Edge Foundation Blog

Last week we wrote a post about executive function and ADHD inspired by John Medina’s book Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Each of Medina’s 12 Principals are based on scientifically-proven facts about how our brain works.

Take a look at the 12 rules and you’ll see that much of what he talks about are familiar Edge Foundation topics. Want to get a great preview of what his book covers? Visit Brainrules.net where Medina has free, on-line tutorials covering the important information from each chapter.

We agree that the principals outlined in the book are important insights into living to your full potential with ADHD.  When looking them over, we noticed a few common themes we’ve shared in the posts we have written over the last couple of years.  Here’s our take on each brain rule and how it plays out for ADHD:

Exercise – Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.

Treating ADHD with exercise
Spark: Reduce ADHD symptoms with exercise
ADHD and anxiety:  Non drug treatments everyone can try

Survival – Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.

Wiring – Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.

Executive function and ADHD success/
Succeeding despite learning disabilities/

Attention – Rule #4: We don’t pay attention to boring things.

Fidgeting helps ADHD people stay focused

Short-Term Memory – Rule #5: Repeat to remember.

Long-Term Memory – Rule #6: Remember to repeat.

Sleep – Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.

ADHD students need to take their sleep seriously
ADHD and sleep
ADHD, anxiety and the sleep connection

Stress – Rule #8: Stressed brains don’t learn the same way.

Improve your focus with water

Sensory Integration – Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses.

You can do more to manage ADHD
Fidgeting helps ADHD people stay focused

Vision – Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses.

Gender – Rule #11: Male and female brains are different.

Girls with ADHD face special challenges

Exploration – Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.

Did you read the book or learn anything here you didn’t know about how the brain works?  Let us know in the comments.

Ever tried to do two or more things at once?  Like doing homeworkand listening to your music?  Or listening to a talk and doodling your notes?  Did it work for you?

Those secondary “mindless” tasks (the doodling and the listening to the music) are what the Edge Foundation’s Executive Director, Sarah Wright, calls fidgeting.

A bored ADHD brain is a sluggish brain

“Everyone thinks of fidgeting as those restless movements we do when we’re bored, but really it’s more than that,” she explains.  “One of the things we know about an ADHD brain is that when it gets bored, it gets sluggish.  Literally.  In brain scans of people with ADHD doing boring repetitive tasks, we can see that pretty quickly the pre frontal cortex slows down.  One of the reasons stimulant medications are thought to work for ADHD is that they correct for this.  When compared to the general population, it is pretty clear people with ADHD just require a higher base level of stimulation to stay comfortably alert and focused.”

Fidgeting helps people with ADHD stay focused

Fidget to Focus is the book Sarah co-authored with Dr. Roland Rotz.  They make the case that instead of being a distraction, certain mindless tasks-like listening to music or doodling on paper or chewing gum or standing up at your desk-are really ways to help self-regulate and stay focused. Fidget to Focus was just featured in ADDitude magazine online.

She explains, “All adults self-regulate with sensory-motor activities.  When we get tired of sitting at our desks, we get up for a cup of coffee.  We switch on the radio in the car to keep us interested while driving.  We maybe splash some cold water on our faces to perk up.  Even as adults we need the right balance of sensory-motor stimulation to keep us in our comfort zone.

“Kids need more.  They need more frequent, more intense, and more variety of sensory-motor stimulation than adults does to stay in their comfort zone.  If you try to take those stimulating things away, they’ll just find something else.  And this is true for all kids, not just those with ADHD.  But because of the way the ADHD brain works, people with ADHD will essentially always need more stimulation than those without ADHD. It’s just a matter of degree.”

Three tips for self-regulating with fidgeting:

Sarah and her co-author emphasize three important points in Fidgeting to Focus that you can start using today.

1.       The great thing about fidgeting is that it’s perfectly natural.  Everyone does it.  The trick is to do it intentionally.  If you do it right, you can manage your ADHD symptoms in a way that’s totally unnoticeable to everyone else.

2.       It’s important to fidget respectfully: doing it in a way that works for you but that doesn’t bother the people around you.  For example, clicking your pen repeatedly during a meeting might not be so cool, but fiddling with a paperclip under the table would be soundless and invisible.

3.       It’s important to realize that a good fidget shouldn’t compete with the primary tasks.  For instance, if you need your eyes for reading, listening to music will be a better fidget than watching the TV.  If you need to listen, doodling or pacing will be a better fidget than being plugged into your iPod.

And ADHD coach can help you figure out which fidget help you focus, and which ones are getting in  your way.  We’d love to hear from you.  What fidget works for you?

Editor’s Note:

University of Central Florida study confirms fidgeting helps kids with ADHD concentrate as reported in the Orlando Sentinal, May 25, 2009.

There’s been so much attention the past few  days about whether Ritalin is effective for treating ADHD, you may have missed the news that fidgeting can help manage ADHD.  That’s right, fidgeting actually helps kids with ADHD stay alert.  Time Magazine reported last week that a new University of Central Florida study shows that ADHD kids move around in order to help them stay focused.  In fact kids with ADHD may actually learn better when they are fidgeting!

Teachers in Minnesota and Wisconsin have been experimenting with flexible desks that allow children the option to either stand or sit at them.  The New York Times reported that researchers from the University of Minnesota have been studying the impact of these flexible desks on the academic outcomes of children using them.

Finally, a study published in the journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology shows that doodling actually improves your ability to remember details, rather than indicating your mind is wandering.

Here at Edge, we know that fidgeting can be used successfully to help manage ADHD symptoms.  In 2005 our Executive Director, Sarah Wright, co-authored, Fidget to Focus:  Outwit Your Boredom: Sensory Strategies for Living with ADD.  Next month we’ll tell you more about this book that started it all! In the meantime, take a look at these reports – perhaps they’ll give you ideas of things to do at school or work to improve your focus.  An ADHD coach can also help you discover which strategies work best for you.

Did you already know that fidgeting was a way that helped you focus?  Tell us about it.  We’d love hearing from you about how you keep your edge!