Time, Maturity and the ARTS Can Work with ADHD

In an October 25^th Newsday letter to the editor, Donna Ricci,a mother from West Islip  was urged to medicate her son for displaying attention deficit hyperactivity disorder behavior by his elementary teachers, school psychologist and school officials.  She resisted: “I would sit there in tears, never believing it.” She  believed that her son would grow out of it with time and maturity. He did. With diet, nutrition, and flexible learning strategies, her son, now 15 thrives. 

She concedes how teachers can become frustrated with having to discipline students while trying to teach the required curriculum and how too much is expected of young children.  She asked, “Why must so much be crammed into a young brain, not developed enough to absorb information on a permanent, sustainable level?” She suggested re-examining the educational system, instead. 

Seven or eight-year-old boys are immature and wild with energy; yet, this is perceived as abnormal behavior?  As a middle school teacher and a mom of an active “speed demon” son (an observation from his then first grade teacher) I understood, as did she, how boys need to fidget and move.  When I taught 8^th grade English, I made sure that some time during a class session students were given the opportunity to get up and move around.  Drama strategies facilitated all of my class lessons to insure that students had an opportunity to take ownership of their learning utilizing an  integrated arts praxis pedagogy. A correlation could be drawn to improved testing  results on New York State ELA scores.

Ross Rosenfeld’s opinion that some children need more structure is noteworthy; however, Ricci added how sports, music lessons and the like are fundamental in helping train the brain to focus.  Case in point:  “Our son has been taking guitar lessons for two years, and his grades have improved significantly.” 

Let’s hear it from you:  Do you think ADHD behavior  is exaggerated and overly diagnosed? How does integration of the arts help to encourage learning?