Exercise for ADHD

I ran across an article Monday that I thought you all would find interesting. A teacher at an alternative school in Canada incorporated exercise into the daily curriculum. Here are a couple lines plucked from the article;


"Less than two months later, her students' attention has sharpened and they spend far more time on assignments without interruption."

"She has found 20 minutes of exercise have translated into two hours of sustained concentration from the students."


You can read the full article here; http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=cc9c11c4-b0eb-4746-bd72-20c24bcfed2b

If this motivates any of you to add a little exercise in your ADHD child's daily routine and find great results, please add a comment to this post. Or, share your current experience with exercise to help reduce the symptoms of ADHD.


Check back in a couple days and I'll let you in on one of my favorite "punishments" when the boys misbehaved. As you might guess, it's exercise related.

Never Miss a Blog Post Again

Did you notice the addition of the bookmarks on the right side of this blog? If you use del.icio.us, Google or Technorati, click on the icon and will know whenever there is a new post. Otherwise, simply bookmark this page and check back.

Sometimes I post two or three times a week. Sometimes I'm lucky to get one post in. It really depends on how crazy things get around my house. Can you relate? :-)

Great article in ADHD newsletter

A dear friend of mine, and fellow mom of an ADHD wild child, manages the ADHD Help Center website. I want to not only introduce you all to Jeannine Virtue's website, but to direct you to a very interesting article in this month's newsletter. Check it out;
http://www.add-adhd-help-center.com/newsletter2.htm

BTW - You might consider signing up for this newsletter group. There are some great monthly specials. :-)

The ADHD Stigma

According to a study reported in Science Daily, nearly twenty-five percent of the 1,134 parents in the study reported that they would not like their children to be friends with a child with ADHD. These parents then went on to say that they wouldn’t want an ADHD child living next door.

Wow.

I was quite surprised at the findings of this study. What was even more surprising was the title of this article; “Many Parents Want
Distance Between Own Kids And Those With Mental Illness.”

I will be happy to see the day that people look at ADHD as a personality type instead of a "mental illness" and we all embrace the differences that make our children unique.

Catching ADD Early Helps

Catching ADD early may make it possible to reduce symptoms, says a study by the National Association of School Psychologists. The most important tool is "environmental management" (this is what "structure" for ADHD kids is being calling). According to this study, 30% of preschool aged children with ADHD improved with no medication at all, according to a new study. Changing the routine, diet, and overall family atmosphere can make a huge difference. A few more examples are monitoring sugar intake, a strict bedtime, and more structure throughout the day. Proactive parenting and education makes it possible to tackle ADD and make medication a last resort.