Why does it seem you or your child can sit in front of a television in a seeming trance and yet can't sit still while taking a test, doing work, or listening to instructions? It seems that fidgeting might actually help the ADHD brain's ability to adequately stimulate the working memory, according to this Time article. ADHD inhibits sufficient cortical arousal. This means that it is difficult for the ADHD brain to process unexpected tasks. For instance, an adult with ADHD might stop for directions and if those directions are more than 3 steps they are forgotten by the time they get back to the car. I can't count the amount of times my husband has sent me in for directions and I came back with "Take a left at the light and a right at the...um...sorry." This is also true for the child who is told to do a task in multiple steps or multiple tasks at one time. The ADHD child simply cannot process that many steps. Television, simple computer or video games, etc does not overtax the working memory. The brain has no real need to store and retrieve information.
So why all the fidgeting? A study by Mark Rapport reveals that children and adults with ADHD might just be using fidgeting to help stimulate short-term memory. In the same way that sleep deprived adults will use caffeine to stimulate their brain enough to stay focused, those with ADHD are using fidgeting to stay focused. What does this mean for you as a parent of an ADHD child? The best thing to do is to let your child wriggle and move around as you give them instructions. If letting them stimulate their minds to stay focused means letting them fidget, why not? Our instincts as parents and teachers is to force the child to sit still and pay attention. After all, a child sitting still is one paying attention, right? Not necessarily, according to this new study. It's hard to understand a child or even adult who has ADHD. They don't behave in a typical manner. That's because their brains don't operate in the typical manner. And that's ok. Wouldn't we rather learn to regulate our working memories on our own and teach our children to do the same rather than relying on medication?
I know what you're thinking. I'm thinking it too. It's all well and good to let your child wriggle and run around while you're talking to them, but that's not likely to fly in the classroom. It's true that many teachers just don't understand how the ADHD mind works. Sadly, some are more concerned the children are put on medication to regulate their behavior instead of trying to understand and find new ways to help the child learn. Now, there are great teachers out there who work hard to understand each student. If you have such a teacher that is great! Even so, it's not likely they'll allow your child to run around the classroom as it's distracting to other students.
However, The idea of using movement to improve focus is starting to catch on in classrooms. Many teachers are now using exercise balls in place of chairs to help children stay focused by stimulating the brain's cortex. Charged with the task of stabilizing on the ball awakens the brain's working memory allowing the child to stay focused and remember tasks more readily. Other teachers are beginning to provide fidget items such as beads, stones, cool pencils, etc. This can also work for the ADHD adult who feels the need to fidget during company meetings.
We'll have to keep an eye on this study and see if anything new and helpful comes out of it. In the meantime, the best thing is to teach your child acceptable ways to fidget. They can quietly tap their foot, move their fingers, move their heads, or with the teacher's approval use a stress ball. Embracing your or your child's needs for fidgeting rather than squashing them will help foster a growing ability to self-regulate your behavior and attention span. The better you or your child gets at understanding and regulating your behavior the less likely you'll be reliant on medication.
The idea that movement stimulates
Source: Cloud, John. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1887486,00.html. Written 3/25/2009.
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