Pivoting Care Models: Using Yoga Group Interventions to Improve Access in Pediatric Occupational Therapy

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2026

3:10 PM – 4:10 PM

Course Description

Pediatric patients are often seen in a traditional one-to-one therapy model. While a one-to-one model has several advantages, there are some limitations that a small group model can target. For example, group interventions lead themselves to more easily targeting skills such as socialization, self-advocacy, collaborative play, and learning from shared experiences. This presentation is shared from the perspective of an occupational therapy practitioner facilitating a yoga group for autistic youth within a clinic setting for the first time. Caregivers of children receiving occupational therapy services frequently express a need for self-regulation strategies to use at home. Yoga is a modality that can help to address stress, inattention, hyperactivity, anxiety, and depression (Patra et al., 2024). Thus, a yoga group was intentionally chosen to address a common need in care with evidence to support its use as an intervention approach. In this session, the presenter will outline the group development process, including rationale for group size and age range, session length, caregiver engagement, outcome measures, and referral criteria. In addition, activity ideas and session breakdowns based on evidence-based resources including AOTA’s Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Autistic People Across the Lifespan (Patten et al., 2024). This session will also share strategies that were used to overcome challenges including caregiver home carryover (Uebelacker et al., 2023). Reflections will be shared from a trial of the yoga group including barriers to a successful group and changes that were made throughout the process. While this presentation is from the perspective of a pediatric practitioner facilitating a yoga group, lessons learned from providing family centered group service delivery are applicable to any practitioner interested in creating a group. Participants will reflect on how they can apply the knowledge gained toward developing a group model in their own practice.

Speakers

Content Level

Introductory: This level assumes the audience has little or no information regarding the content area.

Practice Areas

Children and Youth; Health and Wellness; Mental Health