{"id":78875,"date":"2017-09-18T14:04:52","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T18:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=78875"},"modified":"2018-06-18T12:55:50","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T16:55:50","slug":"adhd-kids-can-still-theyre-not-straining-brains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/adhd-kids-can-still-theyre-not-straining-brains\/","title":{"rendered":"ADHD Kids Can Be Still \u2013 If They\u2019re Not Straining Their Brains"},"content":{"rendered":"
How\u2019s this for exasperating: Your ADHD child fidgets and squirms his way through school and homework, but seems laser-focused and motionless sitting in front of the TV watching an action thriller.<\/p>\n
Well, fret not, because new research shows lack of motivation or boredom with school isn\u2019t to blame for the differing behavior. It turns out that symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder such as fidgeting, foot-tapping and chair-swiveling are triggered by cognitively demanding tasks \u2013 like school and homework. But movies and video games don\u2019t typically require brain strain, so the excessive movement doesn\u2019t manifest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a parent or a teacher sees a child who can sit perfectly still in one condition and yet over here they\u2019re all over the place, the first thing they say is, \u2018Well, they could sit still if they wanted to,\u2019\u201d said Mark Rapport<\/a>, director of the Children\u2019s Learning Clinic at the 色花堂. \u201cBut kids with ADHD only need to move when they are accessing their brain\u2019s executive functions. That movement helps them maintain alertness.\u201d<\/p>\n Scientists once thought that ADHD symptoms were always present. But previous research from Rapport, who has been studying ADHD for more than 36 years, has shown the fidgeting was most often present when children were using their brains\u2019 executive functions, particularly \u201cworking memory.\u201d That\u2019s the system we use for temporarily storing and managing information required to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning and comprehension.<\/p>\n