Comment-a-post

A comment posted by Dr. Siddiqa Hussein, my colleague at Soor Center on "One Letter At A Time... A.D.H.D" was worth sharing...  My post was targeting parents and professionals who are dealing with an already diagnosed child with ADHD, but Dr. Siddiqa's caution is very important to note...




"Proper diagnosis is very important. I believe and suggest strongly that check out every possible reason responsible for short attention and hyperactive movements. There can be many reasons for a child to be inattentive: may be what the teacher is teaching in the class is too difficult for him to understand, often heard children saying that they are bored or uninterested. Another reason can be that child is preoccupied because they are scared of their dreams , they are sad because mum and dad fight in the house, they are scared of the irrational expectations of parents ,their harsh punishments or they are worried about their parent's health problems. This emotional instability takes away their concentration. If all these factors are ruled out and the child is still unable to pay attention then he should be formally assessed for Attention deficit. Same applies for hyperactivity too; just being naughty or unstructured is not enough to label a child as hyperactive. Having an ADHD child is not a curse but a blessing, he keeps you challenged and brings out the best in you. He gives you chance to learn so much more than parents of normal children."

A splash of yoga in your coffee?

This morning, I woke up excited that I was finally able to do Yoga again!  Not only do I do it for myself, but it always gives me new ideas to try to use in my therapy sessions.

Yoga with kids can have many benefits.  I am basing this post on personal experience rather than any scientific or educational background.  Children, especially younger ones, tend to learn more concrete facts, and are able to remember and implement behaviors that have been modeled for them.  Aside from the many health benefits to yoga, it can be an effective tool to teach children about discipline, impulse control and mastery of their body.  For the sake of simplification, I will divide three different aspects of yoga and explain some of the benefits for each.  Again, this is very simplified, and you can find many more benefits to yoga.    

• Meditation: a short and relaxed period of looking at an object of your choice (i.e. candle with a child that is not too active or oppositional), to teach kids about focusing and controlling impulses.  It can be used as a gateway into what the child is preoccupied with, and what s/he is thinking.  Meditation also helps increase concentration and attention.

• Deep breathing: Deep breathing can be used to teach kids about psychosomatic symptoms.  For example, "when we are afraid or very angry, our heart beats super fast! But we can calm our heart when we do this trick...": have the child sit down and relax then do 10-20 repetitions of deep breathing.  When the child realizes that through the breathing his/her heart did slow down, they feel empowered and encouraged to try self-calming methods.  Deep breathing is also inherently relaxing, so for your older and anxious/stressed child, it will be very helpful.

• Yoga poses:  The idea behind it is mastering control over your body, which helps all children in general become more aware, and thus more able to express themselves.  It also decreases impulsivity, and teaches discipline.  It can help with adjusting posture, and with older children, can teach them about body language (how to look confident, for example).

Let's get active and reflective