Success!!

Well I was able to get my blog cleared with my professor to let this blog count for my advocacy project. With a few caveats, I must be able to post rules and guidelines that I will follow with my blog. I will post those when I finalize them. I would post them right now, but I have a test tomorrow that I need to finish studying for.

I also wanted to say that my comment that I sent to CNN was actually posted on the website! Score one for OTs! Well hopefully someone will read it, and maybe check out what OTs can do for people with ASD.

I found another good article dealing with an OTs role with ASD.

This Wednesday is International Autism Awareness day, so many people are doing a lot for it in the media,

Comedy Central

CNN

By the way, April is OT Awareness Month. So let's promote the profession!

Also, I would like any input from anyone would like to give it.

Be well, and keep those activities functional!

Tim Dionne

University At Buffalo

BS/MS OT Class of 2010

Advocacy and you!

I was prompted with the idea to start this blog in repsonse to CNN's segment on Autism that I watched.

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/2008/03/autism-cnn_28.html

And I am taking a class at the University At Buffalo called OT 382- Issues in OT service Delivery. This class has an assignment where each student must do something to promote the field and by doing this assignment we can start to develop our knowledge and skills that will last into our professional career.

To begin, I was upset after watching the special segment dealing with Autism Spectrum Disorders. I felt that there was a lack of credit given to professionals who deliver the services to these kids. They only mentioned therapists. They did not mention Occupational therapy, Physical therapy, and Speech and Language Pathologists. Who clearly need recognition for their work in this field. To be honest, I don't like how the media portrays this population, being kids who have symptoms of Autism. They present the information in such layman terms that it can misconstrued in a way that is not helpful to the public, but more misleading.

I wrote a candid response on the blog at CNN.com, at the link above. This is what I said:

" It is very encouraging to see the wide range of information dealing with autism being presented to the public by CNN. I am disappointed with the lack of details on this subject matter. Specifically the professionals who are involved are not explained, nor their role in the education process. As an occupational therapy student I urge your program to discuss an OTs role in the early intervention with children who are on the autism spectrum. I also wanted to suggest that your program discuss, how under IDEA, children can receive intervention for free. You had a segment about the cost of raising a child under these conditions, and I don’t believe that you explained well enough for the public how schools pay for these services. The reason that children and their parents don’t start EI early enough is because the parents were not told that any child can have an OT, PT, and a SLP assessment. Please do the responsible thing and provide a more in depth discussion for the free services available, and the information available. AOTA.org explains in depth what an OT’s role is in early intervention.
Thanks,
Tim Dionne, OTS
University at Buffalo"

I felt that this was short and to the point. I hope whoever reads this finds some useful information. I want provide a forum for discussion on developing practice areas of OT, and discussion of our amazing field of Occupational Therapy!!

Thanks for reading,

Tim Dionne, OTS

University at Buffalo

A good summary of what an OT can do for people with ASD or PDD http://autism.about.com/od/whatisautism/a/OTBasics.htm