Homeschooling ADD Kids

Can mental exercises help your child learn if he has Attention Deficit Disorder?  Would physical exercise be a better choice to "prime" his mind for learning?

To answer this, let’s talk a bit about the concept of neuroplasticity. 

To put it simply, neuroplasticity is a break from the idea that the brain, once developed, remains unchanged during adulthood.  Well, actually, it’s been known for decades that certain parts of the brain continue to change, but the theory of neuroplasticity is that even areas of the brain that were thought to be "fixed" or unchangeable after development are, in reality, highly plastic (changeable). 

It is even believed that the brains’ neuronal circuitry can be altered by learning and by actions, especially habitual activities.  New neurons are formed.  In essence, thought can physically change the brain. 

With that in mind, brain exercises have been suggested in order to improve brain function.  DVDs like "The Brain Fitness Program" have been produced, as well as books such as The Brain that Changes Itself and Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. 

I can’t knock the idea of exercises for the brain completely, as I haven’t researched it enough and haven’t experimented with any of the exercises.  Maybe they work, at least to some degree.  I am prone to think, though, that most kids with ADD would have a hard time with this.  It’s hard enough for someone without ADD to sit down and do mental exercises in which there is little or no physical movement and most activity, aside from writing, takes place within the mind.  My brother-in-law would cringe at the idea.

But there is also a lot of talk lately about how physical exercise can also cause "rewiring" of the brain.  Books such as SPARK and numerous articles in health magazines discuss the benefits of exercise and it’s effects on the brain. 

And here’s the thing: most ADD kids love sports and games where they get to run around, throw things and yell. 

So can you improve your child’s neuronal circuitry (helping him to learn more) by mental exercises or by physical exercise?  My vote is combining physical exercise with a fair share of mental challenges, like I wrote about in one of my previous posts on using exercise and physical movement to teach children with Attention Deficit Disorder. 

We’ll examine this further in future posts.  In the meantime, what has been your experience with using physical or mental exercises in teaching kids with ADD?  Click on the title of this post, and then fill in the empty box at the boom of the post and click on the "SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT" button.  We’d love to hear from you!

5 Comments | In: exercise, the ADD mind | | #

I recently read that kids should be told upfront that they have ADD and how it affects them. Of course, like anything, it is better to talk about it in a positive way.

I tried this yesterday. We have a whiteboard in Steven’s room. I said “the brains of people without ADD work this way” (then I drew the top red line, in the photo below, somewhat slowly showing relatively even-spaced progressive movements from left to right). Then I said, “but the brains of kids with ADD work kind of like this” (then I drew the bottom red line very quickly showing progressive movements from left to right angled to the right like they were rushing ahead). Steven said, “no, my brain works more like this” (then he very rapidly drew the purple line that you see in the photo). It was like he was trying to say to me, ‘no, it’s not even that orderly, it’s all over the place!’

And I believe that he’s probably right. I think he feels the hyper, wandering, unsatisfied state of his mind…going here and there, constantly flying around.

It would be interesting to hear comments from others to see if they also feel this way, or if there children have such feelings.

1 Comment | In: the ADD mind, whiteboard use | tags: ADD brain, hyper, mind, self-awareness of ADD, wandering mind, whiteboard use. | #