14 APRIL 30, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Teletherapy and autism: How a Forest Hills mother is
helping her daughter cope during COVID-19 pandemic
Rachel Sokol’s 2-year-old daughter, Aimee, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, learns how to draw lines and works on her grip as guided by
her occupational therapist via Zoom . Photo courtesy of Rachel Sokol
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
CMOHAMED@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
As the weeks of stay-at-home
orders and school closures
continue amid the coronavirus
pandemic, many families who have
children with special needs are enduring
the suspension of both school and
essential services that their children
are used to receiving.
For Forest Hills resident Rachel
Sokol, it’s been quite challenging as a
mother taking on the role of a therapist
to help her 2-year-old daughter,
Aimee, who is diagnosed with autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) and is nonverbal.
Autism, or ASD, refers to a broad
range of conditions characterized
by challenges with social skills,
repetitive behaviors, speech and
non-verbal communication.
In Aimee’s case, she struggles with
communication, articulation, attention
and things that should come to
her with ease — such as making eye
contact, pointing, drinking from a
straw and shaking her head yes or
no. She also makes loud grunting
noises instead of baby babble, according
to Sokol.
“Aimee doesn’t remember how to
use a spoon correctly, and it’s only
been a month because she hasn’t had
her therapies,” Sokol said. “I’ve been
doing puzzles with her and speech,
trying to control her. Without her
therapists, I’ve seen a regression in
my daughter.”
Following the shutdown of New
York City public schools on March
15 due to the coronavirus outbreak,
Aimee’s therapists were considered
non-essential services, according to
Sokol.
“I can’t even imagine kids in wheelchairs,
kids with MS, or even kids
with severe social issues, who don’t
have therapists working with them,”
Sokol said. “Now their parents are
homeschooling them and they have
to become therapists overnight. I
don’t know how to be a therapist.”
Diagnosed with ASD in August
2019, Aimee began receiving therapy
services through the city’s program
called Early Intervention, where eligible
children — infants and toddlers
— with developmental delays and disabilities
learn many key skills and
catch up in their development.
Aimee works with six therapists
for ABA, speech, physical therapy
and occupational therapy. Her time
is split between two sensory gyms in
Queens and four therapists visiting
her at home, according to Sokol.
“She learned how to wave, brush
her own teeth, nod and shake her
head. Her tantrums decreased, her
eye contact was better, and she was
able to point,” Sokol said. “I saw such
a change in her and said, ‘Oh my god,
there’s hope for her at the end of the
tunnel,’ and then COVID-19 struck
followed by the city shutdown.’”
Since then, Sokol has been sittingin
with Aimee and her therapists on
daily teletherapy zoom sessions.
Although she is grateful for the
service, it’s been a completely different
experience — one that she says
isn’t quite effective as an in-person
therapy session.
“Some parents are loving it, but I’m
not loving it. I think they’re better
for older kids, but for kids like mine,
it’s not helping and my daughter is
hitting me a lot — this is different,”
Sokol said. “It could be months of this
or a year, and I’ve considered opting
out, but I’m not going to do that to my
daughter with no feedback from her
therapist of what not to do.”
According to Dr. Karen Dela Santa-
Pura, an occupational therapist who
began working with Aimee last summer,
the teletherapy sessions are
effective, depending on the child.
“For other kids, I see that in another
light, now that the parents are
becoming their therapist, it’s good
in that sense because they’re on the
same page as I am, and know what
we’re working on and can carry it
over at home,” Santa-Pura said.
However, for Aimee, the transition
from in-home therapy sessions with
Santa-Pura to viewing her through
a computer screen for 30 minutes
twice a week has become difficult.
Aimee’s attention span and willingness
to perform sensory activities
has decreased, Santa-Pura said.
“She doesn’t want to sit in front of
the computer and she doesn’t want
to do therapy,” Santa-Pura said. “It’s
a different dynamic when mom is
trying to do it, it might be a little
harder for them to understand it’s
not normal.”
To help Sokol prepare for a teletherapy
session, Santa-Pura sends
background information and other
things for her to read.
“I admire them so much and am so
blessed and grateful they have entered
our lives,” Sokol said. “I cannot
stress this enough because it’s NOT
their fault in any capacity that we
had to move to tele.”
Like all mother’s, Sokol wants society
to stop judging other parents,
and other kids, showing a little more
kindness to special needs kids who
are lost and scared during this
time.
“I hope one day, quite soon, Aimee
and the other city EI and SPSE kids
can safely reunite with the therapists
they love so much—in person— because,
at least, in Aimee’s case, they
were — and still are — her bridge to
leading a life with a bit more ease.
Let’s see what happens,” Sokol said.
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