Oh boy! Time for yet another blog post! I'm so excited! Seriously, I haven't been this excited since I graduated high school. This is probably the most fun I will have all year! Whoopee!
Ahem. Anyways, in an assignment in writing about a controversy in my chosen profession of Occupational Therapy Assistant, I have selected the Sensory Processing debate as my topic; and like the blog title states: There must be a basic argument in the title. So here it goes.
The SP debate revolves around a neurological disorder (not presently included in the DSM-V) founded by the Occupational Therapy profession known as "Sensory Processing Disorder" or SPD for short. The disorder dictates that some children with it have difficulty processing sensory information; and OTs claim to have treatments to allegedly "rewire" a child's brain as to better process sonsory information. And according to pioneers and parents whose children are receiving treatment in the movement, sensory gyms have a beneficial impact on the children's malfunctioning. Unfortunately, SPD has several similarites with disorders such as Autism and ADHD; prompting other health professionals, such as pediatricians, to state not only that OTs have no authority to be coining new disorders and that the diagnosis of SPD is a rash one in which children who suffer from other disorders get misdiagnosed with SPD and then miss out on proper treatment.
But what do I have to say on it? My basic argument is that both sides need to take a serious chill pill and start working together in order to make real headway on this problem. Even physicians opposed to OT treatment of SPD acknowledge that numerous children suffer from sensory disabilities in processing such information. And with that, to me, comes the crux. If those opposed can acknowledge that children do experience symptoms related to the OT diagnosis, then there must be more truth to the disorder than the opposition would like to admit. On the same note, OTs need the support of the rest of the medical community should they wish to receive the help they need in getting SPD treatment the support it needs to be recognized; which includes the proper scientific studies necessary to assess treatment outcomes, get the disorder into the DSM-V, and find the proper ways to help children who suffer from sensory disabilities. Truly, it is my belief that both sides of the debate are lacking in their own logic regarding their stance, but if they work together, there could very easily be new and better ways to treat disabled children sooner than expected.
Thank you.
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