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.

Possible Setting as an OT Practitioner

There are many fields an occupational therapist can go into once they graduate from occupational therapy school. Currently, I am interested in working in a pediatric setting in a hospital. My dream job would be to work for a private not for profit agency such as St. Jude Hospital. I have always loved working with children growing up. Working for a private not for profit agency would inspire me daily as I went to work. It shows how amazing an origination can be to help people who cannot afford insurance get the quality care that they need. At St. Jude, there are private investors who contribute to the funding of the hospital. If patients have insurance, their insurance company will get billed, but if family cannot afford to pay the rest of the bill then the hospital covers it.

In this field, I would love to work with children with disabilities and those with mental health problems. I have a passion that each child should get the chance to have as normal as a childhood as possible. I also would like to working in a school system that focused on the mental health of the students. The school that I went to never had a counselor that students felt comfortable going to about anything other than academic problems. Being able to work at a public agency would provide some challenges with how much funding the government would allow to work with students with mental health struggles. I would work to get a grant to fund the therapy sessions about mental health if I needed to because I feel it is extremely important in our society today. I hope the rules for government funding for occupational therapy practitioners in the school system change so they can met all the needs they see for each child.

Era Presentation

The era presentations were sooo good all around!! Everyone went into great detail on how occupational therapy impacted the era, but also how each era impacted where we are as a society today. There were a couple of points from some presentations that stuck out to me more than others. One point that I found interesting was from 70s group presentation. It was about the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 1975. This act started the protection and advocacy system. It was appointed the "Big Responsibility" act. It gave people the authority to pursue legal and administrative action to protect the rights of those with disabilities. It granted people freedom from harm and discrimination. It was also cost free, as supported over 50,000 Tennesseans. I loved this point because I feel like everyone should have the right to protect themselves no matter what. Another point that I found interesting was from the work portion of the 80s group presentation. In this part, they stated how there had been a big growth in the health care services in the 80s. Health services grew so much do to factors like a growing elderly population, technology advances, more government requirements, and some private insurers. In an effort to cut cost there became more outpatient facilities, nursing & personal care facilities, and residential care opportunities. It is important that the health care services grew so much then, because the facilities that resulted from the growth are the bigger areas that occupational therapist practice in today. The last point that I found interesting from the era presentations was about health care in the 2010s era.  The 2010s started part of the affordable health care act. It stated that coverage cannot be canceled unless there is fraud present. It also made it to where dependents could be covered by their parents health insurance up to the age of twenty-six. In 2014 it eliminated annual limits on essential health benefits and restriction on pre-existing conditions. We still use some of those rules today. I really enjoyed learning so many new things about each era throughout the presentations! Everyone made each presentation fun and enjoyable!

The History of Disabilities

After hearing Dr. Kiesling speak, I feel as if I have a better understanding of the history of disabilities. It is so important to review history to understand why things happened in the past to be able to better our future. People used to be viewed as criminals, and now we see that disabilities are become a way of culture. It was hard for me to hear how awful people with disabilities were treated before society realized that it was okay to not be "normal". At the institution in Pennhurst, PA, people were institutionalized for significant developmental disabilities and minor disabilities. The list for minor disabilities included things like diminished sight or hearing, imperfect speech, and imperfect gait. If history did not change for the better, I would be included in the minor disabilities list. I've had glaucoma since I was born and I personally do not feel disabled. I have very little vision in my right eye. I don't feel that way because I have not known anything different since I was born. Most people don't know that I can only see out of one eye unless I tell them. By the rules of the Pennhurst, PA institution, it would have be acceptable for me to be institutionalized. It is important to understand the history of disabilities so we can know how to keep improving society's view on disabilities. 

It is amazing to me to see how far society has come to accept people with disabilities and to provide inclusion. The Individuals with Disabilities Education act is a great example of how far society has come. This act states that children with disabilities are not to be excluded from public schools because of their disability. The school districts are required to provide service to meet their individual needs. As a future occupational therapist, I believe inclusion is a vital role in helping people with disabilities. They want to feel like any other person without a disability feels. They want to be "normal" and function independently in their daily living. I was very impressed with the life of Ed Roberts. Ed Roberts contracted polio as an eleven year old child. Once he had polio he became paralyzed and the school he went to did not want him to go to school anymore. Luckily, he had someone in his corner to fight for him and Ed was able to continue to receive schooling through phone call taught lessons. His mother wanted even more for him so she fought for his right to go back to school and he eventually did. Once Ed graduated from high school, he went to a community college and earned his associates degree. Ed wanted more for his life so he tried to get a job at the vocational rehabilitation center but they turned him down. He wanted to go to Berkley college and eventually made that dream happen. Ed is such an inspiration because he never gave up even when life tried to knock him down. I hope to be able to encourage clients to never give up on their goal no matter how much society tells them that they cannot do it. Dr. Kiesling really opened up my eyes to the history of disabilities and how it continues to change today.