Rios Vega Research

Engaging Diverse Stakeholders to Improve Therapy Access to Hispanic and Latino Autistic Individuals and Families.

This article presents the process used to establish stakeholder advisory boards with multilingual, multidisciplinary and culturally diverse stakeholders (autistic individuals, parents and caregivers, occupational therapists and teachers, autism experts) to support a larger project that seeks to improve access to therapy services in the community, test two engagement methods and culturally adapt an autism intervention.

Culturally Adapting an Occupational Therapy Intervention for Black American Autistic Communities. 

In this article, we identified the challenges and supports minoritized Black American families of autistic children experience on access and engagement in occupational therapy services. We adapted the occupational therapy Ayres Sensory Integration intervention to guide occupational therapy practitioners to provide culturally responsive interventions.

Designing sensory adaptive environments to enhance participation in healthcare for autistic children

This article explores the application of the design thinking process in occupational therapy to address the sensory needs of autistic children during healthcare participation. A multidisciplinary team including parents, occupational therapists, medical doctors, and designers collaborated to identify strategies for enhancing healthcare participation. Following the design thinking stages, they developed a prototype for a sensory-adaptive environment featuring three distinct areas, each tailored to support diverse needs of autistic children to facilitate greater participation and improving the overall healthcare experience.This article explores the application of the design thinking process in occupational therapy to address the sensory needs of autistic children during healthcare participation. A multidisciplinary team including parents, occupational therapists, medical doctors, and designers collaborated to identify strategies for enhancing healthcare participation. Following the design thinking stages, they developed a prototype for a sensory-adaptive environment featuring three distinct areas, each tailored to support diverse needs of autistic children to facilitate greater participation and improving the overall healthcare experience.

Use of sensory adaptive environments with autistic children: A scoping review

This article is a scoping review evaluating the available literature on the use of sensory adaptive environments, including its evidence, guidance, activities, and materials of its use.