STUDY TO DETERMINE SENSORY PROCESSING DYSFUNCTION IN CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

INTRODUCTION: ADHD is one of the most common neuro-developmental disorders of childhood. Children with ADHD have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors or being over-active. Sensory processing disorders (SPD) are impairments in responding to sensory stimuli such as impairments in detection, modulation, or interpretation of stimuli. SPD may further worsen their behaviour and quality of life. OBJECTIVES: 1) To determine the prevalence of sensory processing dysfunction in children with ADHD as compared to typically developing children. 2) To detect presence of auditory, visual, oral and touch sensory processing abnormalities in children with ADHD as compared to normal children. MATERIAL AND METHODS :. A sample size of 55 children with ADHD diagnosed based on DSM V criteria and a control population of 55 typically developing children was taken. All parents filled the sensory profile questionnaire after following consent procedure approved by Institutional Ethics Committee. Descriptive statistics were used . Normality of data was checked using the Kolmogorov Simonov test. Independent sample t test and Mann Whitney U test were used to compare the normally distributed continuous variables and non-normally distributed continuous variables respectively . RESULTS : ADHD children had a significant sensory processing dysfunction as compared to typically developing children in all domains of sensory functions viz. auditory, visual, touch and oral sensory profile. (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Children with ADHD need to be assessed for sensory processing functions by an occupational therapist. Early institution of sensory integration therapies might help in improvising their outcome in terms of behaviour and quality of life.
Keywords: SENSORY , DYSFUNCTION, ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER