Counselor Games: ADHD

Showing posts with label ADHD. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Use this one tip to get kids organized

Use this one game to teach students

the importance of being organized.

So many of our students struggle to get organized. Some of them get organized with their supplies, pencils, papers, and then find they have to get organized all over again in about a week. Why is this? One reason is because getting organized is often thought of as a waste of time. Why should I spend an hour organizing my stuff, book bag, locker, papers, etc when it will get all messy again. I could be doing the work that really matters like writing that essay or completing my project due next Tuesday.

The key is to teach students that getting organized and keeping things organized will actually same time! We can get them to see that they will not only save time but they could even have time left over to do other things!

Everyone loves games because they are visual, auditory, and hands-on.

This concept can easily be taught with a game - Perfection! by Hasbro. I use this in small groups and in individual counseling. You will see a BIG AHAA moment on the faces of your students. This happens over and over when you use the technique described in the video clip below.

The game has a timer and depending on the version of the game, there are 9, 16 or 25 pieces to fit in slots of the same size and shape within a short period of time.

I have used all the different versions of this game with students.

Teach students the importance of organization with a game.

In this video, an eighth grade student is playing the 9 piece game for the first time. I reduced the time by half because I want to bring home the point - that you will save time by being organized. If you organize yourself and supplies before a project or homework you will actually spend less time on the actual project or homework and get it done in less time. You will see in this video clip that when the timer goes off, this student jumps out of her skin and scares me half to death! We left this in the video because it was a genuine and spontaneous response. This is exactly how my students feel and react when they play the game to learn the concept of organization.

Get the Ah-haa moment with your students.

Play this game to teach this concept to your students.

It is creative, engaging and fun!

I have used this techniques with all ages including adults! Help your parents to see that getting organized is not a waste of time. When you help your parents, you help your students.

http://www.counselorgames.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60&Itemid=63

Creative Play Therapy for School

Use play therapy techniques to teach counseling strategies: anger control, stress management, study and organizational skills, making friends, deflating bullies, making decisions and more. Use everyday, familiar games. No worksheets to reproduce. It is auditory, visual, and hands-on!

counselorgames.com

Think, think, think...they are starting to get it!


Help! I was not organized this morning and now I am late for the bus!


Everyone loves games.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Counselor Games: Play Therapy for Schools

WHY CHILDREN FIDGET

WHY CHILDREN FIDGET: And what we can do about it

Angela Hanscom - Thursday, June 05, 2014

A perfect stranger pours her heart out to me over the phone. She complains that her six-year-old son is unable to sit still in the classroom. The school wants to test him for ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder). This sounds familiar, I think to myself. As a pediatric occupational therapist, I’ve noticed that this is a fairly common problem today.

The mother goes on to explain how her son comes home every day with a yellow smiley face. The rest of his class goes home with green smiley faces for good behavior. Every day this child is reminded that his behavior is unacceptable, simply because he can’t sit still for long periods of time.

The mother starts crying. “He is starting to say things like, ‘I hate myself’ and ‘I’m no good at anything.’” This young boy’s self-esteem is plummeting all because he needs to move more often.

Over the past decade, more and more children are being coded as having attention issues and possibly ADHD. A local elementary teacher tells me that at least eight of her twenty-two students have trouble paying attention on a good day. At the same time, children are expected to sit for longer periods of time. In fact, even kindergarteners are being asked to sit for thirty minutes during circle time at some schools.

The problem: children are constantly in an upright position these days. It is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, and spinning in circles just for fun. Merry-go-rounds and teeter-totters are a thing of the past. Recess times have shortened due to increasing educational demands, and children rarely play outdoors due to parental fears, liability issues, and the hectic schedules of modern-day society. Lets face it: Children are not nearly moving enough, and it is really starting to become a problem.

I recently observed a fifth grade classroom as a favor to a teacher. I quietly went in and took a seat towards the back of the classroom. The teacher was reading a book to the children and it was towards the end of the day. I’ve never seen anything like it. Kids were tilting back their chairs back at extreme angles, others were rocking their bodies back and forth, a few were chewing on the ends of their pencils, and one child was hitting a water bottle against her forehead in a rhythmic pattern.

This was not a special needs classroom, but a typical classroom at a popular art-integrated charter school. My first thought was that the children might have been fidgeting because it was the end of the day and they were simply tired. Even though this may have been part of the problem, there was certainly another underlying reason.

We quickly learned after further testing, that most of the children in the classroom had poor core strength and balance. In fact, we tested a few other classrooms and found that when compared to children from the early 1980s, only one out of twelve children had normal strength and balance. Only one! Oh my goodness, I thought to myself. These children need to move!

Ironically, many children are walking around with an underdeveloped vestibular (balance) system today--due to restricted movement. In order to develop a strong balance system, children need to move their body in all directions, for hours at a time. Just like with exercising, they need to do this more than just once-a-week in order to reap the benefits. Therefore, having soccer practice once or twice a week is likely not enough movement for the child to develop a strong sensory system.

Children are going to class with bodies that are less prepared to learn than ever before. With sensory systems not quite working right, they are asked to sit and pay attention. Children naturally start fidgeting in order to get the movement their body so desperately needs and is not getting enough of to “turn their brain on.” What happens when the children start fidgeting? We ask them to sit still and pay attention; therefore, their brain goes back to “sleep.”

Fidgeting is a real problem. It is a strong indicator that children are not getting enough movement throughout the day. We need to fix the underlying issue. Recess times need to be extended and kids should be playing outside as soon as they get home from school. Twenty minutes of movement a day is not enough! They need hours of play outdoors in order to establish a healthy sensory system and to support higher-level attention and learning in the classroom.

In order for children to learn, they need to be able to pay attention. In order to pay attention, we need to let them move.

Fidgety Kids, ADHD, and Movement