Associate’s Name:
Lynn Schoeneck, OTR/L
Associate’s Organization:
Porter Academy
Client:
7-year-old boy, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD
Presenting Problem:
Difficulties with anxiety, social interactions, attention, expressive and receptive language, poor organization, fine motor coordination and gross motor coordination
Therapeutic Goals:
Improve social interaction with both peers and adults, decrease anxiety to enable participation in group activities and changes in routine, improve motor skills, improve attention and organization
iLs Program Used:
Sensory Motor Program – 3 one-hour sessions per week; 30 hours in Fall Semester, 30 hours in Spring Semester
Other Interventions Used:
Client received Occupational Therapy (OT), Speech Therapy (ST) and music therapy within a group setting, all of which are part of the curriculum at Porter Academy. He also began receiving private OT and private speech therapy once a week.
Parent/Teacher Comments:
Parent: “Every morning he is excited to go to school. He loves learning, and his confidence in his work has excelled. He has made friends, and has turned into a happy, funny, content little kid.”
Teacher: “He has gone from extremely anxious to the total opposite. He is very social and interacts with everyone, which is a total change since August. When he started, he did not recognize all his letters or their sounds; now he is the best reader in the class. He could not spell or write his name in August; today he is starting to write sentences and brief paragraphs. His letter orientation, spacing and sizing are greatly improved. He is now turned on to learning!”
Conclusions and Recommendations:
This child came in with huge deficits academically and socially. This year he has made great progress in both arenas, but he does still have a long way to go. I plan to utilize the iLs Sensory Motor Program again with him next year and continue to emphasize movement activities that cross the midline. I also will continue to incorporate activities that develop working memory and enhance processing speed.
Test Scores:
Diagnostic Achievement Battery (3rd Edition) – %ile ranking on nationally normed assessments
Story comprehension: <1% to 16%
Synonyms: 9% to 25%
Grammatic Completion: 16% to 25%
Alphabet/Word knowledge: 5% to 50%
Reading Comprehension: 5% to 63%
Capitalization: 16% to 37%
Punctuation: 9% to 63%
Spelling: 5% to 50%
Based on the BASC-2 Parent Rating Scale, the following improved significantly: hyperactivity, anxiety, atypical behaviors, withdrawal, attention problems and functional communication.
Based on the BASC-2 Teacher Rating Scale, the following improved significantly: hyperactivity, aggression, conduct problems, anxiety, somatization and withdrawal.
Subjective Observations of Motor Skills:
At the beginning of the year, he required full physical assist for any motor movement that crossed midline; he is now able to cross midline with initial physical prompts. To start, he was unable to catch a beanbag; he is now able to catch a beanbag while maintaining balance on a balance board for 10 consecutive catches.
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