Planning lessons gave teens with ADHD only a small, uncertain edge in planning
No differenceThe short version
Teens with ADHD who learned to use a planner, rank tasks and split problems into steps planned no clearly better.
- 159
- Dutch teens aged 12 to 17 with ADHD
- Randomised
- groups picked at random
- Self-rated
- people rated themselves
- 2 tools
- tested
The study
Who took part
159 teens aged 12 to 17 (about 14 on average) with ADHD at 16 clinics in the Netherlands. About three in four were boys, and most were taking ADHD medicine.
What they did
Both groups had eight one-to-one sessions of 45 to 60 minutes plus two sessions for parents, over about 9 weeks. One group learned to use a daily planner, make and rank a to-do list and split big problems into small steps. The other group talked through problems to find their own solutions and was taught no planning skills.
What happened
Parents rated the planning group's planning slightly better at the end and three months later. The difference was too small to pass the study's own stricter test, so it is not a clear result. Planning tests done in the clinic showed no difference between the groups.
What the study found
- No difference
Teens with ADHD who learned to use a planner, rank tasks and split problems into steps planned no clearly better.
- Action: Rank tomorrow's top taskstested
- Action: Split a big task into piecestested
- Rule: With a coach or therapistused
Randomised trial of 159 Dutch teens aged 12 to 17 with ADHD · vs therapy with no planning lessons · they rated themselves
How solid is this?
- Groups picked at random
- Plan registered in advance
- People rated themselves
Source
Two novel CBTs for adolescents with ADHD: the value of planning skills (2014)
DOI: 10.1007/s00787-014-0661-5 (opens in a new tab)
