Browsing by Author "Chelmella, Payton"

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    Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Interventions to Promote Social Participation in Children and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
    (2023-05) Chelmella, Payton; Jackman, Ellie; Negash, Shushan; Richardson, Nicole; Vaccaro, Hannah; Chase, Tony; Sego, Daniel; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences
    A systematic review of the literature related to effective occupational therapy interventions on socialization for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This review provides a comprehensive overview and discussion of 25 studies that addressed the variety of interventions that can be used when targeting social skills including sensory integration, animal-assisted interventions, technology, play, school-based, and caregiver-assisted interventions. The findings reveal that the use of these interventions is clinically significant yet there is limited evidence to support generalizability to the population. This review supports the premise that children and adolescents with ASD who experience socialization challenges as compared to typically developing peers can improve their social skills through these interventions.
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    Tailoring Dental Appointments for Neurodivergent Children
    (2025-05) Chelmella, Payton; Van Antwerp, Leah; Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Human Sciences; Steele, Jaime
    Many neurodivergent children have a difficult time during their dental visits or cannot find a dental office willing to treat them. This doctoral capstone project aimed to give a local pediatric dentist office the information and experience they need to confidently provide care for neurodivergent patients and patients with dental anxiety. Six evidence-based themes about beneficial adaptations and modifications were addressed, including: acclimating to the dentist, desensitization, patient care beyond the chair, child behavior management, adaptive communication, and sensory processing. The capstone student provided the dental team with additional information during the project, but the above themes were emphasized the most. The dental team members completed a pre-survey (9 participants) and post-survey (8 participants) to evaluate their knowledge and confidence in three areas: general knowledge about adaptations and modifications, perceived knowledge about concepts relating to specific adaptations and modifications, and their confidence in implementing specific adaptations and modifications. The results show that the three categories had a statistically significant difference between pre-survey and post-survey results with a medium to large effect size. This project had a strong impact on the dental team’s knowledge and confidence in ways to treat their neurodivergent patients and patients with dental anxiety, therefore, this project shows that occupational therapy has a valuable place in pediatric dental settings.