Can Occupational Therapy Help with ADHD?

I chose to listen to the podcast "Can Occupational Therapy Help with ADHD?" by Jennie Friedman with guest speaker Dr. Stephanie Lancaster. I chose this podcast because I have someone in my family that deals with ADHD on a daily bases and I had no clue that you can benefit from occupational therapy if you have ADHD. It is important to learn all you can about a condition to be able to mange it better every day.

While listening to the podcast, I learned a lot of important things about the condition of ADHD. Often times, people can mix up ADHD and sensory processing disorder. There is a fine line in distinguishing between the two disorders. Both disorders can make a person restless and unable to concentrate in task they do in their everyday life. Sensory processing disorder happens when ones brain has trouble receiving and responding to information that goes through your senses. ADHD is more about problems with focusing and controlling impulsive behaviors. Both of these disorders can cause people to be anxious and even act out in social setting. Some children with ADHD might get mislabeled as problem children when they don't follow the "sit still and focus" rules in classroom settings. They are not "bad" children, they are just having trouble focusing on one thing. These type of children can fall under the category of sensory seekers. Examples of things that sensory seekers do is twisting or playing with their hair, spinning in circles when sitting on the rug during quiet time, tapping their pencil, chewing on their pencil, and even picking or chewing their nails. There is a sensory profile that OT's in the school settings do to test to see if children have ADHD. The profile is called the Dunn Sensory Profile. The OT will give the teacher and the parents a form to fill out for that child. It helps the OT see what behaviors the child has at school and at home.

When dealing with a child that is a "sensory seeker", there needs to be something put into place to help the child focus their attention in the right place. An example that Dr. Lancaster gave during the podcast was called the Sensory Diet. It is not your typical diet. It has nothing to do with food. She even said another name for it could be the sensory schedule. For the sensory diet, the OT would tell the teacher to have the child take a "move break" for about three minutes every hour and a half to two hours. The teacher can have the whole class participate. It can be something as simple as having the class do jumping jacks in place or doing a stretching exercise for three minutes. This gives the child a break from focusing and allows them to relax their mind. It helps with anxiety they may feel because of their ADHD condition. Doing this everyday can make the child happier and have them actually enjoy school instead of dreading it every day.

Overall, I really enjoyed this podcast. It was helpful to see that there are more ways to help with ADHD than taking medication. I learned from listening to Dr. Lancaster and Jennie Friedman, that minor changes to a person's environment and routine can help people with ADHD fix or manage their problems if they can commit to doing it every day.  ADHD is a daily battle for people and it is important that they know there are was to manage it besides medication. I strongly believe that occupational therapy can help find ways to manage the disorder that fits each individual specifically.

Common Misconception of OT

One of the biggest misconceptions we hear about in the field of occupational therapy, is that it is the same thing as physical therapy.

Blissful Ordinariness is ESSENTIAL

"Blissful ordinariness" is different for every individual. It is finding meaning of the little things in your day to day life, finding joy in the simplicity of a routine, and even finding comfort in being able to do the things you enjoy. Often we tend to overlook the small things in our life until we find ourselves unable to do them. Too often, we take things that we are able to do that others cannot do for granted. Life is too short to not acknowledge being able to do our daily activities independently. Occupational therapist strive to help individuals find their "blissful ordinariness" in daily activities by having a good therapeutic relationship with the client.  Using the holistic approach when working with clients shows people how OTs care more about the person than the illness. Even if clients are not able to fully do complete their daily activities like they used to, then the therapist finds ways to ensure that the client reaches "blissful ordinariness" in their own way. Each client that comes in with the same problem or illness will not be treated in the exact same way. Yes some things will be the same, but each treatment plan should be built around the individual client and not the illness. Cynthia Cooper, MFA, MA, OTR/L CHT  hit the nail on the head when she stated that occupational therapy is a "mystique" that you cannot put into words. That is one of the main reasons I decided to pursue a career in occupational therapy.  By using the holistic approach in a career with individuals, they will feel like there is someone out there that cares about them and wants to see them succeed in daily life activities. No individual should feel less than someone else. I believe it is so important to encourage clients to find their "blissful ordinariness" in their day to day life.