“Break Through” Self-Regulation Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Autism, ADHD, Sensory or Emotional Challenges

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Speaker

Sheetal Parikh, OTD, OTR/L, ASDCS, CYT Related seminars and products

SPOT Therapy, LLC

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Sheetal Parikh, OTD, OTR/L, ASDCS, CYT, has been an occupational therapist since 2001. Dr. Parikh is a clinical assistant professor in the masters and doctorate occupational therapy programs at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. She teaches in courses such as neuroscience, clinical skills, movement analysis, evaluations and assessments, rehabilitation interventions, and developmental interventions.

Dr. Parikh has over 20 years of clinical experience working with children and adults in a variety of settings and with a variety of diagnoses. Since 2006, Dr. Parikh has worked in the school setting with children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), sensory processing disorder (SPD), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental delays, genetic disorders, neurological disorders, and orthopedic disorders. She has also worked in early intervention, pediatric medical day cares, adult rehabilitation hospitals, acute care hospitals, sub-acute rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and home care.

Dr. Parikh is the founder and owner of SPOT Therapy, LLC, a company that specializes in providing occupational and physical therapy services in the schools. She provides evaluations, treatments, interventions, and education in the areas of sensory integration, self-regulation, autism, ADHD, and developmental delays. Dr. Parikh is a certified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist (ASDCS) and a certified yoga instructor (CYT). She teaches dance, yoga, and mindfulness to children of all abilities.

Dr. Parikh earned her Doctorate degree in occupational therapy in 2014 from Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA, with a focus on the multi-sensory approach to teaching handwriting. She earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy and her bachelor’s degree in health sciences in 2001 from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, PA.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Sheetal Parikh has employment relationships with Saint Joseph's University, Salem County Special Services, and SPOT Therapy. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Sheetal Parikh has no relevant non-financial relationships.

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Objectives

1. Utilize effective calming, sensory, motor or behavioural techniques and activities for a given type of behaviour in the classroom, clinic and home.
2. Demonstrate early predictors of ASD, ADHD and sensory challenges in infants and toddlers to design appropriate interventions.
3. Implement interventions for repetitive and restrictive behaviours for a child with stereotypy.
4. Integrate peer-to-peer video feedback into social interventions for children and teens with ASD to increase social ease.
5. Utilize the “Bedtime Fading with Response Cost” sleep intervention for children with erratic sleep schedules.
6. Design innovative grounding activities and organizational strategies effective for teens with ADHD for at home and school.
7. Integrate “team-based” self-regulation interventions for the classroom, clinic and home.

Outline

The Many Challenges of Self-Regulation

• Balancing the needs of the body, brain, senses, emotions and the social self
• Emotional regulation and sensory regulation
• Neurotypical children v. atypical children
• Differences with ASD, ADHD, and other challenges
• How well are we doing the research?

A Little Bit of Neuroanatomy

• Cerebellum: The prediction machine
• The ASD, ADHD, sensory connection
• Mapping emotions
• The vagal nerve’s job in all this

Let’s Talk about Infants and Toddlers

• Early predictors of ASD, ADHD and sensory challenges
• Infants, temperament, crying and social attention
• Facial expressions and emotions in ASD
• Parent video feedback with infants makes a difference!

Self-Regulation for All Age-Groups and Behaviour Types

• Calming and gradual exposure and desensitization
• Rethinking the classroom, office, and/or home environment
• Strategies for pre-school and the kindergarten classroom
• Play, play, play! Inside/outside the classroom
• Classroom aerobics and other activities
• Heavy work, exercise, deep pressure and play

Eating and Sleeping Can Co-opt Good Effort

• Effect of poor sleep on repetitive behaviours and negative affect in ASD
• Effects of sensory processing on sleep
• Bedtime Fading with Response Cost (BFRC) Intervention
• Melatonin, elimination diets and supplements for ASD and ADHD
• Sensory intervention at mealtime

Autism Spectrum Disorder: Techniques You Should Absolutely be Using

• Engaging lists, stories and transitions (Make them fun!)
• J. Shauls’s Conversation Train (and more!)
• Making consistency as your modus operandi
• Play engagement, DIR, ABA, Discrete Trials and more
• Restrictive, Repetitive Behaviors (RRBs) Interventions
  • High order v. low order
  • Exercise and aquatic movement
  • Ayer’s Sensory Therapy®
  • Mixed method interventions
• Help kids with ASD handle peer rejection
• Video feedback for social scenarios: Do’s and don’ts

ADHD: Effectively Intervene with This “Moving Target”

• How imaging studies have challenged our ideas of ADHD
• A new look at combined ADHD and Concentration Deficit Disorder
• Innovative organization techniques
• Creating simple habits and keeping it simple
• Grounding activities: Mindfulness, karate, HIIT
• Self-management intervention and “getting to centre”
• Check impulsivity meta-cognitive group games
• Revisiting feedback and timing in the cerebellum

Special Interventions for Teens and Tweens

• Video feedback: Create appropriate expressions, reactions and interactions
• Social skills programs to develop real-life empathy
• Regulation techniques for social situations and avoiding peer rejection
• Sensorimotor Therapy to cut through trauma

It’s a Team—Going for the Championship

• Partnership of teachers, therapists and specialists
• Interlace the team’s self-regulation goals to make them effective
• How to include parents: Highly effective at-home interventions

Target Audience

• Occupational Therapists
• Occupational Therapy Assistants
• Speech-Language Pathologists
• Teachers/School-Based Personnel
• School Administrators
• School Social Workers
• Physicians
• School Counselors
• School Psychologists
• School Guidance Counselors
• Psychologists
• Social Workers
• Licensed Professional Counselors
• Physical Therapists
• Physical Therapist Assistants