Children who have been diagnosed with ADHD are often medicated to keep them from fidgeting.
But a new study of youngsters in the pre-teen and teen years showed that those who moved the most exhibited much better cognitive performance. In fact, the more intensely and frequently the child moved the better accuracy he displayed on demanding tasks.
New Study in Child Neuropsychology Proves Movement is Beneficial
Professor of psychiatry Julie Schweitzer who is director of the UC Davis ADHD program stated “It turns out that physical movement during cognitive tasks may be a good thing for them.”
Although Dr. Schweitzer’s statement doesn’t admit it is quite normal for children to fidget and move, perhaps there is some hope for a change in psychiatry’s rampant drugging of normal, active youngsters.
This psychiatrist goes on to say:
“Parents and teachers shouldn’t try to keep them still. Let them move while they are doing their work or other challenging cognitive tasks. It may be that the hyperactivity we see in ADHD may actually be beneficial at times. Perhaps the movement increases their arousal level, which leads to better attention.”
One doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this statement. The good news is someone in the industry of psychiatry has finally decided to observe real children.
The bad news? Thousands of children who have been damaged and continue to be damaged by their pharmaceutical treatment. Will apologies be forthcoming? This is unlikely.
Arthur Hartanto, who is a study coordinator with the ADHD Program asserts, “Maybe teachers shouldn’t punish kids for movement, and should allow them to fidget as long as it doesn’t disturb the rest of the class. Instead, they should seek activities that are not disruptive that allow their students with ADHD to use movement, because it assists them with thinking.”
But who is really doling out the punishment? A teacher’s sharp word to a rambunctious child pales next to the heartless (or unobservant) psychiatrist drugging an active little boy or girl into listlessness.
Why are Kids so Fidgety These Days?
The Centers for Disease control report a sharp increase in the number of kids diagnosed with ADHD.
Pediatric occupational therapist Angela Hanscom has traced back the reason that children are being increasingly diagnosed with ADHD.
She notes that kids are forced to stay in an upright position for hours on end; gone are the days when children rolled down hills, climbed trees, spun in circles. Recesses are abbreviated because of increasing academic demands. Kids rarely play outdoors now. In other words, children do not move nearly as much as they need to.
Ms. Hanscom tested several classrooms and discovered most children had very poor core strength and balance. In fact, she discovered that only one in twelve children were normal in this regard.
Could it be that fidgeting is a natural response to an environment where children are not allowed to move, and is a desperate and natural response to the unnatural demands of our educational system?
The psychiatrist’s attitude of fixing a problem by quieting a child’s movement is not just ignorant, it is dangerous.
Psychiatric Drugs can Ruin a Child’s Life
Here are some of the side effects of Ritalin from the online publication called Drugenquirer:

• Addiction
• Insomnia
• Agitation and irritability
• Headache
• Decreased appetite
• Stomach ache
• Headache
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Heart Palpitations
• Slowing of growth in children
• Possibility of seizures
• Blurred vision or other eyesight changes

There are an overwhelming number of reasons not to treat a child who is fidgety with pharmaceuticals. The fact that psychiatrists themselves have admitted that a child in motions can perform better on tests is only one of them.
Condemning a child to a lifetime of possible addiction is a dismaying proposition; our children need to be protected and nurtured, not drugged into manageability by psychiatry’s dubious treatments.
SOURCES:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150611082116.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/07/08/why-so-many-kids-cant-sit-still-in-school-today/
http://ritalinsideeffects.net/