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Description

This capstone research improved the delivery of care regarding caregiver education in children with autism spectrum disorder and retained primitive reflexes. The purpose of this project was to generate resources for occupational therapy practitioners that provide caregiver education on primitive reflex integration interventions that directly correlate with specific ADL’s their child has difficulty with and how to incorporate these exercises in the home environment. Occupational therapy practitioners lack educational resources for caregivers of children diagnosed with ASD to explain the importance and impact of primitive reflex integration on participation in meaningful ADL’s and promote adherence to home exercise programs, implementing evidence-based primitive reflex integration exercises. This project consisted of pre- and post-intervention surveys, an initial educational coaching session, a follow-up educational coaching session, and online video modules for OT and caregiver use beyond the time frame of this project. The results of this mixed-methods pilot study ultimately demonstrated that caregivers benefit from education and coaching regarding their child’s home exercise program and retained primitive reflexes. Results demonstrate that occupational therapists should incorporate more structured and intentional caregiver education during children’s occupational therapy sessions to increase adherence to the child’s home exercise program and ultimately increase the child’s ability and independence in activities of daily living as was illustrated by the outcome data for this study.

Publication Date

Fall 12-2024

Publisher

University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences

Keywords

Retained primitive reflexes, Reflex integration, Coaching, Caregiver education, Autism spectrum disorder

Medical Subject Headings

Primitive reflex, Activities of daily living, Pilot study, Coaching,Exercise therapy, Autism spectrum disorder, Occupational therapy, Caregiver, Exercise program, Coaching

Disciplines

Medical Education | Occupational Therapy

Comments

Poster presented at the in-person OTD Capstone Symposium, held at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences on December 6, 2024.

The Efficacy of Occupation-Based Caregiver Education on Primitive Reflex Integration in Children with ASD

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