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How to Easily Improve Your Child’s Academic Performance

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Whether your kids attend a private, public or home school, all parents want for their kids to perform academically to the best of their ability.

How to Improve Academic Performance

 

Research has shown some interesting connections to the simple act of exercise on academic performance.  The medical journal Pediatrics recently published research that found kids who took part in a regular physical activity program showed important enhancement of cognitive performance and brain function. The findings, according to University of Illinois professor Charles Hillman and colleagues, “demonstrate a causal effect of a physical program on executive control, and provide support for physical activity for improving childhood cognition and brain health.”

What is Executive Control?

The improvements in this case reportedly came in executive control, which consists of inhibition (resisting distraction, maintaining focus), working memory, and cognitive flexibility (switching between tasks).

Exercise brain

Photo courtesy of The Atlantic

 

The images above show the brain activity in the group of kids who participated in the exercise program as opposed to the group that didn’t. The difference is profound.

Another study found that a 12-week exercise program improved math and reading test scores in all kids, but especially in those with signs of ADHD. Executive functioning is impaired in ADHD, and tied to performance in math and reading.

John Ratey, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard, suggests that people think of exercise as medication for ADHD. Even very light physical activity improves mood and cognitive performance by triggering the brain to release dopamine and serotonin, similar to the way that stimulant medications like Adderall do.

Simple Ways to Implement Exercise in Your Home

So how do we get our kids moving?

Here are 5 ways to implement an exercise program in your home.

1.  Get out in nature.  Although this may not be doable on a daily basis, it can be highly motivating for kids (and parents) to be exploring the wilderness as they exercise.  Whether you explore a nearby hiking trail or visit a local park, getting outside together as a family builds happy memories as well as physical fitness.

2.  Use the TV.  Understanding that not all of us live in climates where outdoor exercise is possible all the time, there are many excellent exercise DVDs that can be played right in the comfort (and warmth) of your own home.

3.  Sports teams.  All of our kids have enjoyed taking sports or dance classes through various community centers in our area.  Whether a swim team, soccer team, karate or ballet, these activities inspire kids to enjoy moving and can strengthen other skills such as a sense of sportsmanship and teamwork.

4. Limit screen time.  This isn’t actually an exercise program per se, however, when we changed our kids media consumption habits by dramatically limiting their screen time, guess what they did?  Yup, they went outside to play.  We simple provided the tools – a trampoline,  bikes, skateboards, jump ropes balls etc. and the kids took care of the rest.

5.  Join a local gym or YMCA.  As our kids got older and were less likely to play for exercise, we joined an inexpensive gym that provided a modest facility where all of us could exercise.

If your kids are resistant to exercising, try making it a family affair.  Schedule a time each day that your family is doing some form of exercise, whether it is walking or running on a treadmill, walking or running around the block, taking the dog for a walk or watching an exercise video.

For more information on ADD and ADHD, read the following posts:

The #1 Non-Drug Treatment for ADD and ADHD

How to Teach the Distractible Child

What All Parents Need to Know About ADD and Dyslexia

The Number One Natural (Non-Drug) Treatment for ADHD

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natural treatment ADHD

 

Why a post on ADHD on a dyslexia education site, you may ask?

There is a high correlation between dyslexia and attention issues such as ADD and ADHD.  If you are beginning your search for information on ADD or ADHD, please read this post that includes many of the signs of ADD and ADHD.

As homeschoolers, we have tremendous freedom to adjust our learning environment for the different learning styles of our kids.  We can choose curriculum, schedules, even foods and lighting that complement rather than frustrate our kids preferred way of learning.

However, any parent of a child that struggles with attention, whether it be inattentiveness or hyperactivity, knows that these struggles are not limited to the classroom.  ADD and ADHD affect many areas of life including social situations, down time at home, ability to complete daily chores, and even sports and music practice.

How can we help our kids to have more control of themselves in the day-to-day without using prescription drugs?

Note:  I am not discouraging the use of medication for ADD and ADHD.  Many people use and are greatly helped by these medications.  These ‘natural treatments’ are provided as another way to help your child be as successful as possible in their home, school and lives.  What works for one child may not work for another child – each child is unique!  

Studies have shown that using medication alone to treat ADD and ADHD is not sufficient and must be combined with one or more non-drug ADD treatments.

Natural Treatments for ADD and ADHD

Today we’re going to talk about the number one, most effective, natural treatment for ADD and ADHD.

Behavior Therapy

All kids need firm boundaries and none so much as the child with ADD or ADHD.  Learning to implement a  consistent set of rewards and consequences into your daily routine is one of the most highly effective natural treatments for kids with attention issues.

Interestingly, a lot of behavior modification is simply common sense parenting.

How to Set up a Succesful System of Rewards and Consequences

Choose a specific goal.  Trying to focus on too many goals at once can be difficult to monitor.  Start with one goal and as progress is made, add another.

Create a visual reminder.  This should outline what is expected of your child.  What you use here will depend on the age of your child.  For my older kids, this comes in the form of a checklist.  For younger kids is can be something as simple as a 3×5 card with an image of the desired behavior posted in a prominent place in your work or school area.

Choose the specific reward and consequence.  Effective behavior modification finds a good balance between rewards and consequences.  Parents are terrific at knowing when their kids are becoming overwhelmed or discouraged and when the scale needs to tip back towards rewards rather than consequences.

Here are a few examples of rewards and consequences that we use in our home with our ADD and ADHD kids:

Example of consequences:

For our 7-year old.  I have mentioned before how we draw 3 lines on our homeschool room (dining room) dry erase board every day for our young son with ADHD.  Because he tends to complain and have a low tolerance for things that are difficult, we have chosen this area to focus on of late.

If he begins to complain, I give him a gentle reminder, “It sounds like you are complaining.”  If he does not self-correct (stop complaining) I remind him that he will lose a line if he continues.

If he loses all 3 lines by 2:00 when he normally is allowed an hour on the iPad, he loses his turn for the day.

Having this clear plan in place helps my son monitor his own behavior and it helps me not to feel overwhelmed and out of control.

For our 11-year old daughter.  My older daughter strongly dislikes the tediousness of chores, especially room cleaning.  At 11-years old, she has a well-established morning routine that she is expected to complete, without reminders, each day.  (This is easily accomplished at this age with a simple chore check list.)

Our daughter also enjoys time on the Amazon Kindle that she received for her birthday last year.   She looks up recipes, crafts, information on animals, listens to music and audio books or plays on Minecraft with her brother and sister.

One of our goals for her is to teach her self-control with her Kindle and she is allowed to keep it in her room.  However, she is not allowed to go on it without permission yet as we work to establish good boundaries and healthy habits.

At first, if she was found on it without permission, for any seemingly good reason, she would lose it for the day.  Now that that boundary has been established for some time, if she is on it without permission, she loses the Kindle for the week.

Examples of rewards:

For our 7-year old.  I wrote recently about teaching the distracted child and how this little guy can easily get overstimulated at our weekly co-op day.  I implement the above-mentioned consequence but if he has exhibited good behavior and self control at co-op on any particular day, I am quick to observe that, praise his efforts and offer some reward or treat such as renting a new release from the RedBox DVD rental or buying a box of popsicles or other treat.

For our 11-year old.  They key to the successful use of rewards is to find something that is motivating to your child.  Set up a challenge such as completing morning routines without reminders for a week and earn some reward.  For this child it may be a trip to the craft store for supplies or some other activity for which she has been asking.

Having this clear, simple strategy set up alleviates many struggles for both the child and the parent.

Other Natural Treatments for ADD and ADHD

There are a variety of natural treatments that alleviate the symptoms of distractibility, and for some kids hyperactivity.  These include (posts coming soon!):

Omega-3 or Fish Oil & Nutritional Changes

Exercise

Working Memory Training

“Green Time” or time spent outdoors

Neurofeedback

What non-medical treatments for ADD or ADHD have you tried with success or not so much success?

Teaching the Distracted Child

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As if homeschooling isn’t enough of a challenge, teaching a distracted child who has trouble focusing is even harder.

Not all kids with ADD or ADHD have dyslexia but it is believed that about 40% of dyslexic kids have some sort of problem focusing.  I have shared in the past about how I overlooked one of our older kids’ severe ADD (inattentive type) because she wasn’t impulsive and hyperactive. You can read more about the common signs of ADD & ADHD and its relationship to dyslexia here ‘What Parents of Dyslexics Need to Know About ADD.

How to Teach the Distractible Child

A Day in the Life With ADD and ADHD

I am writing this post after correcting and redirecting one of my more particularly distracted children  so many times during our co-op last week that I came home with a pounding headache, jangling nerves and a pretty discouraged attitude.   It. was. exhausting.

I’m well acquainted with looking for outside the box solutions for my kids and so I set out to learn more about ADD and ADHD to find some new insights into what was triggering this child’s impulsive, wild behavior during our homeschool co-op class.

Determining the Trigger

Our fast-paced, interactive and hands-on co-op has little trouble keeping our son’s attention.  It fits the bill perfectly in most ways for methods for teaching a child with attention issues.  Our weekly co-op has many of the ideal elements for teaching a child with attention issues:

  • short lessons,
  • lots of hands-on activities,
  • music used for memorizing,
  • and discussion rather than writing and reading

What was happening, however, was that with all of the action, he was becoming over-stimulated and as such, acting out in impulsive ways like running around, falling on the ground, standing on chairs, hugging classmates too hard and too often.

For the child with attention and focus issues like ADD and ADHD having too much stimulation can be as bad (or worse) than not having enough stimulation (i.e. long periods of sitting, no opportunity to move, etc).

Common Causes of Over Stimulation

Sight.  Is their learning area too busy? Are there too many colors or things to see and look at?

This really wasn’t such a big deal in our son’s class.  Although the class is held in a room usually used for childcare at our local church, the workspace is clean and the area is not overly busy.

Sound.  Is the area too quiet or too loud? Some kids need quiet to concentrate.  Others learn better if there is some amount of background noise or music to block out the other noises.

This is definitely a trigger for our son during his weekly co-op class.  The kids have opportunity to get up and move frequently throughout the morning.  Much of the Classical Conversations memory work is learned through music, songs, chants and sign language.

Since I am in class with him every week, I have observed that for some of the kids this seems like an invitation to run, jump, slide, and twirl.  The very gifted teacher understands this need to move and allows for a certain amount of this.  However, our son has trouble refocusing after this ‘wiggle time’.

Textures.  This is becoming a more common issue, but are they bothered by the feel of their chair, their clothes? What can you work to control in this area?

Kids with focus issues are really struggling to balance the sensory input that they experience throughout the day.

Tips on Teaching Distractible Kids in Classes or Group Settings

Limit visual distractions. We all love the educational posters and visual reminders, but that could be overwhelming for your child.  When possible, try taking them down and see if that helps.

Visual distraction can occur on the page as well.  If your child is working a page of math facts, cover up all but the problem he or she is working on to avoid visual overload.

Give them a fidget. A fidget as a small toy or item your child can fiddle with to help them concentrate. They should be small, help the child to actually concentrate rather than cause more distraction, has to not distract the teacher or other kids and it has to not make noise.  For a list of inexpensive fidgets, see the fidget widget below.  🙂  Contains affiliate links.

Take breaks.   When our little power house gets too excited in our co-op, I don’t have the freedom to stop the class activities like I do at home, but I can take a walk outside with him.  Just a brisk walk around the building that houses our co-op fills his lungs with fresh air and empties the noise and busyness out of his little system.

Self awareness.  Talk with your kids about what things are distracting to them.  Talk with them about appropriate behavior before class.  Remind them of your conversation during class and go over your expectations after class.  Clear, concise instruction is key here.  No long lectures.  We are going to try some role playing this week.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Rewards and Consequences.  My work as a social worker with troubled kids before having my own children aught me well in the ways of behavior modification.  While I highly value the condition of my kids hearts (character) sometimes they just need better boundaries.

An example of how we use rewards and consequences:  For my 7-year old diamond in the rough, I draw 3 lines on our dry erase board every morning. If he complains about chores, schoolwork or serving in general, I give him a gentle reminder, “It sounds like you are complaining.”  If he doesn’t respond to this gentle correction, I remind him that he will lose a line if he continues.  If he loses 3 lines, he loses his 1 hour of iPad play.

This could be modified for any behavior issue that your child needs work on.

Resources to Learn More About the Distractible Child

As with any learning difficulty, it is super important to educate yourself on ADD and ADHD and how it affects your individual child.  I recommend all of the following ADD and ADHD resources because I have either read them myself or they have been recommended to me by someone that I respect and trust.

 

10 Tips for Teaching Kids With ADD and ADHD

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Yesterday we looked at some surprising myths and misinformation on ADD and ADHD as well as signs to watch for in your own kids.  You can read that post, What Every Parent Should Know About ADD & Dyslexia by clicking here.  Today we’re taking a look at tips for teaching kids with ADD or ADHD.

 

tips-for-teaching-kids-with-adhd

 

Kids with ADD and ADHD thrive in the homeschool environment because of the flexibility and freedom to individualize their schedules, curricula and teaching methods.

Here are 10 of our most effective tips for teaching a child with ADD or ADHD:

1.  Avoid busy work.  Keep instruction meaningful and you will keep their attention.  Don’t be afraid to modify your lesson plans, customizing them for your child’s unique needs.

2.  Use multi-sensory methods – let them move!  Get stretchy toys or stress balls for kids to play with when they are feeling fidgety but need to sit still.  Consider having kids sit on an oversized exercise ball instead of a chair.  Let them act out their vocabulary words.

3.  Take frequent breaks.  This goes along with number two;  taking a ‘brain break’ when they are feeling sluggish will refresh and re-energize them.

4.  Consider using a reward system.  This is especially helpful for establishing good habits with younger kids.  Keep a chart with stickers and set up clear boundaries for what is expected and what the reward will be.

5.  Diet.  Limit simple carbs, drink a lot of water, get regular exercise.  Dietary measures may not be a ‘cure’ for attention issues but they absolutely help!

6.  Have them repeat instructions back to you to help with memory.  Also, don’t give too many instructions at once.  Teach older kids to write lists or speak their lists into a recording device to replay later.

7.  Start the school day with activities that require the most mental energy.  Get them over the hump early.  Our kids that don’t like math, do it first thing in the morning while I am nearby for accountability.  It is an amazingly freeing experience to check it off of their lists first thing every day.

8.  Experiment with the use of a timer – 30 minutes and then a break or difficult subjects are only worked on for a set period of time.  Try a sand timer if the clicking noise is distracting.

9.  Maintain a regular routine.  Knowing what to expect and when to expect it eliminates the frustration often experienced by switching activities.

10.  Keep work spaces clutter free.  Consider playing soft, instrumental music in the background to keep other background noises from becoming distracting.

Above all, educate yourself and your child on what ADD & ADHD are and what that means for them.  Help them to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Resources on ADD and ADHD:

What Parents of Dyslexics Need to Know About ADD & ADHD

Visit our Resources Page

What Parents of Dyslexics Need to Know About ADD & ADHD

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ADD and Dyslexia

It has been estimated that between 30 – 60% of kids with dyslexia also have either ADD or ADHD.

The implications of this are huge.  One of the reasons I say this is that for 20 years, I had no idea that some of my kids were not only struggling with dyslexia but also silently suffering with an agonizing inability to focus – even when they desperately wanted to focus.

Because of the rampant myths and misinformation that I believed about ADD and ADHD, I overlooked an issue that has resulted in some serious consequences in my kids’ lives.  I don’t want that to happen to your family.

Myths About ADD & ADHD

Myth 1: All kids with ADD/ADHD are hyperactive

Fact: Some children with ADD/ADHD are hyperactive, but many others with attention problems are not. Children with ADD/ADHD who are inattentive, but not overly active, may appear to be spacey and unmotivated.  This kind of attention issue is easily overlooked.

Myth 2: Kids with ADD/ADHD can never pay attention

Fact: Children with ADD/ADHD are often able to concentrate on activities they enjoy. But no matter how hard they try, they have trouble maintaining focus when the task at hand is boring or repetitive. Parents may observe their child spending large amounts of time focusing on building with Legos, while being read to or some other activity and wrongly assume that they don’t have attention issues.

Myth 3: Kids with ADD/ADHD could behave better if they wanted to

Fact: Children with ADD/ADHD may do their best to be good, but still be unable to sit still, stay quiet, or pay attention. They may appear disobedient, but they are not acting out on purpose.  I’ll never forget hearing Jonathan Mooney speak at an IDA conference about his torturous experience with ADHD in the classroom.  “When did sitting still become a moral issue?”  This is difficult to accept if you have not personally experienced ADD or ADHD.

Myth 4: Kids will grow out of ADD/ADHD

Fact: ADD/ADHD often continues into adulthood, so waiting for your child to outgrow the problem isn’t a viable option. Treatment can help your child learn to manage and minimize the symptoms.

Myth 5: Medication is the best treatment option for ADD/ADHD

Fact: Medication is often prescribed for attention deficit disorder, but it might not be the best option for your child.  Effective treatment for ADD/ADHD also includes education, behavior therapy, support at home and school, exercise, and proper nutrition.

As with the many myths that surround dyslexia, the myths that surround attention issues such as ADD and ADHD can cause a lot of wasted time, misunderstandings and anxiety.

Types of ADHD

The DSM-IV identifies 3 types of ADHD:

  1. ADHD predominantly inattentive type is characterized by distractibility and difficulty sustaining mental effort and attention.
  2. ADHD predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type is characterized with fidgeting with hands and feet, squirming in one’s chair, acting as if driven by a motor, interrupting and intruding upon others.
  3. ADHD combined type has both sets of inattention and hyperactive/impulsive criteria.

Signs of ADD

Inattention

  • doesn’t pay attention to details
  • makes careless mistakes
  • trouble staying focused; is easily distracted
  • appears not to listen
  • difficulty remembering things and following directions
  • trouble staying organized, planning ahead, and finishing projects
  • gets bored with a task before it’s completed
  • frequently loses or misplaces schoolwork, books, toys or other items

Hyperactive

  • constantly fidgets and squirms
  • runs or climbs inappropriately
  • talks too much
  • difficulty playing quietly or relaxing
  • always on the go – as if driven by a motor
  • may have a quick temper

Impulsive

  • acts without thinking
  • blurts out words without hearing the whole question
  • trouble waiting for turn
  • often interrupts
  • trouble keeping strong emotions in check – angry or emotional outbursts
  • guesses rather than taking time to solve a problem

The Impact of ADD on Learning

Just as it is important for parents to understand what it means to be dyslexic, it is also important for them to understand the impact of attention issues such as ADD and ADHD on learning.  Homeschooling a child who struggles to focus on schoolwork or who has trouble following directions or acts impulsively can be frustrating, especially if you mistakenly believe that the child is acting out willfully.

Understanding that a child may desire to sit still and follow directions but be unable to makes the difference between daily life becoming a battle of wills or a power struggle and one of training and making modifications to the class environment and teaching methods.

Our resources page has been updated with some of the top sites to learn more about ADD & ADHD, causes, research and possible treatments.  I have also included (below) some of the top books on understanding ADD & ADHD.

course-6

Parent Dyslexia Class 6: Executive Function: Teaching Your Dyslexic Child to Organize Their Thoughts, Personal Space and Time

In this class, we’re going to look at:

  • what executive function is
  • how it executive function weaknesses can affect organizational skills
  • and most importantly, how you can teach your SEEMINGLY hopelessly unorganized child to grow in this area.

 

Join me tomorrow when we will be taking about tips for teaching kids with ADD or ADHD.

ADD & ADHD Resources

Visit our Resources page for a list of web sites that provide reliable information on ADD & ADHD.

And for my picks of the best books on ADD & ADHD:

 

 

As with dyslexia, getting educated about ADD and ADHD is critical to understanding and educating your children.

 

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