Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder
Introduction
I can remember working with one child early in the development of Easyread, who was studying the materials with his hands on the table while bouncing the rest of his body in the air.
He maintained that for the entire 40 minute sessions we would do. And the teacher had never seen him work on anything for more than 5-10 minutes. He regularly had to be sent to run around the school building.
Whenever I went into a classroom I was almost always assigned a character like him. I used to love it because they were great kids. But they were virtually unable to control this boundless excess of energy.
It is not surprising that ADHD makes learning to read very hard, because it is a skill that takes prolonged practice and application to master. Interestingly, the ADHD has never been a problem for children using Easyread, in my experience. Once you understand ADHD, that makes sense.
The Cause Of ADHD
I always misunderstood ADHD. I always thought that it was due to excess energy in the brain making it run around a bit like a puppy and that the solution was a mild sedative.
The reality is that the medication for ADHD is a stimulant, very similar to cocaine.
The cause of the problem is strong neuron activity in the cerebral cortex, without sufficient control coming from the frontal lobe.
Your frontal lobe acts as a conductor of brain focus and without control coming from a single point, you get a mildly chaotic situation. Once the medication is applied, the stimulant helps the frontal cortex to take control and so the level of activity around the rest of the brain settles.
Why Your Child Is Lucky... to Have ADHD
Yes, your child is LUCKY! Your child has plenty of natural energy. It is far better to have too much energy than none. Although I know that it is tough for you as a parent.
Now, if you have a child with ADHD please sit down and take your Prozac before reading the next paragraph.
In my view, almost all ADHD is either genetic or environmentally caused. What I mean is that either it runs in the family (which you would know about) or there is an environmental factor causing the ADHD. The only other option is that it is contagious (ie a bacteria or virus causes it) and that does not seem to be the case.
The rate of medication for ADHD is rising at 12% per annum. So something funny is going on, because when I was at school in the 70s there was noone with ADHD. Now some schools have 1 in 10 children on medication.
Therefore, it seems to me that environmental factors must be causing this.
Sugar and Caffeine
So, if you are not hyperactive yourself, then your child may be drinking or eating something that is contributing to the ADHD.
Just because other children can drink liquid sugar packed with caffeine (in fizzy cans), can eat chocolate bars all day and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes (also 30% sugar) without reacting, does not mean everyone can. Your child is lucky to have a strong metabolism that does not need that much input.
Your child has plenty of natural energy and will be fine on a natural diet without refined sugar and caffeine. Just remove them from your child's diet (or as much as possible).
Like any drug, it is tough to come off sugar and caffeine. I am an ex-caffeine-addict myself.
But it must be worth trying before using any medication.
Sleep
The medication for ADHD is very interesting, as I have said; the drugs used are stimulants, very closely related to cocaine. The reason is that the symptoms of ADHD are caused by the prefrontal cortex not achieving control and focus in the rest of the brain. When the stimulant is taken this becomes easier.
What this indicates is that a possible cause of ADHD is just fatigue. And this becomes a spiral because the child finds going to sleep harder due to their exhaustion.
Breaking that pattern can also be hard, but low sugar and caffeine foods in the afternoon and evening with a simple last meal and no high-adrenalin television will all help.
Physical Exercise
Part of the problem with sleep patterns is that many children get far too little real exercise. Back in the 70s we were doing full sport out on a sports field for 60+ minutes most days of the week. By contrast, many children only do a fraction of that much exercise and then watch very stimulating television and computer games just before bed.
It is no wonder they cannot sleep properly and therefore get exhausted.
Again, this is not the case for everyone. Many people hate even the idea of exercise and do fine without it. But if your child has lots of physical energy, it MUST be used.
An interesting example of this is restless leg syndrome in adulthood. I suffer from twitches in my legs through the night if I have not walked at least a mile or two during the day. For the health of my marriage I now walk to work!
Easyread and ADHD
So it is now clearer why ADHD is not a problem that we have often seen with the children doing Easyread. There are a number of reasons for it:
- Easyread is very engaging and acts as a mild stimulant
- The lessons are very short
- The children can feel their progress
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