Has anyone ever actually gotten OT or ST as an adult?

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Has anyone here ever actually gotten occupational or speech therapy as an adult? What was it like? Did it help? Did you have to try out multiple therapists, or did you find someone competent and compatible on the first try?

I just had a disastrous speech therapy appointment where I basically got the same old "you're too smart to be disabled"/"you just need a good shrink" implications and am now worried that my upcoming occupational/sensory integration therapy appointment will be just as bad. My speech problems are limited to pragmatics and perhaps require quite a bit of specialized knowledge about Asperger's to treat, whereas my sensory and motor skills/coordination issues are much more severe and obvious, so hopefully that won't be the case, but I'm still nervous.

To anyone who was lucky enough to be diagnosed and have gotten decent treatment as a child or adolescent, I'm really happy for you that you don't have to go through the frustration of trying to get services for the first time over age 21! It's a nightmare.

Last edited by NicholasName on 01 Apr 2014, 6:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

No need to sugarcoat it

I'll take that as a no!

If only I had the money to pay out of pocket, I'd just lie and say I'm 18. They'd totally believe me; I don't look anywhere near my age. *sigh* So tempting.

No I have not and don't really want such treatment....not really sure what speech therapy would do for me. As for the sensory integration therapy, what is that? If its something to do with being exposed to too much sensory input till you get 'desensitized' I think I'll pass as I don't need the headache. Or is it something entirely different?

I had speech therapy it as a kid and although I probably still could do with it now I get by and I think it wouldn't do my self esteem any good and I think I would be such a slow learner it would be painful. I just wouldn't be interested or look forward to a session. I tried to avoid it when i was a kid so it wouldn't be fun as an adult.

I've not had speech therapy as an adult. As a child, I remember they tried to put me in a room full of boys playing games with the speech therapist. It was terrifying! I'm pretty sure that didn't last long. I may have refused. Guess I'm saying being offered help young is only good when it works.

Even though it was upsetting, I think you're better off the speech therapist let you know straight off she didn't know how to help. Some speech therapists are great, others aren't. The great ones are so good they have helped my kids express themselves and calm down and want to be cooperative---but along the way, even though I didn't tell them I have ASD, I know a conversation with them feels different. There's an order, a calm, a sense of turn taking. They have helped me organize what I want for my child with ASD. And weren't even providing service to me, I was incidental!

As far as OT, I watched and was present for that for my daughter as well. There was nothing uncomfortable other than initially when she didn't want to engage. And the therapist was, like the speech therapists, very respectful of her wishes and comfort.

It was hard to find providers even for children, though. I imagine much harder to find good ones competent in this area for adults. I hope you do! But what I saw, I think it should feel good to you.

Speech therapy can help with trouble understanding non-literal speech (sarcasm, jokes, idioms, etc.) or what people mean if they're too vague, difficulty explaining things or expressing thoughts, etc. From what I've read, it sounds like there isn't anything it can't help with when it comes to the communication problems that come with autism. Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of it is "How to Pass as Neurotypical 101," so I'll have to find a therapist who will understand and accept that what I'm looking for is more like "Social Skills for People who Don't Want to Socialize" or "Pragmatics for Survival and Not Accidentally Insulting People Rather Than for Relationships."

Sensory integration therapy is for regulating over- or underactive senses. It's definitely not being exposed to too much sensory input. I don't think it's even possible to desensitize that way (but it's probably possible to go crazy that way). Weighted blankets are one of the most well-known sensory integration therapy tools. I don't have a real one yet, but I love sleeping under as many heavy blankets as I can stand without roasting, which unfortunately is not many. The weighted ones are filled with poly pellets, so they're all the nice, soothing pressure with none of the uncomfortable heat.
Skin brushing is another of the more well-known ones. It's some kind of soft brush used on the back of the hands, and it's supposed to calm overactive senses for hours. I know I love scrubbing myself bright red with a shower brush, so I'm guessing that the OT brush will feel just as good but won't make me look like I just soaked in acid.

I was associated with an OT and had discussions related to treatment. Unfortunately, there is no such treatment for me because of my very late and missed diagnosis. OT had also noted I am more than capable coping without treatment and my unorthodox methods of dealing with most aspects of AS and pain without any treatment or medication. There's no long term financial benefit going private either.

There's no CBT either, treatment would otherwise need years of undertaking to see any benefit. All there is for me is the use of advocacy groups to learn social skills, employment skills, speech strategies second hand and the use of adult carers to talk for me, reasonable adjustments and adaptations for the level of dyspraxia and limit sensory triggers.

I go to speech therapy. I am 31.

Before choosing a therapist, I spent a lot of time looking into my options. I may have very different speech difficulties than you, however. I am also diagnosed with mixed expressive receptive language disorder. I have difficulty producing speech at all. The types of things I do at speech therapy include:

-processing speed work (I look at a picture with different shapes and the therapist says increasingly complex things for me to point to in the picture)
-aphasia work (therapist says three rhyming words and then a statement. I am supposed to find and say the word that best describes the statement.)
-answering questions to the beat of a metronome

It's extremely hard word and I'm exhausted (and sometimes a little angry) after.

I don't desire help for pragmatics (though I am told I *need* help in that area). I realize we are probably in different life stages however (for instance, I am married). I have heard, and come to believe, that pragmatics are really difficult--or perhaps impossible--to learn in a clinical setting. Locally, we have a therapist who you can pay to accompany you to real places and see the real types of situations with the actual people you encounter and then later helps work you through the pragmatics of those actual events before trying again. I don't know how common that is, but you may find a local autism group and ask for recommendations for that type of service.

If you are in a school of any kind, see what your school has to offer.

I have never been to occupational therapy personally, but I have taken my son. He was never expected to be "densensitized" in any kind of uncomfortable way. Actually, occupational therapy has always been pretty fun. That is the one kind of therapy, I would always recommend people look into, if given the chance. Personally, I just piggyback off what we learn for my son and do it to myself at home.

Since your appointment is called, "sensory integration", I wouldn't worry. My son always did exercises, vestibular work (swinging, trampoline), and the therapist talked to us about a sensory diet and the use of tools to help him (headphones, brushing protocol). I would guess they would talk to you about finding a sensory diet (balancing your sensory needs in your real life) and helping you find sensory tools specific to your needs.




I know it sucks when you have a bad appointment, or are told you aren't in need of services when you feel like you are, I'm sorry. Remember, it doesn't mean that they are correct, it just means that they don't offer a service that you need. Most speech therapists work with articulation difficulties, and to them...you don't have any of those. So, look online at the services a therapist has to offer, or find a local autism group and ask specifically for a therapist who helps with pragmatic speech difficulties.


Good luck. If you feel like you do need help, I would encourage you to keep trying to find someone who can,

We have two weighted blankets, they are the most awesome things ever.

Our "OT brush" was a surgical nail brush you can buy for 99 cents. The important part was how to do the brushing.

Who can find an OT or ST that will treat ASD adults, who are not non verbal?

I have called around, and there is literally no one in my area. The ones that work with ASD kids may take you if you were previously on their case load. For a newly diagnosed adult, who had no accommodations in school, nothing here.

I wish there was. My husband's fine motor skills and pragmatics are trash.

I could definitely use this. My processing speed is awful, although unfortunately for my desire to get help, it tends to improve under the pressure of testing. I'll definitely ask about that if I can find another speech therapist, thanks.



If you don't want it and have gotten by without it, I'd say you don't really need it.
Hmm, I hope it's not actually impossible. My goal is to get by with as little socializing as possible.



That's really interesting! It's probably not something I'd want to do, but I can definitely see the value in it for people with different goals than mine.



Thank you! Oh, don't worry, if people telling me I don't need services had any effect on my opinions, I'd have given up looooong ago. This is nothing new, sadly. It's exhausting, but I have no choice but to keep trying anyway.



It tends to be the luck of the draw on where you live.

I've made so many phone calls I get anxious just thinking about it. I've called places on the opposite side of the country to ask if they know someone whose cousin knows someone in my area. It took weeks and quite a few meltdowns and shutdowns to find somewhere 40 minutes away. If they don't work out, I'm going to have to suck it up and sit through the hour-long interview required for disabled transportation, then suck it up even more for an hour-plus-long bus ride to the next-nearest place that treats adults. It's almost enough to drive me to drink.



Don't you think "trash" is a little harsh?

My husband says they are trash, and that he has all the social skills of a cast iron skillet.

His words. Not mine. And yes the fine motor skills are bad enough that people ask if he is getting Parkinson's.

If the skills are bad, then why sugar coat it? I didn't say he wasn't trying or find them offensive.

And my DH really wants help on these issues.

Well, I had no way of knowing that he was the one who said that. That's totally different, then. I agree that there's no reason to sugarcoat it.

I hope he gets the help he wants and deserves. Even if he can't get all of it easily, hopefully he can at least find someone for the motor skills. That's what I'm hoping for myself. Even if the OT turns out to be no good for sensory integration therapy, I'm pretty sure any OT would be able to at least do something about my atrocious coordination.

"No, and I don't want it."

My parents wanted me to go to speech therapy when I was a teenager because I stuttered. It gradually improved over time without treatment, though. However, minor problems with speech remained. I guess they are more anxiety-driven than motoric.

am thirty,have severe lower functioning autism and have multiple specialists involved with self;they all come under the social services intelectual disability team and are extremely experienced in it as well as severe & profound autism.
as part of that team;have got a speech and language therapist,a challenging behavior specialist, an OT who helps with physical and sensory needs,a dietician,a epilepsy OT,a ID nurse who advocates for self in any health issues,a ID CSW,a pyschiatrist and a pyschologist.
am under the mental capacity act so have to have a lot of input from a multi disciplinary service.

it hasnt been easy just because have got access to them, it doesnt change the severe disabilities have got, they just help with quality of life.
despite having all those specialists have still ended up sectioned in a intelectual disability hospital for four months which resulted in a lumbar spinal injury from prolonged rough restraining.