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As we mentioned last time, the line between “normal” and behavior that signals ADHD can seem fuzzy at times.
ADHD is marked by a weakness in the ability to sustain, shift or divide attention, coupled with a biologically-based weakness in the ability to control impulses. One aspect or the other – hyperactivity or attention – may be more pronounced, but in any case, the behaviors must significantly affect learning and social relationships and must show up in several areas (e.g., home, school, sports). If it occurs only in the classroom, for instance, it may not be ADHD but a sign of teacher-student mismatch, learning disability or other issue.
Yet even signaling behaviors can be misread. Sleep deprivation, anxiety, stress, diet, neurological conditions or even inadvertently reinforced behavior can all contribute to ADHD-like behaviors. Consequently, they must be ruled out before a definite diagnosis can be made.
In fact, as Dr. Jeff Sosne discusses in our course ADHD: The Mind-Body Connection, our home and school environments can actually set the stage for behavior that looks like ADHD but isn’t.
For instance, consider the demands for attention made on children in overly structured lives. There’s increased academic pressure and heavy homework loads, even at the K-5 level. There may be afterschool obligations such as sports, music, tutoring, church and service groups, or lessons of some sort. While such activities may be pursued for personal pleasure or enrichment, they’re just as often used to sweeten a youth’s “resume” for later schooling.
The resulting stress easily leads to distracted or “wild” behavior, as children find it harder and harder to conform to such demands.
Much can be accomplished through making sure the child eats right, gets enough exercise and adequate sleep, and has opportunities for unstructured play. We see a big reduction of symptoms when these basic human needs are met – whether the child actually has ADHD or not. Children become more able to learn practices that can help them improve their ability to focus, pay attention and self-regulate. These, in turn, support ongoing healthy habits, for through them, kids are nurtured into mindfulness, including awareness of their bodies and what their bodies are telling them.
Courtesy of Dr. Sosne, here are 9 tips for nurturing those skills – useful for all children, but especially for those diagnosed with ADHD:
- Attitude is everything! Emphasize a positive, “Can Do” attitude and internal motivators (e.g., “This is a good time to clean your room.”).
- Make eye contact during activities. Practice not responding to a child until they make eye contact, too! Some good games for practicing this skill: Red Light/Green Light, Steal the Bacon, 20 Questions.
- March toward a goal. Talk out loud about the process so the child can later internalize it. Announce a goal and timeframe for every activity.
- Start with small goals – things the child can do in 15 minutes. Observe and reward small changes. Don’t give too much time for an “ADHD child” to complete a task.
- To teach that things change, occasionally stop activities at random and reward the child for handling it well.
- Focus on accomplishments. Have the child write a note on what he or she accomplished in school today.
- Acknowledge their agenda and pair it with a request from you – e.g., “While I am getting you a sandwich, could you pick up that wet towel?” Getting something they want does not in itself promote a sense of entitlement.
- Build habits and routine. Build skills, not consequences.
- Don’t put too much emphasis on the label “ADHD.” It stereotypes and only points to weaknesses, not strengths. Redefine. Instead of saying, “Robert is ADHD,” say “Robert loves baseball and does better when in the middle of the action (i.e., infield),” or, “Jillian has a great sense of humor but has trouble listening, as well as telling jokes.”
Want to learn even more? Join Dr. Sosne and us for our next session of ADHD: The Mind-Body Connection, October 22 – 23 here in Portland, OR. Registration is required and spots fill fast, so enroll today! CEUs are available.
Image by woodleywonderworks, via Flickr
Picture a typical first grade classroom and two students whispering to each other even as the teacher begins the lesson. Seeing their distraction, the teacher calls out their names and says, “Please, pay attention!”
What the teacher is asking the students to do, of course, is to focus forward, watch and listen. But the children don’t necessarily know this. What they know for sure is that if they stop whispering to each other and look at the teacher as though they’re listening, the teacher will go on with the lesson. This tells the kids that they have obeyed and that “paying attention” means only facing forward and being quiet. Mentally, however, the students may remain thoroughly distracted.
Tony Eccles/Flickr
Of course, there are many factors that interfere with attention and learning – whether it is the average distraction described above or a chronic state as with children who are sleep deprived, have poor diets or are dealing with anxiety, depression or elevated stress.
When we ask children to “pay attention,” what we’re really asking them is something closer to the concept of being mindful.
Mindfulness, as Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches, is a special kind of attention: “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: On purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” It’s developing awareness of what’s happening both outside and inside oneself, and one’s physical being in the world.
As such, mindfulness has far-reaching effects. It lowers stress, develops concentration skills and improves memory. It nurtures emotional regulation, impulse control and goal-directed behavior. It supports learning preparedness.
Attention is the gateway to learning.
The ability to engage, shift and sustain attention is central to academic and social success. Yet despite increasing concerns about inattention in our classrooms and the need for mindfulness in education, teachers often lack the information and strategies necessary to help their students.
This is why we’ve added a new course to the Yoga Calm curriculum – The Attentive Mind – which we’ll be offering for the first time November 13-14 at Lewis & Clark College here in Portland, Oregon.
In this two day course, we’ll explore the nature of attention, the mindfulness strategies that facilitate it and the factors that are toxic to a child’s ability to focus. This course is designed for both teachers and parents who want to help all children develop attention skills. Topics include:
- What “attention” is
- Biological, motivational and emotional factors that affect attention
- Mindfulness practices to improve attention
- The toxic effects of stress, multitasking and electronic media on attention
- Creating attentive classroom environments
- Instructional strategies that enhance attention
- Special considerations for ADHD, LD, TAG/GATE and other “unique” learners
Pre-registration is required. Ten Washington Clock Hours or 1 PSU Graduate Credit are available.
And for those who are seeking information about specific strategies and tools for children when ADHD is an issue, we also have our ADHD: The Mind-Body Connection workshop this October 9-10 at Marylhurst College, just south of Portland. You can learn more about this workshop and register for it here.
Kathy Flaminio is one of our trainers and a social worker at a Minneapolis K-8 elementary school. Along with Julie Hurtubise, she has helped bring Yoga Calm to the Minneapolis Public Schools district-wide. (To learn more about their pilot program, click here. To see news coverage about it, click here.)
Recently, Kathy told us about how they’ve been taking time at her school each morning to bring the school community together through a simple Yoga Calm breathing activity that she first taught in classrooms and to school staff. Daily, over the intercom, she – or sometimes a student – says something like this:
Good Morning, Jefferson Staff and Students. We want to welcome everyone back to school this morning.
Every day at 9:40, we will bring our entire school community together by joining our breath with the breathing ball [Hoberman sphere, which is now “standard equipment” in many classrooms].
If you are in the hallway or in a meeting, please take a moment to pause so we can all breathe together. If you are in a classroom, please get your sphere out.
Begin to come into stillness, letting go of the morning and all that has taken place before coming to Jefferson. If you in a chair or on the floor, sit up nice and tall. If you are standing, press your feet into the earth and lengthen through the spine.
Let’s begin with shoulder circles…taking our shoulders up to the ears …back and down. Do this two more times. Breathe in and lift the shoulders up to the ears…and breathe out as you bring your shoulders down. One more time. Now begin to watch the breathing ball, or close your eyes and begin. Breathing in…let the belly puff up, and breathing out…let the belly move back toward the spine. Again, breathing in…and out. Six more times. Inhaling and exhaling…. Five more….
Take a moment to notice how your body and mind feel after taking eight deep breaths. Know that at anytime today when you feel frustrated, angry or nervous, you can come back to your breath and find center.
Have a great day! We are so glad you are here.
In telling us about the success they’ve had with this activity, Kathy commented on how those unfamiliar with Yoga Calm initially may see such activity as a distraction, taking away valuable classroom time. “But of course,” she said, “the breathing helps students and faculty alike quickly get calm and focused, and so better prepared to do good work. It prevents even greater distraction. And this is exactly why it’s time well spent.”
