My Take on ADHD and OT Working Together

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    I listened to a podcast today called "Can Occupational Therapy Help with ADHD?" with Jennie Friedman and Dr. Stephanie Lancaster. When deciding what to further research today, the podcast with a topic of ADHD caught my eye due to curiosity. I recently was diagnosed with ADHD after struggling to maintain focus in simple conversations, classes, and being hyper-stimulated very easily. I did not even imagine the career path that I had chosen could work with clients that have ADHD. This goes to show that there are countless things that occupational therapists can be involved in, but people just do not realize what occupational therapy is or what it can do. I am eager to continue learning about this diagnosis and coming up with ways to help cope with symptoms and to further improve everyday life. Although, I do think that more could be done to educate people that adults can also have ADHD. I think that there should be more advocacy when discussing Occupational Therapy, but I do feel that there should be more of an awareness on the topic of adults with ADHD and how to cope and progress simultaneously. As Occupational Therapists, our job is to assist clients with things that interfere with their everyday life. Although I did not think that ADHD or ADD would be a topic under our belt, this podcast opened my eyes to see how we can support adults and children with ADHD. 

    After listening to the podcast and taking my own personal experiences into account, ADHD can cause sensory processing challenges. This means you can have problems with the feeling of clothing touching your skin, textures of food, places being too loud, etc. Before I was diagnosed, I would feel as though I was going crazy because of the way my socks fit on my feet or having to leave small functions due to being very overwhelmed and not being able to socialize properly. With children, I think implementing strategies at a young age can desensitize them to textures, messes, etc. This could be with the broken crayons that the speaker discussed with "letting things go." I like how she connected the broken crayons and control over our own lives because at times I can feel myself becoming overwhelmed and wanting to be angry due to not having control. I think this allows a person to become desensitized and to learn how to let things go and not completely lose their ground as a person with one thing not going as planned. Lastly, I like the way Dr. Lancaster described how sensory seekers need a sensory diet. I think implementing movement breaks every couple of hours allows for children and even adults to refocus their minds and become more attentive. At times, I can find my mind wondering off during lectures wanting something to do, so I love how each of our classes implement a ten minute break to let us clear our minds. I think the more that schools implement small strategies as the sensory diet, the better off students will be overall.  

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