While delighted with his grades, she couldn’t figure out what had changed. Karen was surprised to find that her bright son, who had been doing poorly in high school, suddenly started getting As. We need to respect the fact that there is neural diversity, that different people have different ways of doing things - not from preference or contrariness, but from need.įidgeting works for many children with ADHD. It’s true that many people are successful only when they do one thing at a time, but for adults and children with ADHD the opposite is usually true. It’s pacing or doodling while on the phone or chewing gum while taking a test.
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We’re not talking about wriggling in your seat. Zentall calls these sensory-motor activities “distractions.” We call them fidgets - mindless activities you can do while working on a primary task. Doing two things at once, she found, focuses the brain on the primary task. In other words, you tune out when tasks get boring!Īccording to Zentall, an activity that uses a sense other than that required for the primary task - listening to music while reading a social studies textbook - can enhance performance in children with ADHD. In ADHD and Education, she notes that attention “deficit” increases with the length, familiarity, and repetitiveness of a task. Sydney Zentall, Ph.D., of Purdue University, studied the factors that help children with ADHD succeed in the classroom. Both chemicals play a key role in sharpening focus and increasing attention. In his recent book, Spark, John Ratey, M.D., shows that physical activity - even something as small as fidgeting the hands - increases levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine in the way ADHD medications do. Recent research suggests that the body affects the brain as much as the brain affects the body.
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But what if there were strategies that could prime our brains beyond “just trying harder”? Our ADHD brains aren’t our most reliable asset - allowing distractions to break our focus. The ADHD brain is indeed a powerful force for success.īut we know that relying on the brain can be frustrating and, at times, demoralizing. “Focus!” “Mind over matter!” “You can do anything if you really want to!” “Just try harder!”Īnyone with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has heard these exhortations, and have probably shared them with others struggling to concentrate at work or focus at school.