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ttention Deficit Disorder or ADD is characterized by symptoms of attention difficulty without hyperactivity. But, attention difficulty is not the only symptom. These kids often cannot finish a task or complete the last step of anything. They walk away and leave the fridge door open or forget to restart the dryer after taking their shirt out. These kids are fantastically creative, but have ‘their head in the clouds’ at homework time, dreaming up solutions to the world’s problems instead of doing their homework. These kids really are fantastic and will probably be the next inventors or philosophers. We don’t want to change that. But, something has to be done, right? We can’t have mom going crazy, trying to get their homework out of them every night. Click here for more ADD Symptoms.
Imagine helping them keep that creativity and achieve the ability to focus and finish projects when needed. If they could, they would be a hybrid, right? They would be creative and responsible. Well, you can. Attention is a neurological development consisting of many parts of the brain and can be learned.
Baby usually learns attention around 4 months when he or she starts to focus on daddy’s face, waiting for him to ‘coo’ and talk. Or, when watching mommy dangle a stuffed bunny above the baby seater. As they get a little older, their attention span should grow with them. If it hasn’t, some intervention can make a big difference.
There are several contributing factors to low attention span. Often in ADD kids we see stalled Primitive Reflex Integration in the brain stem area. This means these neonatal reflexes were not suppressed during the first year of life as they should be. The area of the brain called the Basal Ganglia is stimulated by certain motor movements and in turn suppresses the reflexes and stimulates the higher functions of the brain. If the Basil Ganglia is underdeveloped it cannot fully suppress the reflexes. Theses reflexes contribute to learning disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder. They are the troublemakers. Also, Sensory motor skills are very important. Attention requires the ability to take in different stimuli, such as sound, language, sight, touch etc., then process it, plan and execute action or inaction based on what was just received. This is attention. Weakness in the sensory input, processing and execution will also cause a drop off in attention ability.
Auditory Processing Is Important
ADD kids struggle picking up everything the teacher says. This is usually caused by low Auditory Processing skills. For example, they may hear the teacher’s assignment, but due to Auditory Processing issues, may not hear the due dates, deadlines and other details. There are plenty of resources online to improve Auditory Processing Skills. We love Brain HQ. They have great Auditory exercises online and in apps.
A great book for stimulating Auditory Processing skills is Brain Integration by Dianne Craft. It is a self published book, so not well proofed, but brilliantly gives a daily plan with great activities that will help correct Auditory Processing Disorders and other disabilities. Dianne has worked with challenged kids for over 20 years in her office and as a Special Education teacher. She compiled her successful strategies into the book with easy actionable routine plans.
We saw huge improvement in our kids, when we brought these function up to par. We are excited for you to see the same. Good Luck! Email us and let us know how it goes.
