The Psycho-kinetic program is based on the principles of Psycho-kinetic Education. Psycho-kinetic Education is a completed method of kinetic education which wholly approaches the person with autism on a mental and kinetic level.

The objective of the program is to improve the kinetic, cognitive and social skills of the participants.

-better contact with their body and other people

-improvement of kinetic and social skills

Benefits:

• Space orientation
• Visual-kinetic coordination
• Balance
• Confidence development
• Increase of frustration and body contact tolerance
• Functioning in a group
• Acquisition of cognitive objects (colors, shapes, concept of space)

In the frameworks of the Psycho-kinetic program the kinetic pedagogic method Sherbone is applied, which helps at the improvement of both the kinetic and social/emotional aspects of the person.

Finally, this kinetic-pedagogic method is based on 4 factors relative to body feeling (knowing your own body), the understanding of the environment (for example, movement, weight and strength quality), the understanding of the relationship with other people (communication and game skills) and the development of feelings.

The Psycho-pedagogic approach combines the principles of the science of Psychology and special pedagogic. It gives emphasis on both the interventions for the psychological support, the behavior and the psycho-social development of the person and on the principles of rehabilitation of special learning disabilities. The psycho-pedagogic therapeutic program for children, teenagers and young adults in the spectrum of autism, is individualized and adapted to the special needs of the people, taking into consideration not only that the specific population has a different way of perceiving the environment, but also that each person in the spectrum of autism has different cognitive needs and skills, different difficulties and deficiencies and, of course, different interests and qualities. The main objective of this program is to make it easier for the person to adjust to the environment and cultivate the skills which are necessary in order to achieve the highest possible autonomy in the fields of daily life.

The Psycho-pedagogic program evaluates and intervenes in the following fields:

• Management and Behavior Boundaries
• Increase of waiting time
• Frustration Tolerance
• Cognitive skills (perception, attendance, concentration, memory, problem solving)
• Autonomy
• Self-engagement- Management of free time
• Social skills- Interaction
• Road traffic education in the frameworks of outdoor programs in the community
• Maintaining and applying the achieved skills in other environments too

 The behaviors which concern are frequent in people in the Autism Spectrum and are expressed in different ways. The person might show mild unwanted behavior, which deviates from the social rules and the socially accepted behavior, but also more intense behavior like outbursts of anger with self-injuring or other people’s injuring. The first priority is to look for the conditions in which such behaviors occur, so as to reduce them with the right intervention and to ensure that the person will be in a safe environment, with the right feeling in order to be able to be trained in new skills and unfold his/her mental potentials.

Another important field where difficulties related to the expression of anxiety or unwanted behaviors can be detected is waiting and frustration. People in the autism spectrum have difficulty waiting or tolerating the postponing of a wish they might have and also copying with a potential frustration. The frustration might occur during a simple correction/admonition or even during a defeat in a game. Practice in waiting and frustration tolerance will help a person adjust more effectively to a constantly changing environment, where the consequences of his/her actions can sometimes have unpredictable or unwanted results.

In the cognitive field an emphasis is given individually on the special needs of the person, the level of functionality, the age, the development background and the way which makes sense to him/her to learn and acquire new skills. Some of the skills which are developed are the identification (objects, colors, shapes, writing-kinetic skills, learning the shapes, colors, numbers, letters, classification, opposite concepts, problem solving, perception of shapes, perception of quantities, equivalence of quantity with objects) and other more complex skills like writing, reading or reading comprehension. All these cognitive skills can consequently lead to new goals, useful for the autonomy of the beneficiaries, like learning about money, time or other various activities of every day life. For example, a person that will acquire the equivalence of quantity with objects, will be able to lay the table for the family, or by acquiring the distinction between full and empty, will be able to put a bottle full of water on the table. Therefore, depending on the set individualized target, the skills are practiced through the activities of daily life as well.

Autonomy is one of the main targets for every person who benefits from rehabilitation therapies. It is essential that the people be able to complete a task autonomously, occupy themselves, and be able to handle their free time. Learning activities of self-occupation, which have a clear start, middle and end, offers the people the possibility to devote time on practicing activities without the intervention of the therapist or the parent. Of course, it is aimed the overall autonomy of the person in implementing the program throughout analysis, structured instruction and visualized means of organizing the environment in a supportive way towards the special needs of autism.

The field of social interaction and social skills is one of the main deficiencies of autism disorder. Within the psycho-pedagogic program, which can also have a group character, it is aimed the alleviation of social difficulties. The beneficiaries interact and come together through exchange role games, through cooking and of course, through outdoor programs. On a communication level, with the help of the logo-therapist, they learn to communicate their requests to other people, to to express wishes, their need for help and to co-exist.

At this point, outdoor programs play an important role too. With a combination of structured teaching and experiential learning, the people are engaged in social situations in different places of the community (cafeterias, super-markets, kiosks, outdoor markets etc). Through these outdoor programs, they have the chance not only to interact and participate in the community but also to expand their cognitive and communication skills on real life conditions. Road traffic education is included in the outdoor program and is one more factor of education and autonomy. 

Finally, we could say that the crown of all the above is to maintain their acquired skills and apply them in other environments too, outside the therapeutic framework. It is an essential but also difficult skill, which requires the cooperation of the person’s wider environment too.

Despite the practical separation of the main pillars of the psycho-pedagogic program, it also worth mentioning that all the above cover and depend on each other and a part of them “touches” other fields too. The constant cooperation of the whole therapeutic team, the constant education and the holistic approach of the beneficiaries is of great importance for our framework.

For the entertainment and the socialization of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

It is a two-hour group program targeting at the entertainment and the socialization of the beneficiaries. The social club can provide the people with Autism Spectrum Disorders with a safe framework, where they can get in touch in an experiential way with the social environment, practice their already acquired skills and develop and practice the skills that they have gained in single and group therapy.

The social clubs are divided into groups, based on their functionality, age and specific skills and interests of the individuals who take in them. Their aim is to include outdoor programs, if the level of the functionality and the children’s behavior allow it, but they can also take place in the institution with special activities and games.

The Social Club targets at getting people with Autism Spectrum Disorder in touch with different places of entertainment, provided this can be possible (restaurants, cafeterias, cinemas, museums, art events) and be able to follow the rules of each social condition, practice their social skills, develop new ones, develop social relationships and expand their interests.

Other additional aims of the Social Club are the autonomous commuting of the members by Public Transport, time and money management, planning a meeting and dealing with unexpected situations. Finally, it is essential for the people to experience their contact with their social environment as a positive experience and get entertained.

Music Therapy is a recognized paramedical profession in western countries and is considered a scientifically documented therapeutic approach which uses music as a way to achieve the therapeutic goals. The music therapist, using a documented methodology and tools, takes advantage of the properties of music (emotional, expressive, communication, educational and encouraging), in order to improve the quality of life of the beneficiaries, through restoring, maintaining and promoting their mental health.

The meetings can be single and group and include activities, such as music game with musical instruments, improvisation, singing, listening or moving and dancing. The beneficiaries do not need to have musical knowledge, since the target is therapeutic and not artistic. In the field of autism as in all fields of music therapy application, there are various targets, depending on the needs and difficulties that every child faces.

Some examples of the fields where progress can be noticed are mentioned here:

• Reduction of stress, development of trust and self-esteem
• Development of emotional and communication skills
• Enhancement of willingness to communicate
• Limitation of behavior disorders
• Development of memory and self-concentration
• Development of social skills
• Development of the ability of taking initiatives
• Expansion of interests

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder of medium and high functionality have functional speech and quite good communication skills so as to be able to convey information about themselves and their daily life. The personal witnesses show the emotional discomfort that they experience, trying to understand the social conditions and join them. Moreover, due to their difficulties, some people with Autism Spectrum Disorder may not be able to recognize, express and deal with their feelings, something which results in developing problematic behaviors, which contribute to their further isolation. Their difficulty to process the special conditions, their frustration by their failing attempts to approach other people, but also the awareness that they are different, can affect their mental health greatly.

Research has shown that the people with Autism Spectrum Disorders develop anxiety disorders, compulsive disorders and depression in much larger numbers compared to the general population. The reasons that this may occur are still under research. Despite all this, it is obvious that the negative experiences of these people in the interaction with their social environment, is an essential factor which contributes to the development of the above disorders.

The Psycho-therapy of Social and Emotional Development combines the elements of the Cognitive-Behavior approach, the Psycho-dynamic approach, but also the knowledge on Development Psychology, targeting at helping people with Autism Spectrum Disorders and relative disorders, developing the social skills and acquiring better awareness of their emotional world. Consequently, the Psycho-therapy of Social and Emotional Development works on two levels. The first level is the psycho-educational level and involves the development of the social and emotional perception of the people and search of their communication and cognitive skills, in order to enter society as smoothly as possible. The second level is the one of emotional health and targets at preventing and dealing with the disorders mentioned above and at the development of a healthy self-image.

In the frameworks of Psychotherapy of Social and Emotional Development groups of children also take place, where the social skills and the expression and management of the children’s emotions are worked in practice through the group’s works.

The main target of logo-therapy is the development and the improvement of the social skills of the beneficiaries on a phonological, semantic, syntax and factual level, whether they acquire the ability of oral speech or not. More specifically, in the frameworks of “Helianthos”, according to the single program of each beneficiary, Logo-therapy can target at:

• Improvement of expressing requirements
• Improvement of understanding speech
• Learning of alternative methods of communication
• Improvement of making yourself understood
• Enrichment of passive and active vocabulary
• Participation and following conversation rules
• Increase of an average length sentence
• Enhancement in identification activities
• Reduction of word repetition and word obsession
• Correct responds to answers
• Improvement of descriptive and narrative speech
• Improvement of the quality and syntax of a sentence
• Improvement in the use of morphology
• Enhancement in activities of reasoning, time sequence, semantic connections, problem solving, language analogy and critical ability
• Understanding and commenting on social conditions and emotions
• Enhancement of the right communication and social interaction
• Improvement of pragmatic skills

Occupational-therapy has as a main goal to enable the people to take part in daily activities and enhance autonomy and functionality in their every day environment. In the frameworks of “Helianthos” this means education in the institution and also outside targeting at:

• The development of gross and fine motor skills
• Dealing with attention and hyper-kinetic difficulties
• The difficulty to plan, organize and practice a complete activity
• Better processing and arranging of sensory stimulants
• The development of self-servicing skills, for example getting dressed/undressed, personal hygiene, engagement in personal interests etc
• The development of daily living skills
• The practice of the acquired skills outside the institution

The purpose of the Gymnastics Adjusted Physical Education is the harmonic physical development and mental development of the people with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their smooth integration in the society.

Targets:

-The development of fundamental motion models

-The improvement of their physical condition

-Body-knowledge

-Acquiring sports skills

Through the Adjusted Physical Education Program people with autism improve their behavior in the cognitive, social and emotional fields. 

Benefits:

• Vocabulary enrichment
• Development of cognitive means
• Acquirement of a strategy towards problem solving
• Improvement of self-esteem and self-confidence
• Reduction of stress
• Socialization
• Communication
• Cooperation
• Self-service

The priority of these goals is the development of the motor and personality skills of the patients and also the enhancement of their health.

More specifically, the development of their perception skills is aimed (kinetic-sensory perception, visual perception, acoustic perception),of their natural physical skills (speed, flexibility, agility), of their non-verbal communication (expressive motion, creative motion), of their social and mental skills (cooperation, team spirit, self-discipline, willpower, responsibility, persistence, insistence and courage), of their self-respect, their creativity and also the adoption of a healthier way of life.

The outdoor programs of Adjusted Physical Education are particularly interesting. A person with Autism Spectrum Disorders can visit an outdoor space in order to exercise with the physical instructor and the volunteer of the institution.

Gardening programs in the Specialized Center of Diagnosis and Rehabilitation of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders “Helianthos” of the Child and Adolescent’s Center.

Since September 2019 the participants of the day program of the Specialized Center of Diagnosis and Rehabilitation of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders “Helianthos”, take part in gardening programs. The above initiative has been implemented by the Child and Adolescent’s Center in order to take advantage of the surrounding space and, with the contribution of the patients, to create a beautiful garden, which will host the gardening program and also other programs, activities and actions of the Center.

Gardening is a way of multi-dimensional, alternative therapy. The environment, where the gardening programs takes place, is considered to have a variety of natural stimulants and is a pleasant and safe way of therapy. Historically, the healing benefits of agriculture were attributed to a number of factors, which included fresh air, physical exercise, being given a task with a purpose and cooperation with other people. The gardening activities can be adjusted and altered according to the goals that we set and wish to achieve.

According to research, when children play in a natural environment, their concentration is improved and it can be noticed a reduction in the levels of stress, which allows them to focus on their daily activities more carefully and willingly. The specific approach borrows some elements from the Montessory pedagogic method and creates an environment which offers the tools and the framework of experiential learning, in order for the children to develop all the possible range of their skills. This contributes to a complete and harmonic development of the mental and physical capabilities of people with disabilities.

More specifically, gardening therapy (horticultural therapy) uses plants and gardening to promote the health and well-being of the people and involves the engagement with gardening activities as a way of therapy and rehabilitation in order to improve the natural, normal, mental, social and spiritual health. It helps the strengthening of the muscles and improves coordination, balance and stamina. People learn to work independently, solve problems and follow instructions. A gardening therapy program can be useful so that the participants can develop their personal and social skills, such as concentration, responsibility, determination, communication, cooperation and social interaction.

A main characteristic of the gardening therapy is that it enables the participants to boost their confidence and gives them a meaning of purpose. Moreover, the variety and the diversity of the natural materials which are used in gardening, such as soil, sand, water, seeds, and plants, offer opportunities for developing new skills and a wider understanding of these skills. Additionally, the gardening programs create the right conditions for socialization. Social interaction in gardening therapy can work as a main feature in intervention, which aims at the improvement of the social self-effectiveness of the participants. The techniques which are used target at teaching them new skills in order to maintain the already existing skills and restore the missing ones.

The gardening therapy continues growing as a field and its programs are applied on people according to their different needs. According to research, an environment where gardening activities take place, can enhance the wish of the people with Autism Spectrum Disorders to participate. The activities offer chances so that the participants can work on their skills in sharing, waiting, following instructions and talking. This effort can be enhanced by including different sensory stimulants, like the texture of the materials, the smell of the plants, the sound of water and the different colors of the flowers.

At “Helianthos” the gardening program aims at involving the participants with structured activities in order to socialize, develop their confidence, and self-awareness, enhance their cooperation, their fine motor skill and their coordination with the right use of tools and develop the cognitive part of gardening, related to the cultivation and the care of the plants. Moreover, it gives them multi-sensory stimulants, while at the same time, they learn to work in a safe way and follow the hygiene rules.

The program aims at educating young adults with autism of high functionality in matters of socialization and autonomous living. The main objective is for the beneficiaries to become familiar with the activities and the responsibilities of a day in an accommodation framework, so as to be able to join later successfully institutions of autonomous or semi-autonomous living, or even acquire the skills that will allow them to live independently.

Teaching autonomy skills to people with autism.

The therapeutic program takes place on Saturday in the suitably adjusted space of “Helianthos” at the Peristeri area of Attica (Chrysolora 10-12). A group of people with Autism of High Functionality, learns to co-exist and deal with daily matters, under the close guidance of expert therapists.

Enhancement of autonomy -self-managing- self-servicing

The training includes skills of every day life, outdoor programs and the development of social skills and strategies of behavior management. In this way, the participants acquire the ability to live with others in the frameworks of a team with greater autonomy.

Advantages:

• It promotes the already acquired knowledge of the person to self-management skills.
• It enhances autonomy and self-management.
• It makes the transition from one activity to another easier.
• It reduces the possibility of developing a provocative behavior.

The maximum number of participants is 7 people.

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Diagnosis

Children Psychiatry/Psychiatric Observation

Provision of Supervision in Supportive Psychotherapy of social and emotional development.

Parents’ Consulting has as a main goal the communication between the family and the therapeutic framework about issues concerning the child and about the emotional support and guidance of the parents in matters of dealing with the behavior difficulties and further development skills of their children. Depending on the case and the needs of the family, some other objectives of the program can be:

• Keeping the family informed about the child’s progress in the center, regarding the targets that were initially set.
• Communication about any concerns or questions of each side.
• The psycho-training of the parents in matters of autonomy, communication and interaction of the child in the house and outdoor places.
• A generalized practice of the already acquired skills of the children outside the therapeutic framework.
• The cooperation in order to deal with behaviors that might concern or any other difficulties which might arise in every other aspect.
• The acceptance and understanding of the difficulties and of the children’s potentials.
• The emotional support of the parents.

The parents’ group are a common therapeutic intervention/support towards the families with people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. There is a variety of them (psycho-training, consulting, psychotherapy, support-encouragement etc), depending on the form and the target/work that they have to accomplish.

The main goal of these teams is to support and strengthen the parents. Some other wider goals depending on the case could be:

• Meeting and sharing with other parents.
• Psycho-training of the parents on specific topic units, conversations, exchange of opinions and ideas.
• Emotional support.
• Supporting each other in the group:
  • for a better cooperation with the family.
  • for a better cooperation with the community.
  • for a better cooperation with the professionals.
• Exchanging experiences and concerns about the dealing of behaviors, the development of communication and interaction, new recreational activities etc.

Nautilos is a program which was created in order to take the pressure off the families with a person with Autism Spectrum Disorders, during the weekends. At the same time, it gives the chance to the people with Autism Spectrum Disorders to occupy themselves creatively, to be entertained and generalize their abilities of communication and of every day life. In the framework of “Nautilos” people with Autism have the chance to:

• participate in group activities, adjusted to their needs
• practice their social skills through the enhancement of their communication and interaction, not only with the therapists but also with the other members of the group (generalization of the use of alternative means of communication, group games, development of dialogue)
• generalize the already acquired skills of self-servicing and every day life
• get in touch with the community through outdoor programs

The program takes place at the weekend at the premises of the Center. The time of staying and the frequency of the participation of each child depend on the needs of the child and its family and they are prearranged. Moreover, the child can have the opportunity to come to the center occasionally, as long as this doesn’t upset the child and feels the environment familiar. The entering of a person with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the program becomes gradually and after the evaluation of his/her skills and needs by a therapeutic team. The basic criteria for entering the program is the person’s ability to work on a group level and not to show intense behaviors which cause concern.

It is a group program and the ratio of the therapists to the beneficiaries depends on the needs and the special traits of the cases, with a minimum number of two therapists, regardless of the number of the beneficiaries for safety reasons.

The long-hour therapeutic program is created based on the individualized needs of each beneficiary and the targets which are set each time by the Multidisciplinary Group in cooperation with the parents, while it is mostly a group program (groups of 2-3 people mostly).

More specifically, the rehabilitation program includes single and group therapies, targeting at the development of cognitive skills, the improvement of gross and fine motor skills, of speech and communication, socialization, self-engagement and skills of every day life. At the same time, outdoor programs are also included, which aim at road traffic education, the acquaintance with the community, the improvement of the psycho-kinetic development and also the improvement of the concentration level and the increase of tolerance towards sensory stimulants. The program is implemented by therapists of various specialties and includes programs of logo-therapy, occupational therapy, psycho-pedagogic, physical education, music therapy, social club and psycho-kinetic, depending on the needs of the beneficiaries.

In order for a beneficiary to enter the program, he/she will have to be able to join group meetings and come to the center for a minimum limit of hours. The staying hours can be either in the morning or in the evening and vary from the opening of the center until its closing, depending on the needs of the families and the possibilities of each program. A necessary requirement for a person to join the program, is the cooperation of the parents through consulting once a month.