HISTORY OF THE BLACK RUSSIAN TERRIER

 

Understanding ADHD Through the Eye of an Occupational Therapist

(With Integrated Canine assistance)

Every day in Kenya, we unknowingly meet and interact with children, teenagers and adults struggling to navigate life with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Their struggles, challenges and strengths can only be observed and appreciated by a trained or informed person since unlike people with physical disabilities, theirs is an invisible disability.

According to statistics, 3-5% of the population have ADHD. In Kenya, that would translate to about 1.5-2.5 million people! That is a staggering number of people who struggle with a condition that is largely not understood and not diagnosed. Where are these children, teenagers and adults? What is going on in their lives? Are they getting the help they need?  These are some very pertinent questions we all need to ask as we seek to offer solutions.

While the term may be becoming familiar to more people in Kenya, ADHD is largely misunderstood, undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or oversimplified.

What is ADHD?

ADHD is basically a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects how one processes information, organizes ideas to carry out everyday tasks, and manages routines, emotions and social interactions.  It is more than just being hyperactive or having trouble paying attention. From an occupational therapy point of view, we do not just focus on symptoms but how ADHD affects occupational performance in activities of daily living, learning, work and leisure, and how to support affected persons perform maximally within their environments.

ADHD In Real Life

Executive function is the ability of the brain to plan, prioritize, organize, regulate emotions, and focus on finishing a task. People with ADHD struggle with executive function.

The body of a child with ADHD craves movement to stay regulated. Such a child will struggle to stay seated in class, and is often labeled as misbehaving. They disrupt order, blurt out answers before questions are completed, verbally abuse others, always on the move, climbs dangerously, always fidgeting and have trouble focusing on a task. They engage in new activities without finishing the previous ones and appear to forget things all the time. Females tend to be less hyperactive but become anxious, depressed, overwork to compensate and always have feelings of being inadequate.

 On the other hand, a teenager with ADHD struggles to finish homework because they keep on forgetting deadlines, losing study materials, and often feel overwhelmed.  They have low self-esteem, struggle to initiate action and always procrastinating. They have trouble being organized and are easily overwhelmed by cluttered environments or noisy areas.

 As adults, these people keep on jumping between unfinished tasks at work, change jobs regularly, feel frustrated and appear disorganized despite putting a lot of effort. They may struggle when given many choices, get overwhelmed when faced with complex tasks, and are always struggling to remain focused and motivated. They have difficulties developing and maintaining relationships such as in marriage since we tend to see them as not being good listeners, always disrupting conversations, forgetting details that matter in relationships and friendships while they themselves keep on blaming and judging themselves as inadequate.

They forget deadlines, have trouble dealing with bills and social interactions and sadly, a good number get into alcoholism, substance abuse and criminal activities.

An occupational therapist does not view these as just behaviors that need fixing but signals that the environment and support system require adaptation to help the individual improve their occupational performance and live more fruitful and fulfilling lives.

Occupational therapists seek to assist individuals in developing skills they need in occupational performance areas such as activities of daily living, work, learning, leisure and social interactions.

Occupational therapy for persons with ADHD include:

1.       Sensory processing support

Individuals with ADHD are often overwhelmed by sounds, sights, textures among other things. An OT will assess and help regulate sensory input so that the individual is able to remain calm and focused so as to perform the task at hand.

 

2.       Executive function coaching

Through the use of checklists, planners and timers, an OT will help the individual to break down complex tasks into small, achievable tasks.  This in turn will reduce stress and increase independence and productivity.

3.       Environmental adaptation

Often, people try to intervene in the lives of persons with ADHD by seeking to instill more discipline in a child or someone who is underperforming in their workplace. Some end up being fired or demoted due to poor performance. However, all that may be required might be something as minor as a quieter working environment to reduce distractions. An OT will help develop environmental adaptation strategies that will enhance calmness, reduce distractions and overwhelm, allowing the person to perform better and achieve more.

4.       Self-regulation skills

Occupational therapy interventions include among other things, recognizing triggers, managing emotions, providing fidgety tools, calming strategies such as deep pressure therapy, sensory integration interventions and deep breathing strategies.

5.       Collaboration with family and educators

Direct collaboration with other groups such as educators, employers and family is a great way of building effective, sustainable and realistic strategies that work at home, school and workplace, not just in therapy sessions. Unfortunately, this rarely happens in Kenya due to lack of proper referral and networking channels among professionals. When well utilized, collaboration is the most effective way of managing ADHD.

           

In conclusion, occupational therapy has tools and strategies that can be very helpful in assisting persons with ADHD not just cope but become successful in life. Persons with ADHD have great strengths that are usually buried underneath the symptoms that accompany the condition. They are very creative areas such as music and art, great in problem solving, very loyal employees, and make great entrepreneurs, if they get the right support systems.  Together we can make a big difference in their lives.

 

At Kirangi Dogs, we are committed to creating awareness and solutions for persons with ADHD. We have an Occupational Therapist in our team and we are in the process of developing Assistance Dogs that aid persons with ADHD cope with their challenges. If you would like to know more about assistance dogs for persons with ADHD, or you, a child or adult you know have symptoms that suggest the presence of ADHD, do not hesitate to contact our Occupational Therapist at Kirangi Dogs through our email, kirangidogs@gmail.com or call 0785535569 for more details.