Brain Mapping Performance as an Occupational Therapy Assessment Aid in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

Copyright © 2020 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. IMPORTANCE: Brain mapping performance (BMP) may provide strong predictors to analyze primary functional outcomes and support occupational therapy with clients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). OBJECTIVE: To clarify the value of quantitative electroencephalography to indicate BMP in children with ADHD. DESIGN: One-year cross-sectional study. SETTING: Brain Computer Interface Laboratory, Mahidol University, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. PARTICIPANTS: Thai school-age children with and without ADHD (N = 305). OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: We used θ relative power in concordance with stepwise multiple regression analysis. Outcomes included measures of 12 brain locations that were compared between children with and without ADHD. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between the groups, especially for Cz, T3, Fp1, Fz, F4, and F7. According to BMP, the group with ADHD had higher emotional awareness and language comprehension than the group without ADHD. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Occupational therapy practitioners can use BMP as a valuable tool for setting occupational goals to help children with ADHD improve their social-emotional learning performance in school and in the community. BMP may provide an evaluation to support occupational therapy services for clients with ADHD. The result can be applied in clinical settings by quantitative electroencephalography training. WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS: BMP can be used as a neuropsychological and behavioral assessment tool for setting SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-oriented) goals for occupational therapy services for clients with ADHD.