Speech Therapy vs Occupational Therapy for Autism

Speech Therapy vs Occupational Therapy for Autism

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Disclaimer: I am not an Occupational therapist, please seek professional advice from one.

Speech Therapy (ST) Teaches with Communication

Occupational Therapy (OT) Helps with Sensory
What about sensory? Children with a sensory processing disorder (a diagnosis that overlaps with Autism and other speech-related disorders quite frequently) are either over or under-stimulated. 

Ok before I lose you… When a child is overstimulated, it means their trying to avoid sensory. It’s too much for them to handle and you can physically see that the child is struggling. On the other hand, under-stimulated means that the child is seeking sensory. 

OT helps to normalize sensory disorders so that the child can function better.

Fine Motor, Cognition, and Feeding
When a child cannot hold the pencil correctly, the first thing we do is refer to an OT. Just like any therapy, OT breaks down a skill into its core pieces and teaches it to the child in a step-by-step fashion. 

In ABA therapy or ST, we will do fine motor imitation. However, that is to increase the quality of imitation so that we can use it to teach other language goals - e.g. sign language or speech skills later on. OTs teach fine motor skills as a life skill so that children can use them in everyday life.

Why OT is called “occupational” it’s because it rehabilitates a person to get back to work. Which requires certain fine motor skills. Such as writing, using tools, typing, and so on… Children obviously don’t need to go to work. However, their occupation is a student (to some extent), so OT helps children to learn fine motor skills in order to be effective students.

OT also teaches cognitive tasks, which sometimes overlap with other types of therapy (including ST). STs do similar tasks such as matching, categorization, and teaching concepts. However, the focus is different as ST aims to expand a child’s language. Whereas OTs focus on teaching it to help with a child’s cognitive development.

Feeding is also something that will overlap with STs. Honestly, it doesn’t matter who does it better. Historically speaking, speech therapists take charge of feeding and swallowing because it uses similar muscles and mechanics as speech. However, OTs also can help from a sensorimotor perspective.