OT and Functional Neurological Disorder

Earn 1 hour of continuing education by joining OT Potential after taking this course.

Functional neurological disorder (FND) has been called a “silent epidemic,” a “crisis” in neurology, and psychiatry’s “blind spot.”

And, I have to admit it has been a huge personal blind spot for me. 

I knew nothing of this condition. 

Luckily, others in the OT community have been hard at work standardizing care for these patients. Multidisciplinary treatment, including referral to OT is a best practice for these patients. And, today we will look at expert recommendations for OT assessment and treatment. 

After we review the OT recommendations for FND, we will welcome Naoya Ogura, OTD, OTR/L, he is the West Los Angeles Clinic Director at re-active and specializes in neurological conditions like POTS, EDS, MCAS, and FND. 

Primary Journal Article Explored

When you log in, be sure to check out the OT Potential Club’s written breakdown of the following research article. Then, share your questions and thoughts with fellow practitioners.

• Occupational therapy consensus recommendations for functional neurological disorder.

Supplemental Materials for FND

Handouts from The Clinical Resources Hub

• Handouts and Worksheet: Functional Neurological Disorder

Websites

• re+active (The clinic where Naoya works!
• FND Guide from neurosymptoms.org
• FND Hope

Research articles

• Assessment of Emergency Department and Inpatient Use and Costs in Adult and Pediatric Functional Neurological Disorders
• Diagnosis and management of functional neurological disorder

Learning Objectives

• You will be able to identify components of an OT assessment for functional neurological disorder. 
• You will be able to recognize recommended OT treatment interventions for FND. 

Agenda

Intro and breakdown of journal article

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:43 What is Functional Neurological Disorder?
• 00:04:17 What treatment is recommended?
• 00:04:53 What was the intent of this paper?
• 00:05:05 What were their methods?
• 00:05:46 Recommendations for OT
• 00:09:51 Article discussion and conclusion
• 00:10:52 Intro to Naoya Ogura

Discussion on practical implications for OTs

• 00:12:28 How Naoya learned about FND
• 00:14:15 How his clinic earned a reputation for specializing in FND
• 00:21:43 Article impressions
• 00:22:48 Client education on FND
• 00:27:17 Approaching FND differently from other neuro cases
• 00:33:53 Assessment for FND
• 00:39:08 Naoya’s treatment approaches
• 00:48:20 Advice for navigating functional seizures
• 00:50:53 What does discharge look like?
• 00:53:32 Not enough people with FND make it to OT. How do we change that?

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about OT and Functional Neurological Disorder.  The educational level is introductory.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic. Our guest, Dr. Naoya Ogura also has no financial disclosures.

Speakers

Naoya Ogura, OTD, OTR/L

Hey there, my name is Naoya Ogura (pronounced like “nah-OH-ya”) and I’m an occupational therapist at an integrative outpatient neurologic clinic called re+active!

I’m specialized in lifestyle interventions which I studied at University of Southern California, and my specialty is in sleep management and autonomic regulation.

At re+active, I lead the hypermobility/dysautonomia program, and also am involved in many of the functional neurological disorder cases.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011.

Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital. Sarah is the founder/owner of OT Potential. Read more about OT Potential here.

This course was designed to meet your continuing education requirements

We designed the courses in the Club to meet the requirements for “online” and “independent/self-study” courses. To verify the requirements from your specific state (within the US), check out our post, OT Continuing Education Requirements. If you are outside of the United States and have questions, please contact us.

We are proud to be an AOTA Approved Provider and to meet the requirements for your NBCOT renewal.

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