Time, Maturity and the ARTS Can Work with ADHD

In an October 25^th Newsday letter to the editor, DonnaRicci,a mother from West Islip  was urgedto medicate her son for displaying attention deficit hyperactivity disorderbehavior by his elementary teachers, school psychologist and schoolofficials.  She resisted: “I would sitthere in tears, never believing it.” She  believed that her son would grow out of itwith time and maturity. He did. With diet, nutrition, and flexible learningstrategies, her son, now 15 thrives. 

Seven or eight-year-old boysare immature and wild with energy; yet, this is perceived as abnormal behavior?  As a middle school teacher and a mom of an active “speeddemon” son (an observation from his then first grade teacher) I understood, as didshe, how boys need to fidget and move.  WhenI taught 8^th grade English, I made sure that some time during aclass session students were given the opportunity to get up and movearound.  Drama strategies facilitated allof my class lessons to insure that students had an opportunity to takeownership of their learning utilizing an  integrated arts praxis pedagogy. A correlation couldbe drawn to improved testing  results on NewYork State ELA scores.