Me, My World and Others encourages kids to try new sensory experiences in a group setting
Leveraging principles across multiple therapeutic disciplines, we offer a relaxed, non-clinical setting where kids can practice using language to describe their own feelings and the world around them at their own pace.
What Differentiates Our Classes
At MOLA, we offer a holistic, well-rounded program uniting multiple disciplines to foster progress for individuals with autism, or a similar disability. The principles of behavior management, speech and occupational therapy overlap with the common goal of individuals being able to verbalize their feelings, advocate for what they need and access activities successfully.
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Our classes encourage kids to use their senses to understand what they need to self-regulate, explore sensory activities and connect with one another. Each week, we target a different sense through play, group activities, and art projects.
Through our classes, we help kids better identify and describe how they are feeling in their world while also recognizing and taking an interest in peers.
Convergence of Fields
The skills targeted across therapies may overlap, but each discipline targets a different angle. Aligning on activities that target skills simultaneously provides the best chance possible to integrate skills fully.
Behavior Management
Principles of Applied Behavior Analysis are used to help children build independence and confidence. Some behavior skills targeted are:
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Self-advocacy
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Transitioning between activities
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Social Skills
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Flexibility with activities
Speech
Speech and Language Pathology helps put feelings into words to identify the emotions of oneself and others. Our goal is to empower kids to communicate peers and trusted adults. Some speech skills targeted are:
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Self-advocacy
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Social Skills
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Peer interactions
Occupational Therapy
OT helps individuals develop daily life skills that enable independence. This could be motor skills like brushing one's teeth, social skills to communicate effectively or tolerating different sensory experiences. Some OT skills targeted are:
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Try new sensory experiences
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Incorporate senses with social skills
Putting it All Together
During the week the sense touch was explored, one activity involved kids touching their elbow to a hot bean bag and then a cold ice pack. Then they described how it felt, such as hot or cold, good or bad. Some may like the hot bean bag while others may not. They can practice talking to each other about whether they felt the same about it or different.
This simple activity is co-led by each therapeutic discipline:
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From a behavior standpoint, the focus is on participating in and being successful in the group activity.
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Speech is providing language and visuals to help identify how the child feels about the activity. And, how to share that with the group.
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OT is structuring the activity to engage the child with the sense being targeted and to explore it.
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Putting it all together, the child engages with a group activity, explores a sensory activity and then talks about it. Sounds simple, but doing all of this simultaneously requires a very complex and integrated plan within the brain. At MOLA, we strive to create scaffolded opportunities to practice and develop skills with the robustness and completeness a multi-disciplinary lens provides.