What Does the Norway Spiral Have to Do with ADHD?
What does the Norway Spiral have to do with ADHD?
As I was looking at the video of the giant blue and white spiral lights in the sky over Norway, my thoughts turned to children who have ADHD. What, you may ask, does the Norway Spiral have to do with ADHD? Those spiral lights are a phenomena to which many ADHD children could successfully attend. People who have ADHD are able to attend to things which really grab their attention. Things that are new, different, exciting, or rewarding, can hold their attention. Even though one of the three main symptoms is getting distracted easily, there are exceptions.
Parents often come to see me after being referred by a teacher who believes that their child has ADHD. Many immediately tell me that their child can’t have the disorder because the child is able to pay attention for long periods of time to video games or attractive cartoons. They only seem to have problems with schoolwork.
I explain to the parents that people with ADHD have their biggest attending problems with boring and redundant tasks such as school work. These problems are so severe that they really are unable to stay on task unless someone continually supervises them one on one.
I am writing this short article to remind you that just because your child can play a video game for long periods of time or can complete work when you closely supervise, that doesn’t rule out the possibility that he or she has ADHD.
If you think your child might have ADHD, get an evaluation and find out. The proper diagnosis and treatment can really help.
