Case Study: Fred

Therapist: Vivienne Williams

Issues & Programs

• Organisational Strategies
• ADHD

What were the problems?

Fred (not his real name) was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and was referred to Kids Matters for help with his organization skills. He was on Concerta medication. Fred was having major issues with beginning and completing his assignments, losing his work and subsequent behaviour problems as he tried to cover up his difficulties and avoid the tasks he found hard. Although he was smart, Fred was doing poorly at school.

What did Vivienne do?

• Full assessment to understand the underlying issues.
• Support and education to understand arousal, stress and “brain fry”
• Sensory diet type activities to improve attention and arousal
• Cognitive and educational strategies to improve organization and planning skills
• Brain-gym type activities to help de- stress, organize his arousal and thinking

What did parents do?

• Consistent attendance to Occupational Therapy every fortnight
• Integration of strategies learned in therapy in everyday life.

Outcomes

• Fred now knows how to start his assignments and hands most of his drafts and assignments in on time.
• Fred no longer hides his “un-done” work and pretends that he left it somewhere else.
• Fred is learning how to organize and categorize his thoughts for written work.
• Fred understands his arousal and knows some strategies to recover more quickly when getting overwhelmed with “brain fry”.
• Fred’s grades have improved from “C”s and “D”s to “B”s.
• Fred is no longer considered a “behaviour problem” at school.
• Fred has a regular group of friends and behaves appropriately most of the time.

Where to from here?

We are seeking to strengthen Fred’s organization and categorization skills and apply this to his work so he can easily organize his thoughts for writing.