Homeschooling ADD Kids

[ The following is a guest post from Dr. Steve Curtis, a Child Clinical Psychologist and author of Understanding Your Child's Puzzling Behavior. ]

Your little Henry is bouncing off the wall and not listening to a thing you say. You have had it and are ready to get in you car and head for the open road. Your mother-in-law and husband both think he’s a normal boy and resist any kind of super duper treatment such as stimulant medication or more comprehensive behavioral intervention. They talk about this together in a coffee shop while you are left to fend for your life.

Parents of children with ADHD come to me frequently in this distressed state of mind. Many just do not know what to do. After a period of time, many successfully resolve their differences and try the medication. Some opt for more natural remedies. Others keep themselves miserable for a long period of time by doing nothing. For all three of these examples, eventually an implementation of an effective behavior management program is a must. There are many sources of information about how to implement an effective program with the classic being the resource by Russell Barkley, Taking Charge of ADHD. Dr. Barkely presents the frequently recommended strategies of providing a predictable routine, catch the child being good, teaching appropriate behavior, and using external reinforcement.

One of my favorite strategies is to use the “positive time out.” Positive time out is when you put your child in time out when he/she is being good as opposed to bad. When a child is seen doing something desirable, he/she is told to go to time out. When in time out, the child is given a compliment for the positive behavior. Time out can still be used for more negative behavior, but the positive time out should be used far more frequently. If used in the right way, positive time out will result in fewer tantrums and more positive behavior of the child.

Children with ADHD often are only spoken to when they are doing something impulsive and inappropriate. In fact, parents of these children often only use their names when they are given a directive that the child does not want to do. Positive time out helps the parents establish a more positive relationship with the child by implementing a positive intervention. This intervention may sound very counter intuitive, but it works. Try it, you ‘ll like it. I use it with my own kids all the time. Our home atmosphere is very positive as a result. Let me know how it worked.

Steve Curtis, PhD., NCSP

Child Clinical Psychologist

Nationally Certified School Psychologist

Author, Understanding Your Child’s Puzzling Behavior

www.lifespanps.com

lifespanpress.blogspot.com

7 Comments | In: behavior correction | | #

Not too long ago Steven and I had a hard day. When I say hard, I mean hard. When he doesn’t get enough sleep or is bored he gets frustrated, obnoxious or starts daydreaming. Well that was Steven that day.

I used to punish him when he had a bad attitude by taking away his video games or TV watching, but it never seemed to make a difference. So I decided to try a new tactic: instead of punishing him I make him do jumping jacks. Maybe that makes me sound like a military sergeant, but I only make him do 10 to 15 of them. It really helps when he starts to lose focus. I try never to say it in a negative way so that he thinks that it is a punishment. I just tell him that I think that he needs to get his frustrations or energy out. At first he does it with a bit of an attitude but after the 10th jump he feels better and we get right back to work.

On bad days he may have to do this up to 3 times during a 3-hour school session but it has been working wonders, and takes very little time. I can’t believe how much more enjoyable school is for him and for me. I was wondering why this was working so well so I did a little research and the book Delivered from Distraction by Dr. Edward M. Hallowell stated under the section about exercise, “Especially important for those with ADD, exercise also promotes mental focus, making it an excellent treatment for ADD. Regular exercise promotes sustained attention, the ability to stay alert and remain on task. Regular exercise builds mental endurance and reduces mental fatigue. Not only does physical exercise provide preventive maintenance against ADD, it also is an excellent treatment in an ADD emergency- what I call a mental meltdown.”

I was thrilled when I read this since I found out why what I was doing was working. Dr. Hallowell continues by saying “…try getting up from your chair and doing twenty-five jumping jacks…A quick burst of exercise is like pushing the reset button on your brain. It totally changes your brain’s chemistry and leaves you feeling refreshed and focused.”

This truly works. At times when Steven gets bored, a little bit of exercise can get him back on track. My husband and I are going to experiment with other types of exercise. We’ll let you know what we find out. In fact we just started a category called “exercise” which we’ll update with new posts.

5 Comments | In: behavior correction, exercise | tags: bad attitude, behavior correction, exercise, punishment. | #