ADHD Students and Fidgeting
Should Teachers Control Classroom Fidgets or Encourage Them?
Apr 6, 2009
While some children find it easier to focus on one task at a time, students with ADHD have impulse control issues that require their bodies to be in constant motion. No matter how many times a teacher tells a student who has Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder to sit still, the fidgeting will eventually return, sometimes within minutes. This behavior can lead to exasperated students and teachers.
However, the results of a new study on ADHD and fidgeting were recently published in Time magazine [1]. According to the article, extensive research by ADHD researcher Mark Rapport shows that the constant movement of swinging legs, bouncing, and tapping can actually help these students stay focused on an otherwise boring task, or an assignment that requires the use of working memory.
Focusing on School Work With Movement
The concept of fidgeting to focus is not new. In fact, a book has been written on the subject. Fidget to Focus by Roland Rotz, PhD, Sarah D. Wright, MS, ACT [IN: iUniverse, Inc., 2005] discusses the issue of motion in ADHD kids and offers strategies and ideas for undisruptive fidgeting in the classroom and at home.
Ideas for Undisruptive Classroom Fidgeting
To incorporate movement in the classroom for students with ADHD without disrupting others can be very tricky. However, there are a few strategies that teachers can employ to help ADHD students succeed. Try providing the following opportunities for children with impulse control problems:
- Let them stand up. Create a workstation in the classroom with taller tables that allow children to stand and work.
- Provide swivel or rocking chairs. Again, a math workstation that has a spinning chair or a reading corner with a rocking chair would be two great ideas for the ADHD student who needs to do the complex thinking.
- Keep a supply of quiet, mindless movement products. Squeeze balls, hard candies (sugar-free), worry beads, etc. are all objects that may meet the fidget requirements of the child with ADHD.
- Give lessons using multiple sensory inputs. Lecturing to students for long periods can be torture for the ones that learn by doing. Keep lessons interesting and help ADHD children who learn visually or are tactile learners. Use media such as audio recordings, video, and computers, physical objects, demonstrations, and innovative prop plays to teach new concepts.
- Change the scenery. Keep the kids moving by creating workstations in the classroom, going outside for lessons, visiting the library and gymnasium, and using the school’s common areas instead of always expecting students to remain seated at their classroom desks.
Wiggling, squirming, and fidgeting are all a part of every day life for the student with ADHD. But trying to eliminate this behavior completely will be a futile effort. Teachers will find it less frustrating if they embrace the fidgets in a creative and undisruptive manner by using workstations, multi-sensory teaching techniques, and fidget products, and other movement strategies. This may help ADHD kids focus better and find success in the classroom.
For more information on strategies for ADHD students, read the following:
Source:
1. Cloud, John. “Kids with ADHD May Learn Better by Fidgeting”, Time. March 25, 2009.
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