Focus!!! That’s a phrase that is often instructed to children and teens during the school year. We see the children squirming around andjumping up from the homework table. Itcan take hours to complete assignments. Well, let’s do something with that extra movement! Recent research has suggested that the body affects the brain asmuch as the brain affects the body. Physical activity can actually increase levels of the neurotransmittersdopamine and norepinephrine in the same way that ADHD medications can. These chemicals help with sharpening focusand increasing attention. Attention “deficit” increases with the length, familiarity andrepetitiveness of a task. In other words, we tend to “tune out” when tasks getboring. This means that an activity that uses a sense other than that requiredfor the primary task (i.e. listening to music while reading a textbook) canactually enhance performance in children with ADHD because it adds somethingdifferent to the repetitive task. Studies have demonstrated that doing twothings at once can actually help the brain focus on the primary task. These sensory-motor activities, oftenreferred to by parents and teachers as “fidgeting,” are mindless activitiesthat you can do while working on a primary task. These activities are not things likesquirming around in your seat. These areactivities like, pacing or doodling while on the phone, listening to musicwhile completing homework, or chewing gum while taking a test. Many people are successful when they do only one task at a time,but for those diagnosed with ADHD the “mindless distraction” can be veryhelpful for staying focused , even when it doesn’t make sense to those aroundthem. Parents often feel that acompletely quiet environment will help with focus. For some this can work, but for many kidswith an ADHD diagnosis, the sensory motor activities can help with primarytasks. Homework tip: set uphomework stations around the dining room table. Your child can stand at each station and move around the table tocomplete tasks. The movement can helpwith restlessness since there are many children who cannot stay in one spotduring homework time.
