School-based Occupational Therapy Service (OT) for Children with Autism (CWA) in Dhaka : mothers’ perspective

Abstract

The Research question is 'what is the mothers' perception regarding school-based Occupational Therapy service for Children with Autism in Dhaka ? The aim of the study is to explore mothers' experience regarding school-based OT service for Children with Autism (CWA) in Dhaka. The objectives are to find out the nature or types of OT services in school for CWA, to identify mothers' opinion about the importance of existing OT services for their child, to know the changes (improvement or no improvement) of the child after receiving school-based OT service, and to find out the possible ways of emphasizing OT services at specialized schools. This is a qualitative research and the study design is Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA). In this study 9 participants were selected by purposive sampling and using semi- structure face to face interview for data collection. The participants of this study were selected from the Autistic Children's Welfare Foundation, Bangladesh (ACWFB), Autism Welfare Foundation (AWF), and Society for the Welfare of Autistic Children (SWAC). From this study we knew that the mothers of CWA have good idea about OT services. They think school based OT is important because day by day their children are improving after receiving this service. Participants also think that OT plays a significant role to guide their child's behavior and the functional activities in school settings. The recommendation of mother will be helpful for improving the quality of OT service delivery in special school. So beside clinical side in special school environment the Occupational Therapist plays an important role with Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) and is improving the function of CWA.