Helping kids focus
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Watch Edward Hallowell, MD, EdD's video on Helping kids focus...
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Focus in the world of ADHD is paradoxical. At times these kids can hyperfocus – and adults too for that matter – when they’re into something, they can focus better than anyone else. They get into like a laser beam state that they don’t even know what day it is, or whether they’re hungry or not, they’re super, hyperfocused.
But when the teacher is boring, or the book is boring or the subject doesn’t interest them, they have much more of a difficult time than other children do with paying even minimal attention. For someone with ADHD being bored is a painful state and their mind simply goes somewhere else to find focus.
Again, it’s not a matter of volition – it’s a matter of brain wiring. One minute you’re hyperfocused, the next minute you’re spacing out. It has nothing to do with discipline. It has to do with the intrinsic valence of the activity, how much does this capture my imagination or not.
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Edward Hallowell, MD, EdDPsychiatrist, ADHD Specialist, & Author
Edward (Ned) Hallowell, MD, EdD is a Harvard-trained Child and Adult Psychiatrist in practice in Sudbury, MA (outside Boston) and New York City. The author of 18 books, Dr. Hallowell specializes in learning differences such as ADHD and dyslexia, both of which he has himself. He has also written extensively on general issues of parenting and living in our modern age. He lives in the Boston area with his wife of 23 years, Sue, and their three children, Lucy, Jack, and Tucker.
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