Dr Nicolette Soler1,3, Adj. A/Prof Paula Bray3,4,5, Dr Iain Perkes2,3, Prof Russell Dale1,3,4
1The University of Sydney, Australia, 2The University of New South Wales, Australia, 3The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, Australia, 4The Kids Research Institute, Westmead, Australia, 5The Sydney Children's Network, Aus
Biography:
Dr Soler is an accomplished paediatric occupational therapist in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders. She has 20 years clinical experience with children and adolescents with complex neurodevelopmental disorders as well as mental health difficulties. Through her position as the Mental Health & ID Tertiary Hub OT, she also supports allied health mental staff across NSW. She also brings experience in qualitative and quantitative research through completing her PhD. Her research focuses on investigating a new multimodal assessment and treatment approach to managing tic disorder. It has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and she has received multiple research grants and awards.
Abstract:
Significance:
Tic disorders are the most prevalent movement disorder, affect 1 in 100 children. This neurodevelopmental disorder causes repetitive, rapid movements or vocalisations, adversely impacting quality of life. Although occupational therapists assess and treat other neurodevelopmental disorders using a multimodal approach, this approach is not implemented to manage tic disorders, and current cognitive therapies have limited effectiveness.
Objectives:
This research program aims to develop a novel multimodal approach to assessment and intervention for children with tic disorders.
Method:
A mixed-methods approach was conducted. This involved a systematic review evaluating the psychometric properties of sensory assessment questionnaires for children with neurodevelopmental disorders using COSMIN; a prevalence study to understand the rate of sensory symptoms in children with tic disorders; consumer engagement utilising qualitative methods and a pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel sensorimotor approach to treat tics.
Implications:
The systematic review highlighted the importance of consumer involvement in assessment tool development to ensure patient experience is captured and measured. Through 18 qualitative interviews, it was evident that many sensory symptoms are not currently evaluated using gold-standard measures. Our research highlighted that 88% of children with tics and comorbidity experienced significant sensory symptoms and poor quality of life. Ten children showed a significant tic reduction following the trial of a multimodal treatment approach.
Conclusion:
It is imperative that this multimodal assessment and intervention approach for children with tic disorders is standard care in light of known significant sensory symptoms and an effective novel sensorimotor treatment approach to reduce tics.