Archive for the ‘Sight’ Category

One thing Dr. Rotz and I dream of is that Fidget to Focus one day will be required reading for every elementary and high school teacher. Imagine how the school experience would change for all children if teachers understood the neuro-biological reason for fidgeting and and used fidgeting to enhance learning rather than trying to eliminate it! This month we got one step closer to that dream.

The Education Minnesota Professional Conference is Minnesota’s largest professional development event for educators. This year, Dr. Rotz was the keynote speaker. His presentation was well received by the hundreds of educators there, and at the bookstore Fidget to Focus sold out! For those who are interested, here’s the PowerPoint from his presentation: Fidget to Focus-Sensory System Impact on ADHD Minnesota


Another diversion that can either get you going again, or suck you in for hours. It is amazing how hard it is to get faster at this, and the research is fascinating:
http://health.ivillage.com/multimedia/0,,90r57fvc,00.html

From the website:

Psychological research has shown that daily stress and feelings of insecurity are in large part due to the anxiety of wanting to be liked, accepted and respected by one’s peers and significant others.

Fear of rejection can make us overlook positive signals from others and only see signs of disapproval. This inclination, or MindHabit, to zero in on the negative, heightens our feelings of insecurity and anxiety – making daily interactions increasingly and more frequently stressful. MindHabits Booster teaches individuals to ignore hostile information by finding the friendly face in a crowd of frowning people. The game allows players to practice downplaying rejection in and non-threatening environment. This software demonstrates the game, for entertainment and educational purposes.

Although the research conducted on this topic thus far is promising, we can make absolutely no claims about the effectiveness of these games for helping any particular individual deal with any particular issue or problem. For treatment of psychological problems, please consult a qualified mental health professional.

After the ADD Class on Fidget to Focus, my friend and fellow coach, Rick Prevatt, sent us these strategies that have worked for his clients:

  • One client used to strap a light to his head, and go walking around the block at night. Said he could read it one time and remember it that way.
  • I had clients that put something underneath one leg of the chair or desk at school so it was unbalanced, and they could rock it.
  • Rocking in a rocking chair while studying works consistently with many people.
  • Listening to books on tape while running or exercising works well too.
  • One client would read out loud, but it was boring her and she couldn’t retain the info. When I listened to her, it bored me too. I had her then read it in a funny comical way, and she could remember and understand easily that way.
  • Another person had problems focusing during test. I sent her a pen that had a level in it. She would balance the bubble in the middle, and it was just enough to allow her to focus easily.

Abstract Expressionism

August 9, 2006

Okay, all you Jackson Pollock wannabees, here’s your chance! Have fun fidgeting!

  1. Go to URL: http://www.jacksonpollock.org/
  2. Move mouse around; you’ll get the hang of it.
  3. To change color, left click mouse, another color, left click mouse, another color… etc.
  4. To clear, click on “Go” button to right of address box (top of screen)
  5. You might be able to do something else that I haven’t discovered?

– N.L. (from email)

Like the Noah’s Arc game, this is also not really a good fidget as it takes too much attention, but it is a nice and educational diversion when you need to reset your brain. Enjoy!

Map game: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/just_fun/games/mapgame.html

Noah’s Ark

March 18, 2006

This is is not really a good fidget as it takes too much attention, but it is a good mental “coffee break”. Alternatively, it is also a good “pattern interrupt” if you need to disconnect from something or break your hyperfocus so you can, for instance, go to bed. Enjoy!

Noah’s Arc match game: http://milescooley.com/mc/ecards/cards/2

PhD/writing fidget: Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice Recognition Software is a lifesaver for many of us with ADHD. I’ve got a number of academic publications under my belt and I’m very comfortable with the writing process, but I get overwhelmed with all the information and data at a certain point and then I can’t write. My perfectionism kicks in and I feel I can’t write anything until I know everything about a topic and until all the possible information is organized perfectly. Ha! Then I had a Eureka moment. Although I couldn’t write my paper, I could explain it very concisely, logically, and powerfully to a listener within about 10 minutes. Wow! So I got the idea to give the same explanation to a tape recorder, and transcribe it. This led me to purchase Dragon NS software. I use it mostly for my first draft.

PhD/writing fidget: Along similar lines, I often organize my journal articles and thesis as though I had to give an hour-long presentation on them, using Power Point. It’s really great! I know I need an introductory slide, then I need one slide for background on the problem, one for the objectives of the study, one for the methodology, and a couple for the results, ending with one concluding slide. Bingo, there’s my outline! All those zillions of thoughts and ideas have been boiled down to the basic points. What helps is that you can use interesting backgrounds and visuals for Power Point. I think that’s also a fidget. But the real fidget is to fake myself into preparing an oral presentation, while in effect really writing a paper. I’ll even “rehearse” my presentation out loud — that’s often how I get it boiled down into the slides themselves.

Writing fidget: I love using wild and wacky fonts and colours when doing boring writing tasks. Then I just convert everything back to some boring font in black before sending it out.

Wall colour: I work much better in a home office with a stimulating wall colour. For me, the best “work” wall colour seems to be a very bright and intense apple-green. I also have brightly coloured accessories, such as a bright orange file box, etc. It seems to wake my brain up.

Thinking/writing fidget: Although I use all the pre-writing techniques (free-writing, mindmapping, etc.), there comes a point when I need to put it all out of my mind and go for a long bike ride (summer) or walk. I take my laptop on the bike, or at least a pen and paper — and all of a sudden, everything will clarify, so I’ll stop moving and madly type or scribble it all down. Then I’ll move some more, although by then, I’m usually anxious to get back home and capitalize on the creative burst of clarifying mental energy that came from doing the activity.

Cafe: I think you talked about this in your book, but I take my laptop or Palm Pilot with wireless keyboard to a cafe, along with a task that has been hard for me to focus on in my home office. The change of environment really seems to help me focus on the task I’ve brought along.

Moving my work location: I love the summers (I live in Montreal where the winters are long), because I have lots more choice about how and where to work. I might start at my desktop in the morning, while still in my PJs. Then I’ll take a break, shower, breakfast. My next location is outside — for two years it was the back gallery of an old flat that faced onto a busy street, and I became known as “the lady who works on the balcony with her laptop” — and I could watch the neighbourhood pass by while I worked. After lunch, I’d put the laptop onto my bike and cycle to a nearby grassroots community cafe, which I called “my second office.” They had free wireless access and excellent coffee and an eccentric mix of community activists and students. I’d work there for a few hours, then go home. Change of environment seems to really help me work.

Working on the Metro (subway): I’ve learned that some of my best thinking happens in the 10 minutes or so that it takes me to get downtown on the Metro. I mostly use this time for brainstorming and outlining, using my Palm Pilot to get down my thoughts in point form. I think it’s not only the novel environment, but also the time limited nature of the journey — very short in terms of working time but very looooonnnnggg for someone with ADD who has nothing to do on the trip. So I break my boredom and break the back of a “stuck” task at the same time.

I hope these are helpful to someone else. Feel free to use them in your book.

– Silvia (from email)