Written by: Marce Nesslinger
Many of us see behavior concerns in our children in terms of their concentration, focus on tasks, the ability to change or make transitions and sometimes being excessively emotional when they are frustrated or appear to be distracted and not listening. At times, it feels like they have excess energy or are restless and unable to settle down. While the diagnosis of attention deficit disorder may be a little complicated and it certainly needs to take into consideration the age and developmental expectations of children, the persistency of interruptive behaviors can be addressed with routine and minor changes in things like diet, exercise and free time activities. There is abundant evidence that our lifestyles are not the healthiest even for us as adults and things like an hour of outside time daily or other changes can reduce many of the behaviors we see in our children and help us feel better as well.
Attention deficit disorder refers to the existence of symptoms and behaviors that persist overtime and are sufficiently problematic to interfere with a person’s ability to work, form and sustain relationships and learn. There are many possible executive functions that might be impaired in attention deficit disorder, and not all conditions are impaired in every case. Some of these executive function skills that might be impaired are:
Sustaining Attention
Shifting Attention
Controlling Emotions
Initiating or Starting an Activity
Working Memory
Planning
Organization of Materials
Self-monitoring
Managing Time
Diagnosis of attention deficit disorder involves observation, self-reports, reports from parents and teachers and testing but isn’t always necessary to be able to begin to address behavioral concerns and to try interventions that might help with symptoms such as distractibility, inability to sustain attention and focus, shifting focus, irritability and hyperactivity.
As you look at the list of these concerns, hopefully you are noting that all these skills are developing in our children and developmentally we cannot expect them to have mastery of these skills for many years. Many of us are still working on these skills ourselves. What we ideally would like to do, however, is create the kind of environments where our children can optimally grow and learn these skills with more efficiency and greater success. We would like to “scaffold” by modeling how to do these things and provide rewards as children learn parts of these skills. Some non-medicine related ways that help our children’s brains grow these skills are:
Mindfully considering when the problematic behavior occurs.
Charting for measuring success – i.e.; “I think 4-year-old Billy should be able to sit and listen to a story for 5 minutes”.
Look at sleep hygiene – young children need 10 to 11 hours of sleep daily for their brains to “rest” and heal to be ready for the challenges ahead. This is hard to do when our schedules are over-committed with extra-curricular activities. Let’s think about “growing the brain” first and then build in extra-curriculars later.
Look at diet – more protein, less sugar, limited chemicals, less processed food, higher “vitamin” content in foods. Yes, what you eat models for children what they will eat.
Omega 3 (cognitive flexibility, mood), Vitamin D, Zinc, (immune system, neuronal activity, learning impairments some amino acids, magnesium (calms the brain, helps concentration, mood), Iron (dopamine synthesis and improved memory).
Regular exercise – not just exercise on the weekends or in “free” time, but throughout the day – large movement (carrying things, moving objects, a chance to move large and small muscle groups.
Outdoor time – many experts recommend at least one hour daily outside time.
Decrease screen time – any time for children under two years of age is not recommended. And no more than an hour of daily screen time (with adult supervision) for children ages 3-6. This includes television, laptops, phones, and I-Pads. (Zero to Three, 2026). This might be the “world we live in” but how do we “grow a child’s brain first” and then add the inevitable of schoolwork and other things that will be increasingly more technology driven.
Alarms, timers, check sheets, incremental rewards (non-food) – help children sustain attention by “waiting” for the alarm, or song to start or stop a task. Set a timer – stay with a task for 2 minutes, then 3 minutes, increasing slowly (sustaining attention, impulse control).
Calming times – closing your eyes, pay attention to what you feel, hear, smell, notice your breath. If your thoughts drift, come back to your breath, fill your lungs and belly with air, breathe out slowly, fill them again, listen to what you hear (controlling emotions, sustaining attention).
Make a list – refer to your list, place it in a conspicuous place (initiating tasks, planning, organization of materials). If they are too young to make their own list, have children help you make a picture schedule of things that they need to accomplish and can easily check on it on their own.
Organize your space – clutter and chaos are hard on the ADD brain, put laundry and smaller objects in non-see-through bins or baskets, as soon as you’re finished with something, return it to its place (organization of materials, taking moments throughout the day to get organized).
Make eye contact with the person who is talking and model “attending” behavior.
When you are going to listen, say “I am going to listen until you are completely done talking.” Modeling focus for children and not “multi-tasking” while talking with children is critical.
Tactile distractions – rough piece of fabric to rub, smooth piece of fabric to rub, push your calves against the chair legs if you are sitting, notice your back against the back of a seat – push against it.
Move intentionally – hang like a rag doll, stretch to ceiling, hang like a rag doll, let your arms dangle. Do elbow to opposite knee crossovers. Walk mindfully for five minutes, turn around and walk back.
Verbalize telling someone or teaching someone what to do – “talk” through teaching someone what you plan to do – “First you are going to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer, then you will set the dryer for one hour, when it dings, you will talk the laundry out and fold it on the couch” (Organization and initiating tasks). For young children, we are only giving one or two steps at a time. “First let’s hand our coat up and then come back to me”.
These are not once-in-a-while activities or “one and done” for the day. These are things we can structure our time around very purposefully that will create the kind of environment necessary to “grow a calmer brain”. You are building the pathways to utilize executive functions by repeating even what seems like simple activities.