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Occupational Therapy for ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a neurologically based disorder, affects approximately 3 to 7 percent of all children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. ADHD may be treated with medication, counseling and therapies such as occupational therapy.

  1. Function

    • Occupational therapy focuses on improving the ability of muscle groups to work together to complete tasks such as handwriting and fastening clothing. Specially trained occupational therapists may also be able to address sensory integration problems that often occur in children with ADHD.

    Sensory Integration Dysfunction

    • Sensory integration dysfunction or sensory processing disorder often occurs along with ADHD, or it may be misdiagnosed as ADHD. Symptoms of sensory integration disorder manifest as over-reactions to touch, smell, taste, sound and sight. Children with this disorder may be excessively fidgety, easily distracted, aggressive and clumsy and have a high tolerance to pain.

    Expert Insight

    • According to a study presented at the American Occupational Therapy Association in 2005, occupational therapy reduced symptoms of ADHD in nearly all of the children participating in the study. Specifically, occupational therapy that addresses sensory processing difficulties seems to be the most beneficial. Techniques used included deep pressure, exercising with an exercise ball and swinging.

    Benefits

    • Occupational therapy helps children with sensory integration dysfunction more efficiently process low-level senses pertaining to touch, position, movement and alertness. This in turn allows the child to give more attention to those senses that require a higher level of processing such as vision and hearing.

    Considerations

    • If a child has a special education ruling, he may be able to receive occupational therapy at school as a related service on his individualized education plan (IEP). In most cases, a doctor will need to write a prescription for occupational therapy in order to initiate services.

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