OT vs. EF coaching

[DenverMom]

Hello, I’m wondering how occupational therapy and executive function coaching/ADHD coaching differ from one another? What does an OT do to help with emotional regulation etc to help ADHD kiddos?

[Alt49]

we did OT for about 5 months. It didn’t help my son at all. I think we would have needed to stick with it longer and we also had 3 different therapists (due to one leaving the practice and then a second change due to scheduling conflicts). We were there for emotional regulation and sensory issues. I’d be interested to hear other experiences because definitely willing to try it again if we just had a neutral experience. I have found that parent child interaction therapy (pcit) helped. And my son did a social group (not totally sure how much that helped but it certainly didn’t hurt) and we are now doing exposure therapy with a psychologist (my son is scared of loud noises that startle him) too soon to tell if that’s going to work

[Crytna610]

Hi I am a school based OT and we give sensory strategies and executive functioning strategies needed to help with accessing school. Not all OTs have training in Executive functioning but many activities we already present deal with Executive functioning anyway. Executive Functioning encompasses many different areas. We also usually collaborate with speech and teaching staff to introduce emotional regulation strategies such as visuals or setting up a calm down area when needed or ways to ask for breaks. I would look for someone with experience with ADHD kids whether it be a psychologist, OT or cognitive behaviorist. Hope this helps.

[Mamamichl in reply to Crytna610]

I was accepted to have an OT on my daughter’s 504, but it’s been 4 months and she still hasn’t seen one. Should I ask for an iep evaluation or push to get ot that is already on her 504? I want to say it’s consult. She needs help with handwriting (writes like 2nd grader while in 5th grade), she may have eds and could be whyuncomfortable to write. She definitely needs help with rsd. Her second grade teacher said she made a lot of progress with weekly ot visits in her class, so I’ve been trying 3 years to get ot.

[Crytna610 in reply to Mamamichl]

I would push for an iep, 504s can be shaky to make sure they are being followed but an iep is a legal document that has to be followed.

[Mamamichl in reply to Crytna610]

I will have my partner call tomorrow. My students are doing nwea so I’m busy.

[DenverMom]

We are working with an ADHD coach right now. Really I was just wondering what OT does for these kiddos. I figured it was a lot of organizational and the things you mentioned but wanted to know more out of curiosity really.

[Onthemove1971 in reply to DenverMom]

I have also seen them recommend things like weighted/sensory vests. They have also recommended fidget seats and fidget tools.

Once an OT recommended a piece of "grippie" side of the velco under our sons desk on a place he can touch to help with focus.

Hope this helps

[GreenGrass24]

I think another big difference is the psychoeducation component...OT go through schooling and clinical programs that specifically cover things like sensory integration, emotional regulation, and mental health. So in a sense that they’re trained to understand the root causes of emotional and behavioral challenges and approach them from both a medical and therapeutic perspectives. Also it's covered by my insurance.