Hyperactivity Charlotte

A fidget is a small object, like a koosh ball, stress ball, pencil, keychain, bracelet, paper clip, eraser, or small toy, that can be beneficial for helping a child pay attention in school, focus a need to move, or deal with anxiety. They are objects that can be pulled, squeezed or moved around with your hands or fingers while paying attention and looking at the teacher. Fidgets can be helpful for kids with ADHD, sensory processing disorders, or anxiety during classroom time or at home.

Before sending a fidget to school with your child, you should ask the teacher for permission. Fidgets shouldn't be used as an additional method of distraction & children need to know that there are rules.

Fidget Rules:
- One is that you shouldn't need to look at the fidget while you use it because then you won't be able to pay attention in class.
- You shouldn't try to get your friends to pay attention to your fidget either, because the other kids are trying to learn.
- It shouldn't be thrown or dropped, it needs to stay on your desk or in your hands.
- Another suggestion is to keep your fidget in your pocket so that you know where it is.

If you are looking for help for your child with school related concerns in Charlotte, consult with an educational specialist or occupational therapist at Child & Family Development.

While certain foods are able to calm, help organize, and sometimes increase attention for children with ADHD and sensory processing disorders (see previous post), other foods are alerting.

Alerting foods can be good to increase the arousal level of children who are typically low arousal. They may also need to be considered foods to avoid during particular points of the day when inattention, hyperactivity, or sensory challenges may be present.

Alerting foods can include:
- CRUNCHY FOOD: like bavarian pretzels, carrots, apples, banana chips, pickles, popcorn, crackers, granola bars, nuts, raw vegetables, etc.
- Sour and spicy flavored foods
- Cold items (ice, popsicles, ice water, ice cream)
- Carbonated drinks
- Sucking on hard candy like Warheads, Fire balls, sour balls, Hot Tamales, etc.

If you are looking for more information on oral strategies, ADD, or sensory processing, consult with an Occupational Therapist at Child and Family Development.

Children thrive on structure and look to you as a parent to keep them safe and give them guidance to get through life. Telling them "no" lets them know that you care for them enough to set some boundaries so that they are safe. Even if they don't appreciate your "no" right then, they will later.

Saying "no" does not mean you have to be extremely strict, but children learn what their boundaries are by testing them. If you don't say "no", they won't learn their boundaires and their behavior will become worse.

As I discussed in one of my previous blogs, routine is very important for children. Children of all ages need to know what to expect and what is expected of them. Consistency is key!

If you only say no when you are angry or overwhelmed, you are sending your child very mixed signals. Now, they won't know when they can/can't have or do something because your response is unpredictable and they will continue to test the limits.

What about my child who has temper tantrums when I tell him/her "no"?
The more consistent your are, the more your child will learn the boundaires and the temper tantrums will decrease.  You may have to put up with some bad temper tantrums before you get there, but they will learn!

What if my child has a disorder or diagnosis?
Children with Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism, ADHD, and other developmental delays still need to hear the word "no" so that they can learn what is expected of them.  Often, these children need even more structure and boundaries to guide them through life.  Many people make the mistake of saying, "Well that child has Autism, so it's OK for him/her to act that way".  Just like any other child, children with Autism and other developmental delays will rise to the expectations they are given.

For more information on this topic, check out: www.empoweringparents.com/blog/consequences-rewards/dr-joan-its-ok-to-say-no/#

Image: www.sosprograms.com

As a child, I would likely have met the criteria for Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). As an adult I am definitely persnickety about some things, and prefer to be in control of my environment. I am also an Occupational Therapist. 

I don’t believe that sensory sensitivities can be “fixed”. We all have our preferences, most of us are able to cope and then still live full lives in spite of these sensitivities. When these sensitivities are a problem is when they limit our ability to participate in our daily life activities.  For example, when a child can't or won't play on the playground because they are too overwhelmed by the sensations they experience there; or if they can't participate in the classroom for similar reasons.

Within each of the sensory systems there are feelings of hyper-sensitivity, or being too sensitive to sensations or inputs, and there are feelings of hypo-sensitivity, or being less sensitive to sensations or inputs. As a child I was that kid who was clinging to my mom's leg. I cried a lot. I’m the one with the tear-stained face in school pictures. I never really wanted to go out on the playground. Recess really wasn’t very exciting for me. I hated going to the mall or the grocery store. Family get-togethers gave me anxiety.  I was a sweet, friendly, child; but I was so easily overwhelmed by my environment. I didn’t understand those feelings and when that tipping point was crossed where it was just more than I could handle I would cry or look for my mom or want desperately to go home or to some other safe and familiar space.  I didn't know how to cope.

If I sound like a child you know, or your own child, or if it even sounds like yourself, I hope you’ll keep reading. My goal here is to talk a little bit about each of the sensory systems that are typically involved in SPD, tell you about my own experiences as a child where they're relevant, and how those experiences have impacted me as an adult.

What are Executive Skills Disorders?

Many students, particularly students with learning disabilities, ADHD, Dyslexia and Dysgraphia, struggle upon entering middle school and high school. All at once, the student must shift from learning the specific academic skills of reading, writing and math to applying their academic skills in the content area. They now must be prepared to do literary analysis, report writing, and the reasoning of higher level math. Tackling this next learning step requires the student to draw upon the executive skills of prioritizing, multi-tasking, and time management. The struggle to garner one’s executive skills is frequently observed in these types of behaviors:

• Does homework, but forgets to turn it in
• Loses assignments
• Forgets materials
• Gets good test scores but loses points on daily homework grades
• Ignores or dreads homework

If this sounds familiar, the child's executive skills are likely not up to these tasks.

The executive control needed to handle these organizational demand increases dramatically upon entering middle and high school. Yet, the organizational support a student needs to learn these skills actually decreases. Consequently, many children with weak executive skills require direct instruction and individualized instructional support to manage the routine of studying, note taking, and homework.

Educators at Child and Family Development are experienced in working with these middle school and high school students who struggle.

Over the last few years the term Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) has become a term used to describe children with different behaviors which has lead to the label APD being applied (often incorrectly) to a wide variety of disorders. The symptoms of auditory processing disorder are similar to those associated with ADHD, language processing disorders, autism as well as a number of other disorders.    This article is going to focus on language processing and how it isn’t APD.    

Remember your first day in Spanish class and the Spanish teacher came in saying everything in Spanish…you recognized all of the sounds and possibly some of the words, but generally speaking you felt “lost.”  This phenomena is due to your not being able to process the language—not an auditory processing problem.  Children with a language processing disorder will experience difficulties with expressing themselves, following directions, reading and writing.  

A language processing disorder can only be assed by a Certified Speech-Language Pathologist.  The testing should encompass a comprehensive assessment that looks at expressive and receptive language skills and how the child is able to apply these skills at different levels-single word as well as in connected speech. 

It may surprise some, but as a Certified Speech Language Pathologist who works with children with possible auditory processing disorders, I am not able to diagnose an auditory processing disorder.  This diagnosis can only be made by a certified audiologist and it entails much more than a simple hearing test.  The testing does not look at the child’s ability to process language but does entail the child’s ability to process incoming auditory information. 
 

If you suspect your child if having difficulty with processing language or sounds you should contact a speech-language pathologist to determine what type of evaluation maybe appropriate for your child.       

Foods that require sucking introduce fun ways to include proprioceptive input and heavy work to the mouth. Including these foods in your childs diet may be beneficial for children with sensory processing disorders or ADHD. But really, it's not the food- it's the method! For added heavy work, try sucking the liquids through a straw. Consider using sports bottles and straws that require more "work", such as silly straws, long straws, or thin straws.

Foods:
- apple saucehttps://www.compendiumblog.com/web/admin.dashboard
- Charleston Chews
- Flat Sugarless Candy
- Fresh Orange Wedges
- Grape Fruit Wedges
- Jello Cubes
- Tart Juices (Cranberry, Lemonade, Apple, Grapefruit)
- Smoothies
- Milk Shakes
- Peanut Butter
- Popsicles
- Puddings

Not every child will react the same way to oral motor (mouth) strategies like these. For more information, consult an Occupational Therapist at Child and Family Development.

Image: Peter Nijenhuis

Child and Family Development is pleased to offer Cogmed Working Memory Training.  

Cogmed Working Memory Training is a home-based program that helps people with attention problems by training and increasing their working memory capacity. Clinically proven results demonstrate that after training, people improve their ability to concentrate, control impulsive behavior, and better utilize complex reasoning skills. Better academic and professional performance can be achieved.

Studies consistently show that most people with attention deficits have a working memory deficit. That holds true for attention problems due to ADHD, traumatic brain injury, normal aging or general deficits from working memory overload; it is also true for milder concentration problems. 

A substantial and growing body of work documents the efficacy of Cogmed Working Memory Training. Most notably, Klingberg’s 2005 study on school age children with ADHD showed it to be effective in a placebo-controlled, multi-center trial. 

There were statistically and clinically significant treatment effects on non-trained measures of working memory, response inhibition and complex reasoning.

Substantial and lasting reduction of attention problems following training-induced working memory improvements is a research breakthrough.

Leading American and European research teams have now replicated the research using Cogmed products and protocol. They have presented results at several research conferences. For the latest results and research posters, visit www.cogmed.com/research. 

To find out if Cogmed Working Memory Training is right for you, call our South Charlotte office at 704.541.9080 to schedule an initial appointment with Dr. Joy Granetz.   

When discussing strategies for children with sensory processing disorders and ADD or ADHD, one helpful approach which is often new to parents is considering which foods are beneficial to increase attention and provide proprioceptive, or heavy work input to the mouth.

There are a number of foods which may have a calming affect, because of the sensory input provided to the mouth. Some of these foods include: 

- Sucking (ice, milk shakes, noodles, hard candy)
- Using a sports bottle with a straw for increased heavy work
- Thick foods like peanut butter, milk shakes, or smoothies
- Chewy foods like gum, fruit roll-ups, dried fruit, bagels, gummy candy, chicken strips, cheese, taffy, caramels, Starburst, or cooked vegetables

It can also be beneficial to include these foods & techniques in your child's lunch, at snack time during school, and provide a water bottle with a straw throughout the day.

If you and your child are looking for more guidance in the areas of sensory processing or ADHD in Charlotte, consult an Occupational Therapist at Child and Family Development!

A recent post on a Health blog from the New York Times titled "For Better Grades, Try Gym Class" caught my eye and got me thinking about how important physical activity is for our children.  This article looks at the possibility that exercise can support learning for children who have ADHD and other children. 

I do not have ADHD myself, so I cannot fully understand what it must be like to try to sit and learn in a classroom full of distractions.  However, I have met many people, children and adults, who have ADHD and have developed strategies to help them be successful in school and work activities.  Several adults I know have found that going to the gym or running regularly helps them focus at their jobs and at home.  In addition, I have been told by clients many times that their child seems to focus so much better after swimming, dancing, or jumping on the trampoline.  So how important is physical activity for a child with or even without ADHD?

I have learned that students who have P.E. on a given day (which seems to only occur once a week rather than daily) do not have recess on that day.  I have also learned that most children are expected to sit in the classroom from 9am to 1pm before they have recess, at the very end of the day.  For any child this is an extremely tough demand, but imagine what it must be like for a child with ADHD!

I don't have the answer, but it is good to know that research is being done to support physical activity in the school day.  This article suggests that allowing children to play freely during their school day will support their ability to learn in the classroom.

As school gets back into full swing, working on handwriting and pre-writing shapes often comes home in the form of worksheets, or kids are tired of the traditional method of pencil and paper. This is a fun activity that can be used for shapes, numbers, and letters. It is ideal for any child working on handwriting, fine motor skills, or tactile defensiveness such as children with autism or sensory processing disorders. It would also be appropriate for children with dyslexia, ADD, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, or developmental delays.

Feely Shapes: Fun with Spaghetti!  

What you will need: 
- package of spaghetti
- pot with water
- placemats

Activities: Cook the spaghetti and then rinse it with cold water until its cool enough for little hands to touch. Provide a placemat for easier clean up and encourage your child to make shapes, numbers or letters out of this fun new texture.

The following shapes are appropriate expectations: 
2-3 years old: imitate a vertical line, horizontal line, and circle; copy a horizontal line
3-4: copy a horizontal line and circle
4-5: cross, diagonals, square, X
5+: triangle, make a person, create a picture, uppercase letters, & lowercase letters

Adding different types of pasta will increase the tactile input & creative potential during this activity. If children are afraid to touch the pasta, they should be encouraged, but could use eating utencils to lessen the sensory challenge.

This fun activity is shared from the book, "The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder" by Carol Kranowitz, M.A. which is full of great sensory activities for kids!

The occupational therapy and physical therapy teams at Child and Family Development offer a number of cutting edge auditory interventions called Listening Therapies:

• SAMONAS
• Therapeutic Listening®
• The Listening Program®