Transcript
Yuma, I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people who are the Traditional Custodians of Canberra where I work, study, and play. I will present our early findings on this study, which is looking at the application of the cognitive orientation to daily occupational performance approach, with children with FASD, aged six to twelve years. I am being supervised by Professor Elspeth Froude, Dr Barbara Lucas, and Professor Peter Wilson.
Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, FASD, have been found to have motor coordination difficulties impacting daily activity and participation at home, school and in the community. For children, occupations of the everyday activities that they find meaningful and want to do, or are expected to do. This can include getting dressed, going to school, tying shoelaces and playing with friends. The Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance Approach, Co-op, has not previously been reported in the literature for children with FASD, but has established effectiveness in other disorders of childhood that affect motor performance such as developmental coordination disorder, ADHD and acquired brain injury. Co-op involves children identifying performance-based goals that they want to improve, guided discovery from the therapists to help them identify where their performance is breaking down and learning how to problem solve strategies to resolve this.
This study is a feasibility study to see whether Co-op works and is accepted by children with FASD and their carers. We are also testing the study measures and the design. So we are involving children aged six to twelve years with FASD who have motor coordination difficulties. They need to live around the ACT and able to set three to five goals for support. They will participate in the screening appointment around goal setting and their motor skills, and then they will receive ten Co-op sessions, at home or in their local community. We are currently recruiting and have three participants One has completed ten Co-op sessions and two have started. All participants have identified meaningful goals such as spreading with the knife, tying shoelaces, bike riding, wrapping presents. The participant who completed the Co-op sessions improved on her observed goal performance, self and carer rated performance and satisfaction. Clinicians and caregiver understanding and flexibility was required to support her co-regulation, attention and participation.
Early indications suggest that Co-op may support occupational performance and participation. More participants and trials are required. If anyone is interested, please scan the QR code or email me for further information. I have received an Occupational Therapy Australia Research Foundation Funding Grant to support this project Thank you to NOFASD and the FASD Hub for your support and promotion of my research. And thank you to the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network for your support with recruitment. And thank you for listening to this presentation. My contact details are on the slide if you do want to reach out.