{"id":345277,"date":"2023-10-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/occupational-therapy-and-adhd\/"},"modified":"2023-10-24T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T09:00:00","slug":"occupational-therapy-and-adhd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/occupational-therapy-and-adhd\/","title":{"rendered":"Occupational Therapy and ADHD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)<\/strong> is thought to affect between 400,000 and over a million children in France. This extremely wide range alone highlights how difficult this neurodevelopmental disorder is to diagnose. Once ADHD is identified, the occupational therapist assesses its impact on daily activities and puts adjustments in place<\/strong> to help the child and the parents<\/a> day after day.<\/p>\n

At least 1 child with ADHD per class!<\/h2>\n

A neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) appearing in childhood, ADHD<\/a>, which affects boys and girls alike, is characterised by 3 major symptoms<\/strong>: attention difficulties, a degree of impulsivity, and hyperactivity. While these signs aren’t specific to the disorder on their own, in ADHD they are particularly intense and sustained<\/strong> over time.<\/p>\n

Health professionals estimate that at least one child per class is affected<\/strong>, but 80% of them go undiagnosed<\/strong>. This is especially true for girls, who are more affected by inattention and tend to daydream quietly at the back of the class. As childhood ends, ADHD gradually fades for many, but it can persist into adulthood in 30% of cases<\/strong>, leaving hyperactive adults.<\/p>\n

Diagnosing ADHD and assessing its impact<\/h2>\n

Clinical in nature, the differential diagnosis of ADHD<\/strong> relies on a full set of assessments carried out with medical professionals (doctor, paediatric neurologist) and allied health professionals (speech and language therapist, neuropsychologist, occupational therapist…), in order to rule out all other conditions<\/strong>. While medication can help manage the consequences of this disorder, there are plenty of other ways to manage it and ease its effects.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, the <\/strong>occupational therapy assessment<\/strong><\/a> is used to evaluate the impact of ADHD on the child’s daily activities<\/strong>, both at school and outside it. To do this, the professional will ask a few questions: for example, can they write fast enough to follow and understand the lesson in class? Do they help tidy their room at home? How do meals go, at the school canteen, at home, or at a restaurant? Do they wash all parts of their body properly? Can they ride a bike at the same pace as their classmates? And so on.<\/p>\n

ADHD adjustments in occupational therapy<\/h2>\n

Based on the results, the occupational therapist will put tailored adjustments<\/strong> in place to make daily life easier for their patient. Using proven rehabilitation techniques and methods, they will work on improving the organisation and planning of activities<\/strong>, as well as attention and concentration<\/strong> while carrying them out.<\/p>\n

Better still, they will design self-regulation strategies<\/strong>, so that the child with ADHD becomes aware of the moments when they lose focus and can “activate” strategies to regain it. At the same time, the occupational therapist will put reassuring routines<\/strong> in place, both sensory and motor, and help the child work around their difficulties<\/strong>, using appropriate tools.<\/p>\n

If ADHD has been diagnosed or is suspected, don’t hesitate to reach out to the occupational therapists on the Ora-Visio platform<\/a>: specialised in these disorders, they will know how to guide you, and your child, in managing this condition day to day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is thought to affect between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":345278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-occupational-therapy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}