Fail Of The Week: Occupational Therapy Advice for ADD/ADHD

If you have a member of the family, especially a young child, with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) you will know how difficult it can be to get them out of the house and to school on time. Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on. The shoes have still not been put on. The shoes have been long forgotten because oh look an imaginary cat. This stuff is real.

This week, I almost cried at a children’s occupational therapist at Southmead Hospital, in a desperate bid to come up with strategies to get my child up, out of bed, clothed, fed, shoed, out of the door for school and past imaginary kittens and rabbits.

I came home with a list of excellent strategies to try in the interim whilst waiting for their report.

Whiteboards and visual timetables prepared, Stabilo pencils purchased for school. And finally, The Blues Brothers movie soundtrack chosen for the steady, strong beat to help her body wake up for the day. An excellent idea.

However, the unexpected outcome for this was that the missing H from the ADD – the Hyperactivity element – is clearly owned by a certain mother who got over excited at early morning Blues Brothers and made the entire family 20 minutes late by performing as John Belushi at the Palace Hotel Ballroom. During this time, the child with ADD lazily lounged on the sofa, imagining kittens playing on the floor and watching mum with a toy mic belting out She Caught The Katy at 7.30am.

#Fail