This is how the brains of children with ADHD work
Surely when you were in school you had a partner who always left homework, did not bring signed exams, lost books, talked in class or was often lost in the shrews. The attention deficit disorder It has always existed.
However, it was not cataloged, baptized or widely disseminated as it is now. Despite this, there are many puzzled parents, overwhelmed teachers and children stigmatized as bad, lazy or careless.
Independently of the controversy over whether to use medication or not, or if the attention deficit disorder is over diagnosed, ADD (with and without hyperactivity) exists. Children who suffer from it are neither less intelligent nor less strenuous than the rest of their classmates, they simply need different methods and specific aids. His parents, who suffer even more, are often lost between the misunderstanding of schools and the pressure for an exclusively pharmacological treatment. The medication is, in many cases, appropriate and recommended, but it is only an aid. You have to educate these children so that what seems a disadvantage, becomes an advantage.
Hunters vs Farmers: this is how the brain works
To understand better how the brain works with ADD, it is important to know where it evolved from. In 1995, Thom Hartmann presented a theory that has been gaining ground and recognition to be endorsed by clinical and molecular studies. According to Hartmann ADD is the result of a type of adaptive behavior.
Let's go back to the dawn of humanity, when food depended on two activities: hunting and agriculture. The survival of the farmer depended on his patience, of its capacity to concentrate many hours in a repetitive activity with order, in not neglecting day to day the irrigation, the weeds, to let the fruits mature, to harvest them in time, etc. In anticipating atmospheric changes and predicting the climate, in studying the characteristics of the environment and choosing the right products to plant. In these societies, the individual who triumphed and survived to convey their characteristics was methodical and disciplined. The brain of the farmer is studious and persevering.
The hunters, on the other hand, had to take into account all the stimuli at the same time. It was important to follow the prey and have it in view, to stay against the wind so that the animal did not feel the smell of the hunter, to avoid stepping on dry branches and making noise, to be attentive to any movement in the foliage, to find the best place to attack , calculate the distance, the wind and, therefore, the force with which he had to launch his spear or arrow. He should be able to react quickly when circumstances warranted, think and act instinctively. All this while avoiding being himself devoured by predators. The hunter who was able to attend to all these things simultaneously survived to transmit its characteristics. The The hunter's brain is agile, alert and determined.
When the nomadic societies evolved towards agriculture and settled in villages, the hunters did not disappear and it is their features that make hunter children have difficulty in developing an educational system designed for agricultural children.
Centered hyperatency of children with ADD
We have all found ourselves mentally light years away from the boring conference we are listening to but we tend to be able to keep the attention most of the time, so it is common to think that the child with ADD simply does not have intellectual discipline and that ADD does not exist. A peculiar characteristic of ADD that paradoxically reinforces prejudice is hyperatency. People with ADD are able to focus on a topic that interests them in such a way that everything else disappears. When they see them so engrossed in something, the parents wonder how this child can have attention deficit, but he has it. If the hyperatency is focused on something that has to be done, it will work obsessively on it.
There are ADD children who can spend hours reading, for example. In this case it will be a positive force that can be channeled admirably to prosecute studies. If the child has difficulty formally studying a topic, provide a book that in some way touches the subject, will help them find interest and focus on the study.
If the hyper-attention is focused on something negative, like a problem, it becomes an obstacle because they can not forget the fight they had in the yard, for example, and move on to something else. Their concentration gets stuck and you have to reset them, like computers when they freeze. A physical activity that needs concentration, like making a career, etc., can turn your mind away from negative thoughts.
ADHD: improves with intense exercise
Children who also have hyperactivity, ie ADHD, are like a Dalmatian dog living on a floor. They need to burn that excess energy. The best thing for them is sports or their hyperatency will be fixed in going out, in moving. A Baltimore lady was desperate with her ADHD child and her pediatrician recommended intense exercise. The lady was relieved to see that the swimming program in which she enrolled the child was a success. His son did not stop for long, he never seemed to tire. His behavior improved and his grades went up and he grew to become the famous swimmer Michael Phelps, several times world and Olympic champion.
It is very important to work with the school. Parents complain that teachers can not handle children. Teachers complain that parents do not collaborate, that they become defensive. It is important to understand that both are on the same side and work in unison.
Talk a lot and choose common goals; "This month we will insist on not interrupting," for example. Choose each month a specific objective, simple and with a specific time, clearly defined, that the child understands perfectly what it is.
Nita Aspiazu
