Occupational Therapy Strategies for Managing Adult ADHD

Sometimes even the simplest tasks can feel impossible, and if that sounds familiar, you’re definitely not alone.

While ADHD is often thought of as a childhood condition, it doesn’t magically disappear in adulthood. Many adults continue to face challenges with executive functioning, including focus, organization, task initiation, time management, and completing everyday tasks. Compared to children, who often receive support at home, at school, or through paediatric services, adults tend to have far fewer resources and guidance tailored to their needs.

This is where occupational therapy (OT) can help. OT for adults focuses on practical strategies to manage everyday life and the tasks that come with it. From organizing responsibilities and prioritizing tasks to creating routines that actually stick, OT provides tools to make daily life more manageable. Adults can learn to structure their environment, develop effective planning tools, and build habits that reduce overwhelm. Virtual OT makes this support even more accessible, allowing adults to work on skills and strategies in the context of their own home, work, or study environment.

OT's take a holistic approach to ADHD management. What does that entail?

We look at the whole person, because we know that all your daily activities are connected. Do you spend most of your day staring at a screen? Do you have trouble falling asleep at night? Do you often forget to eat breakfast, and then skip lunch?

All these factors have a significant impact on your executive functioning skills, including planning, organizing, emotional regulation, motivation as well as your memory.

You Might Be Asking Yourself: What Exactly Can OT Do to Help Me?

Here are some ways that occupational therapy can help.

Routine and Organization: OT can teach and help you practice creating structured routines for your day. For example, if you find it hard to plan the chores or responsibilities in your day, we can map out when and how to tackle each task.

• We’ll identify barriers that might get in the way, whether that’s low energy, distractions, or feeling overwhelmed.

• Then we develop strategies to overcome them, such as pacing tasks or building in breaks to match your energy levels.

This makes even busy or overwhelming days feel more manageable.

Task Initiation and Task Breakdown: Many adults with ADHD struggle to get started on tasks or feel overwhelmed by complex projects. OT can help you practice initiating tasks and breaking them down into smaller, actionable steps.

• Together, we can create strategies to make starting and completing tasks easier, whether that’s using visual cues, checklists, timers, or other personalized methods.

We often see adults get stuck on preferred activities, such as scrolling on their phone, and we can work on ways to shift focus and get started on important tasks.

Working memory: For adults with ADHD, it can be difficult to hold information in mind, follow multi-step instructions or complete tasks without being distracted. OT can help by teaching and practicing strategies to support your memory rather than relying solely on it.

• We can find the best strategies for you, these may include note-taking, visual reminders, or written cues.

• We can also work on building habits that can help reduce cognitive load and decision making challenges.

Over time, these strategies can help reduce forgotten tasks, decrease task completion time, and limit missed deadlines.

Emotional Regulation and Frustration Tolerance: Managing emotions, including stress, frustration, and excitement, can sometimes be more difficult than expected. OT can support these challenges by helping increase your awareness of your own body and mental symptoms, and how they appear when feeling different emotions.

• We'd look at patterns, discuss triggers and explore strategies to manage your nervous system.

• This may include strategies such as, breathing and grounding techniques, exploring hobbies or trying different sensory-based tools.

We work together to find ways to incorporate these strategies within your day to help promote regulated feelings.

Attention and Focus: Maintaining attention on a task is often better said than done. With so many distractions all around us, focusing on the task at hand is much more difficult than you might have planned.

• In an OT session, we would often explore your sensory processing and take a look at your work or task environment.

• We would identify the barriers to focus, whether that is your phone, a flickering light, your growling stomach, or your cubicle neighbour whistling, and try out strategies to limit these distractions.

• These strategies may include, using earplugs, playing with a fidget, eating before work, incorporating body breaks, or moving your phone to a different room.

These strategies are implemented to increase alertness to your task, improve cognitive functioning when working as staying on the task at hand.

ADHD strategies you can start today

1. Add a movement break every hour

2. Create a checklist for tasks

3. Create one small goal for the week

4. Add a daily limit on your phone

5. Eat breakfast, even if its just an apple or a banana

6. Practice completing a mindfulness body scan

7. Try habit stacking to help remember to complete a task

Is virtual OT effective for adults with ADHD?

Yes.

Virtual occupational therapy can be especially helpful because you can practice tools in the environment where they are most applicable. This makes support even easier to apply

We offer occupational therapy services virtually across Ontario and in-home in Ottawa. Reach out here for a free occupational therapy consultation.