for a visit to the OT! :)
This gives me some hope. I guess it would depend upon the quality and depth if the work (I did some training as a CBT practitioner myself so I know that, although some very useful work can be done, there is also an abundance of very superficial CBT approaches, often watered down to fit into a small number of sessions with no longer term follow up).
He has become very angry and resentful over the past few year so this is also something that could be worked through.
I'm really hoping he'll take up the offer and have a reasonable number of sessions.