Effect of Cognitive Intervention on Children with ADHD

Abstract

Although not considered a diagnostic criterion in DSM-IV, motor difficulties in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are commonly reported. Prevalence of co-morbidity of ADHD and Developmental Coordination Disorder is as high as 50%. Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) is a problem-solving approach originally developed for children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. In this approach, therapists support children to use cognitive strategies in a process of guided discovery to solve occupational performance problems. A single case experimental design (multiple baselines) was used to examine the influence of a 12-week intervention using CO-OP with six children with ADHD. Outcome measures included the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), Goal Attainment Scaling and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency and Performance (BOTMP). The results of this study demonstrated improvements in both goals and motor performance in the participants due to the intervention. These results provide some support for the use of CO-OP with children with ADHD. Further research into the application of CO-OP with children with ADHD is warranted based on these preliminary positive findings regarding the efficacy of this intervention to address motor-based performance difficulties.

Effectiveness of cognitive orientation to (daily) occupational performance (CO-OP) on children with cerebral palsy: A mixed design

“…The above-mentioned results are consistent with previous studies providing evidence for the effectiveness of CO-OP as an intervention to improve motor performance in children with DCD (Miller et al, 2001;Ward & Rodger, 2004), ADHD (Gharebaghy, Rassafiani, & Cameron, 2015), and CP (Cameron et al, 2016). The results of this study provide evidence for the effective application of CO-OP for children with CP.…”

“…Considering the improvement of motor difficulties through the adoption of the CO-OP approach for children with CP, the results can be deemed promising. The results of this study are consistent with the study by Polatajko et al, (2001), which showed improvement in performance of motor test components through CO-OP intervention, and with the study by Gharebaghy et al (2015), which showed improvement of motor performance in the BOTMP in children with ADHD (Gharebaghy, et al, 2015).…”

Conceptualisation and use of executive functions in paediatrics: A scoping review of occupational therapy literature

“…Evidence of eight intervention approaches implemented among children or adolescents was reported in the reviewed publications. The Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO‐OP; Polatajko & Mandich, ) was the most common intervention reported and was implemented in seven articles (Banks, Rodger & Polatajko, ; Gharebaghy, Rassafiani & Cameron, ; Missiuna et al ., ; Phelan, Steinke & Mandich, ; Rodger & Brandenburg, ; Rodger & Liu, ; Rodger, Pham & Mitchell, ). The remaining interventions are presented in Table .…”

Potential benefits of the cognitive orientation to daily occupational performance approach in young adults with spina bifida or cerebral palsy: a feasibility study

“…It was originally designed for children with developmental co-ordination disorder, and for that group, there is strong evidence of effectiveness in goal achievement [24][25][26]. There is also evidence for CO-OP in adults with neurological disability after stroke [27][28][29] or traumatic brain injury [30] as well as in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder [31] and, recently, in children with CP [5,32]. However, we have found no studies evaluating the use of CO-OP in adults with CP or in persons with SB, and nor has CO-OP, to the best of our knowledge, been used or tested in a Swedish context.…”