Current practice of occupational therapy for children with autism.

Objective. The purpose of this study was to examine the current practice pa tterns of occupational therapists experienced in working with children with autism spectrum disorders. Method. Occupational therapists experienced in providing services to 2-year -old to 12-year-old children with autism completed a mail questionnaire des cribing practice patterns, theoretical approaches, intervention techniques, and preferred methods of preparation for work with children with autism. Results. Of those contacted 72 occupational therapists met the study criter ia and returned completed questionnaires. Practice patterns included freque nt collaboration with other professionals during assessment and interventio n Intervention services were typically provided in a one-to-one format with the most common techniques being sensory integration (99%) and positive re inforcement (93%). Theoretical approaches included sensory integration (99% ) developmental (88%), and behavioral (73%). Evaluations relied heavily on nonstandardized tools and clinical observations. Educational method identif ied as most helpful were weekend workshops (56%) and on-the-job training (5 2%). Conclusion. This study clarified the nature of current occupational therapy practice patterns for 2-year-old to 12-year-old children with autism. Addi tional studies are needed to examine the efficacy of current evaluation and intervention methods, as well as to explore the relevance of available sta ndardized assessments for this population.