ADHD Moving For A Reason

For my final project in class I was asked to look at children with ADHD and read about studies that have taken place with these children and how moving and multi-media games affect them. In the first article I read based on this topic talked about how children with ADHD move around and fidget when they are asked to concentrate or perform a mental task. The impulses in their brain are so strong that in order to retain or attempt to retain the information the brain send off impulses that cause the body to move. Children with ADHD have trouble retaining information especially when it comes to multi-step directions as well as remembering orders. If the student isn't being harmful or disruptive let them be. You can compare the students movements to that of an adult in a meeting that is being dragged on too long and they are moving to keep themselves from being bored or falling asleep, or to when an adult taps a pen or even their foot when trying to accomplish a task that is taking too long.

Everywhere we look now a days we see children playing video games. They are everywhere, we even see them in the classrooms today. A study was done with children who had ADHD to see if playing DDR would help with their ability to retain information and work on their short term memory. In the beginning of the study the children were given a Test and were given it again at the end of the study. During the study all background distraction were turned off and the back light was dimmed so that there were no outside distractions. The study found that the majority of students who came to the most sessions and worked with the DDR did better on the test. Their short term memory was increased since they had been working on watching the arrows and knowing where to put their feet on the board. Who would have through that a game would help increase short term memory. I know when participating in a lesson on DDR I was lost at times and had to look at my feet to see and then look quickly back at the screen to see what was next.

When it comes to children with ADHD I think that it is a good idea that everyone has a little bit of knowledge to deal with students who have ADHD so when in the classroom we are prepared to make adjustments for these students. Why should a student suffer because of something they cant control. Maybe now with the studies that have been done more things for will come out to help teachers and parents deal with and use to help children with ADHD learn to concentrate and help control the impulses that go on in their brain that cause the movements and not being able to focus.