Parents with children who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may wonder how they can help their child cope beyond the traditional treatment methods that are usually recommended.
“A first line of treatment involves medication and behavioral intervention,” says Dr. Pilar Trelles, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. However, she adds that “there could be a place” for additional treatment methods such as weighted blankets or fidget spinners, a toy thought to provide a soothing sensory experience that may help children with ADHD manage anxiety. She stresses that while these approaches may help in some instances, they should not be used as the only means of intervention. Instead, she says they should be considered as a way to supplement treatment methods that are already in place.
[See: 8 Things You Didn’t Know About Counseling.]
Occupational Therapy
“Many times, even before turning to medications, parents opt to start with an occupational therapy route,” which can help kids learn how various forms of movement can help them manage their ADHD symptoms, says Kelly Kennedy, a fieldwork coordinator for the Occupational Therapy program in the College of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Cincinnati who has experience providing coping strategies for children, including those with ADHD.
She explains that every child has a different sensory input threshold, which is why a “sensory diet” often becomes part of a child’s occupational therapy plan. Based on the five senses, a sensory diet takes each child’s needs into consideration, allowing Kennedy to develop a program that best suits each child. Evaluation of the child at play and incorporation of varying types of sensory stimulation are assessed to determine ways to improve focus or create calming feelings.
Rhythmic Movements
Kennedy explains that rhythmic movements, such as that of a swing or a rocking chair, can be calming for a child with ADHD. “This may help with hyperactivity,” she says. However, she says to forgo a tire swing; while it moves back and forth, it can also spin — a movement that may make a child anxious.
Swinging is also suggested by the experts at Understood.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping parents whose children struggle with learning and attention issues. Amanda Morin, a parent advocate, former teacher and expert at the organization writes that ” a sensory diet can help ‘even things out’ if your child is overexcited at times or too tired at others. It can provide your child with the sensory input she needs to be in a ‘just right’ state.” Movement activities suggested by the organization include marching in place, climbing stairs, making snow angels and playing catch.
Penny Williams, owner of ParentingADHDandAutism.com and the author of several books including “Boy Without Instructions: Surviving the Learning Curve of Parenting a Child with ADHD,” turned to an occupational therapist to help her 6-year-old son, Luke, who was diagnosed with ADHD. She explains that such therapy assisted with his ongoing need to crash and bump into things, something the therapist explained can be the result of having poor proprioceptive input, which pertains to stimuli perception as it relates to body positioning and movement.
Luke, now 14, who was also diagnosed with high-functioning autism, was provided with occupational recommendations and therapies that Williams says have “helped him to enjoy the things he once avoided” such as crowds and loud noises.
[See: 10 Concerns Parents Have About Their Kids’ Health.]
Weighted Blankets, Lingering Hugs
One recommendation was for Williams’ son to use weighted blankets, whose added heaviness compared to more traditional blankets are believed to create a calming sensory experience that children with ADHD enjoy. To this day, she explains that he still uses them when moments of anxiety strike or when he becomes upset. “Sometimes he’ll sit under them or walk around with one wrapped around his body,” she says, noting the sense of comfort it helps produce.
Similarly, she adds that bear hugs fulfill a sensory need; she finds that hugging her son and holding on calms him.
Hands-on Activities, Fidget Spinners
Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University who has interacted with people with various disorders including ADHD and autism (she has autism herself), says coping with ADHD is all about relying less on the internet and more about getting involved with hands-on activities. Whether it’s playing with blocks, petting animals, sewing or anything in between, she’s an advocate, saying that it’s important for children not to lose sight of hobbies and activities that require physical movement. Such actions, she says, help enhance a child’s creativity and problem-solving abilities while making them more resourceful. Even doodling and twiddling thumbs can be beneficial, she adds.
As for fidget spinners? “Let children use them if they feel it helps,” she says, “but it’s also important to help them develop their strengths and abilities” in addition to just turning to this and similar devices.
A word of caution about fidget spinners, though. While it’s a popular device thought to perhaps help children with ADHD, it caused Kelly Rose Joniec’s daughter to choke after she put it in her mouth, landing her in surgery. The Texas mother cautions parents that “the small metal bushings in fidget spinners can pop out easily, and that not all spinners come with age-appropriate warnings.”
Mindfulness
Sian Cotton, professor in the department of family and community medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and the director of the Center for Integrative Health and Wellness there, says that mindfulness is essential.
She describes it as an “intentional awareness process, an unfolding of one moment to the next” that’s void of judgment. Cotton feels mindfulness should be taught to children at an early age before ADHD symptoms are even observed. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy allows a person to “notice their thoughts without judgment so an active choice can be made,” compared to cognitive behavioral therapy, which she says sometimes challenges a person to consider his or her thoughts and actions in a somewhat judgmental manner.
One mindfulness practice, she says, may involve a mindfulness body scan. In this case, a person mentally scans his or her body, noticing feelings in various areas. A child or an adult who does this may take notice that his or her legs are sore or shoulders are tense. This kind of self-observation, Cotton says, helps “create a space of awareness” within each person that doesn’t involve judgment or pushing feelings away. In turn, a person can move towards creating change.
Pets
Peg Rosen, a family health writer and an emergency medical technician who resides in New Jersey, tells Understood.org that animals can help “teach kids a lot about responsibility and empathy,” which she says is something that some kids with ADHD may struggle with. She adds that walking a dog, for example, helps a child with ADHD expend energy while cuddling with them can alleviate anxiety. Activities that require planning such as feeding may boost time management skills too.
[See: Hoarding, ADHD, Narcissism: Inside the Minds of History’s Great Personalities.]
“Don’t Sweat It”
Grandin says that some parents have told her that their child’s diagnosis keeps switching back and forth between ADHD and mild autism. “I say, ‘don’t sweat it.'” She encourages parents not to “get hung up on a diagnosis or labels” and instead, “focus on whatever it takes to allow a child to be successful. Do that.”
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What Methods Can ADHD Kids Try to Cope With Their Disorder? originally appeared on usnews.com
