Occupational Therapy and Sensory Integration Unit
About the Department
Occupational therapy aims to ensure that individuals achieve the maximum level of independence through personalized practices. It addresses all age groups from 7 to 70. It engages in activities aimed at enabling individuals to self-actualize and provide for their own self-care and skills.
It utilizes meaningful and purposeful activities to promote the greatest possible functional independence for children living with the effects of disease, injury, birth defects, disability, or developmental delay.
Treatment is planned for children between the ages of 3 months and 15 years. The focus of the pediatric clinic is to enable children to achieve greater success in activities that are meaningful to them. This may include increased independence in personal care tasks such as eating or dressing, enhancing age-appropriate socialization skills and the ability to play, learning to write more legibly, strategies for learning to stay calm, and adapting to daily life.
After administering a series of tests to individuals with sensory problems, occupational therapists determine their sensory issues through clinical evaluations. In this direction, by analyzing information received from other areas of expertise and from the family, a therapy program is determined through a comprehensive evaluation.
The therapy process progresses at regular rhythms per week, depending on the individuals' affinity for therapy (socialization) and the severity of the disorder. While an intensive therapy program is arranged in cases of high severity, the session intervals are increased depending on the improvement, continuing at a monitoring level.
Disease Groups Treated with Occupational Therapy and Sensory Integration;
- Sensory Integration Disorder
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism
- Cerebral Palsy
- Down Syndrome
- Developmental delays
- Fine and gross motor function disorders
- Intellectual Disabilities
- Psychosocial disorders, etc.
Health is not merely the absence of disease and infirmity, but a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. In the event of impaired health, it works with many disease groups to help the individual achieve the maximum level of well-being.
There are therapy areas equipped with activity workshops, primarily serving as activity spaces for adult individuals. These include: the marbling (ebru) workshop, handicrafts workshop, ceramics workshop, painting workshop, gym, and kitchen workshop. Therapy processes in these areas are monitored alongside our specialist (occupational therapist). Services are provided to pediatric patients aged 3 months to 15 years in the sensory integration clinic. Studies are conducted addressing many specific problems in children, such as sensory problems, motor functions, attention deficits, behavioral problems, and academic difficulties. The therapy area provides an environment for children to exhibit their various functions or to reveal situations they avoid or excel in.
Occupational therapy is applied for all problems children experience in daily life. These address issues that may seem minor but lay the groundwork for other underlying disorders or may emerge later in life as the child grows. Therefore, a specialist evaluates the child's problem and performs a comprehensive analysis.
For example; a child who is clumsy or falls constantly might be experiencing motor function or sensory issues known as depth perception? Children who avoid taking a bath or dislike shaking hands may have sensory problems. When such situations are not analyzed by a specialist, it leads to what we call social isolation later on, making it difficult for the child to participate in their social environment. This situation affects their communication with their surroundings, weakens speech skills, and prevents them from self-expression.
As understood from the example, in the case of abnormal movements and behaviors experienced in early childhood, one can consult an occupational therapist to get information about the condition and prevent potential problems that may arise later on.
Occupational therapy activities play a supportive or complementary role in the treatment of individuals. Therefore, it works with many specialties within a multidisciplinary working field. These include fields such as Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy, Orthopedics, and Surgical specialties. For example, a child who needs speech and language therapy must first be able to control themselves and participate efficiently in therapy. In individuals who cannot sit still and have control only when accompanied by an assistant, after applying sensory integration therapy to enable them to receive certain commands and stay calm, continuing with speech and language therapy yields faster and much more efficient results when worked on together.
With the presence of multiple specialties in our hospital and the high level of communication between these specialized fields, faster and more efficient results can be achieved, and patients can be monitored in the best possible way. In our hospital, where advanced brain imaging techniques are available, more advanced applications can be implemented with the help of the psychiatry and neurology departments for evidence-based and systematic tracking of developments.
- Occupational therapy assessment
- On-site ergonomic assessment and consultation
- Customized treatment programs to increase the ability to perform activities of daily living
- Adaptive equipment recommendations and training
- Guidance for family members and client caregivers
In our hospital, recreational occupational therapy activities—including music, painting, handicrafts, ceramics, sports, cooking, and the art of marbling (ebru)—are carried out with the aims of reducing clients' pathologies, helping them maintain their health and socialize, enabling them to develop their self-confidence, various skills, and talents, encouraging them to use these skills and talents in daily life, and helping them gain awareness that utilizing their leisure time productively will increase their quality of life.
When people are mentally and physically engaged in an activity and focus all their attention on what they are doing, they naturally experience relaxation and live in the moment; therefore, it is important to utilize free time with various activities. Artistic activities and sports are also used as a means of communication, and the result is often a feeling of getting away from stress and tension, purification, and renewal.
Therapies involving music, painting, and marbling foster creativity because creativity is the ability to solve problems and generate new ideas—looking at the same thing as others but seeing something different and producing a new output. Those who can ask questions, act courageously, like to think differently, use different techniques to solve problems, and have a high imagination are more creative. For these reasons, creativity is important in complex societies full of problems.
If people cannot nourish themselves with art, they cannot develop themselves. Art is a stage of the mutual interaction between man and nature. It carries a social character. Art is a phenomenon that humanizes life. Art can be used to establish and strengthen the boundaries of personality, and to build connections between inner experiences and external reality. Allowing patients to project their problems outwardly through painting, and enabling them to talk about their paintings and relax, is one of the therapy methods.
Our areas of interest may include music, painting, sports, dancing, photography, ceramics, model making, reading, gardening, poetry, writing stories, cooking, sewing, or handicrafts; these pursuits allow us to get away from daily chores and hustle, do something for ourselves, and take a break to relieve the fatigue and tension of the day.
Sensory systems are the information gates between the brain and the body. Our senses make it possible to learn about the world around us. The brain must make sense of various sensory information belonging to the body and the environment in order to respond to events, pay attention, learn, teach, plan, and organize. This process is called "sensory integration".
For most people, sensory integration develops naturally through normal childhood activities. For some people, sensory integration does not develop as efficiently as needed, which dictates how a child responds to and interacts with the environment and other people around them.
For example, some people cannot hear well if they cannot clearly see the sources of sound. In other cases, seeing something moving like a train makes people feel as if they are moving.
Children who have difficulty processing sensory information may be:
- Fidgety,
- Slow in learning new motor skills,
- Sensitive to clothing,
- Described as "smart but lazy".
- Creating Effective Intervention,
Occupational therapists working in the field of pediatrics use sensory integration information during treatment to address the underlying sensory and motor foundation that helps children learn new skills more easily. Our approach is individualized to each child and the functional needs of the family. They explain observations regarding the children's strengths and challenges, enabling family members to uncover how difficulties in processing sensory input affect daily life activities, thereby creating an individualized treatment plan.
When parents and therapists work together, each gains new insights that lead to a better understanding of each child and a more effective intervention, sustaining the effectiveness of the treatment process through adaptation to daily life.
Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID, also referred to as sensory processing disorder) is a neurological disorder that causes difficulties in processing information from the five classic senses (vision, audition, touch, smell, and taste) or the sense of movement (vestibular system) and/or positional sense (proprioception). For those with SID, sensory information is received normally, but perceived abnormally. This is not the same as blindness or deafness. Because unlike these disorders, sensory information is perceived by people with SID, but the information tends to be analyzed by the brain in an unusual way that causes distress or confusion.
SID can be a standalone disorder, but it can also be a feature of other neurological conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorders, dyslexia (reading difficulty), developmental dyspraxia (motor planning disorder), speech delays, and others.
This condition is usually diagnosed by an occupational therapist. Diagnoses are obtained from specialist physicians such as developmental pediatricians and pediatric neurologists.
Sensory Processing Disorder is used as a universal umbrella term encompassing three main diagnostic groups that include every form of this disorder:
Type I - Sensory Modulation Disorder,
Type II - Sensory-Based Motor Disorder,
Type III - Sensory Discrimination Disorder,
Type I - Sensory Modulation Disorder (SMD): Responding to sensory stimuli with an overly high or low degree, or seeking sensory stimuli. This group may include patterns that create fear and/or anxiety, negative and/or persistent behaviors, self-absorbed behaviors, or difficulty in establishing attachment or actively seeking affectivity.
Type II - Sensory-Based Motor Disorder (SBMD): Exhibits disorganized motor output resulting from faulty processing of sensory information.
Type III - Sensory Discrimination Disorder (SDD): Sensory discrimination or postural control difficulties and/or dyspraxia (motor planning disorder) are observed in inattention, disorganization, and poor school performance.
Sensory integration disorders vary among individuals according to their characteristics and intensity. While some may experience mild discomfort that is barely noticeable, others may experience extreme discomfort and have problems with daily functioning. While occupational therapy sessions focus on increasing a child's ability to tolerate various sensory experiences, both activities and the environment must be assessed for a "just-right" fit for the child. Parents can help the child by realizing that play is an important part of the child's development. Therapy involves working with an occupational therapist and engaging in activities that provide the child with vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile input. Therapy is individualized to meet the child's specific needs for development. Emphasis is placed on automatic sensory processes during goal-directed activity. Children engage in therapy through play, which includes activities such as finger painting, using Play-Doh modeling clay, swinging, playing in rice or water bins, climbing, etc.
Sensory Integration Therapy is based on four core principles:
1) The Just-Right Challenge (the child must successfully accomplish challenges presented through fun activities)
2) Adaptive Response (the child adapts their behavior with new and useful strategies in response to the challenges presented)
3) Active Participation (the child will want to participate because the activity is fun)
4) Child-Centered (the child's preferences are used to initiate therapeutic experiences in the session).
Children with lower sensitivity (hyposensitivity) may be exposed to strong sensations such as brushing with a brush, vibrations, or friction. Play may incorporate a range of materials to stimulate the senses, such as dough or finger painting.
Children with higher sensitivity (hypersensitivity) may be exposed to calming activities such as soft music and gentle swinging in a dimly lit room. Treatments and rewards can be used to encourage children to tolerate activities they would normally avoid.
“Sensory Integration” Therapy in Autism
Sensory problems are prominent among the symptoms seen in autism. Sensory problems reduce the individual's harmony with the environment and prevent them from exhibiting appropriate behaviors. They reduce the individual's adaptation to life, pose obstacles in demonstrating daily living skills, complicate achieving academic learning, and cause problems in performing self-care. With the integrative approach of sensory integration therapy, improvements can be recorded in the individual's behavior, helping to ensure the formation and control of their self. It provides treatment support in minimizing the specified problems. For detailed information, please visit our page at https://cdn.npistanbul.com/otizmde-duyu-butunleme-tedavisi .
