For decades, frustrated parents and teachers have barked at fidgety children with ADHD to 麻豆精品 S淪it still and concentrate! 麻豆精品 S�
But new research conducted at UCF shows that if you want ADHD kids to learn, you have to let them squirm. The foot-tapping, leg-swinging and chair-scooting movements of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are actually vital to how they remember information and work out complex cognitive tasks, according to a of the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.
The findings show the longtime prevailing methods for helping children with ADHD may be misguided.
麻豆精品 S淭he typical interventions target reducing hyperactivity. It 麻豆精品 S檚 exactly the opposite of what we should be doing for a majority of children with ADHD, 麻豆精品 S� said one of the study 麻豆精品 S檚 authors, Mark Rapport, head of the Children 麻豆精品 S檚 Learning Clinic at the University of Central Florida. 麻豆精品 S淭he message isn 麻豆精品 S檛 麻豆精品 S楲et them run around the room, 麻豆精品 S� but you need to be able to facilitate their movement so they can maintain the level of alertness necessary for cognitive activities. 麻豆精品 S�
The research has major implications for how parents and teachers should deal with ADHD kids, particularly with the increasing weight given to students 麻豆精品 S� performance on standardized testing. The study suggests that a majority of students with ADHD could perform better on classroom work, tests and homework if they 麻豆精品 S檙e sitting on activity balls or exercise bikes, for instance.
The study at the UCF clinic included 52 boys ages 8 to 12. Twenty-nine of the children had been diagnosed with ADHD and the other 23 had no clinical disorders and showed normal development.
Each child was asked to perform a series of standardized tasks designed to gauge 麻豆精品 S渨orking memory, 麻豆精品 S� the system for temporarily storing and managing information required to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning and comprehension.
Children were shown a series of jumbled numbers and a letter that flashed onto a computer screen, then asked to put the numbers in order, followed by the letter. A high-speed camera recorded the kids, and observers recorded their every movement and gauged their attention to the task.
Rapport 麻豆精品 S檚 previous research had already shown that the excessive movement that 麻豆精品 S檚 a trademark of hyperactive children 麻豆精品 S� previously thought to be ever-present 麻豆精品 S� is actually apparent only when they need to use the brain 麻豆精品 S檚 executive brain functions, especially their working memory.
The new study goes an important step further, proving the movement serves a purpose.
麻豆精品 S淲hat we 麻豆精品 S檝e found is that when they 麻豆精品 S檙e moving the most, the majority of them perform better, 麻豆精品 S� Rapport said. 麻豆精品 S淭hey have to move to maintain alertness. 麻豆精品 S�
By contrast, the children in the study without ADHD also moved more during the cognitive tests, but it had the opposite effect: They performed worse.
In addition to Rapport, the study was co-authored by Dustin Sarver of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Michael Kofler of Florida State University, Lauren Friedman of the University of Central Florida, and Joe Raiker of Florida International University.