Association of Sensory Processing Difficulties and Daily Function Difficulties of Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder and Controls - כנס החברה הישראלית להפרעת קשב 2017, 2-3 במרץ, 2017, דן-פנורמה, תל אביב

אביבה מימוני בלוך ^1,4 Hagar Offek ^1,2,3 Sara Rosenblum ⁴ Edith Posener ^4,5 Zmira Silman Batya Engel-Yeger ⁵

¹The Pediatric Neurology and Developmental Unit, Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital
²Department of Occupational Therapy, The Laboratory of Complex Human Activity and Participation
³Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences of the Haifa University
⁴Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University
⁵The Child Development Center, Clalit Health Services

Objective: The aim of the present study was to find whether the prevalence of Sensory Processing Difficulties (SPD) is similar among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typical controls, and whether SPD affects daily function among children with ADHD.

Methods: 77 children, aged 8-11 years (37 children with ADHD and 39 typical controls) were recruited. The Conner`s Parent Rating Scale–Revised: Short Form (CPRS-R:S) was used to profile ADHD symptoms. The Short Sensory Profile (SSP) was used to measure sensory processing abilities. The Children Activity Scale for Parents (ChAS-P) was used to evaluate children’s difficulties in daily functioning.

Results: The SSP total score of the ADHD group (142.13±25.98) was significantly lower than that of the control group (180.08±11.68; t=-8.23). In the ADHD group, 65.8% of children had an abnormal SSP score indicating SPD, compared to only 2.6% in the control group (χ²=34.40, p<.001). The daily function of children with ADHD was significantly lower than in typical controls (ChAS-p mean 3.95±0.68; and 4.78, ±.36 in ADHD and control. respectively) (t(75)= -6.71, p<.001). The largest differences were found in the category of activities involving executive functions (3.7 ±.79; and 4.76 ±.44). Children with ADHD and abnormal SSP score, had a significantly lower daily functional ability than controls (p<.001). In contrast, children with ADHD but normal SSP had only marginally lower daily functional abilities than controls (p=.128). Overall, males had lower mean ChAS-P scores than females, however the differences were statistically-significant only among the children with ADHD. An abnormal SSP score was a weightier factor in the ChAS-P performance for males than females.

Conclusion: The present study supports the importance of SPD as a possible specifier of ADHD in children that correlates with functional consequences.