Gifted and Extremely Active

[ChristineW]

DS(6 and 11 months) is in 1st grade at public school. His teacher tells me that he is one of the brightest boys she's ever seen in her 30 years of teaching. However, she's also rarely seen a kid with his need for physical activity. He literally cannot sit still. The classroom is well equipped for sensory-seeking kids but DS will overcompensate on the wobbly chairs and fall over or he will crash into two desks on his way to sharpen his pencil. She has recommended that we go in for a pediatric evaluation. His issue is not attention. He is paying attention and understanding everything that is going on in the classroom so she doesn't think that it's ADHD although he is exceptionally disorganized. Two months in, she's had to replace all his supplies and he's lost his pencils again. He's also very, very intense, competitive and sensitive.

 

She's a great teacher and very encouraging. During every conference, she tells me that her son was bright and wiggly like my DS and is now an engineering major at a top ranked Western school.

 

Are there any resources out there for kids like my son? What should I read before asking for a ped's evaluation? I think that I will need to get one b/c we're close to the stage where he'll need a 504 plan for the classroom (to keep his ability to walk around when thinking, sit on an exercise ball while reading, find a quiet corner to calm down when he makes a mistake, etc).

 

 

Thanks,

 

Christine

[regentrude]

How much exercise does he get in the morning before school? I would make sure he has an opportunity to get some vigorous exercise every day before being forced to sit still. Is it possible that you could walk with him to school? This did wonders for my kids.

[lamppost]

:bigear:

 

Don't have a ton of advice but my DD5 is also very active. She'll jump and do handstands over and over while reading- like for an hour non-stop. At home, all she does is make obstacle courses of the furniture and run, jump, tumble for hours.

 

We have had her enrolled simultaneously in dance, gymnastics, and swimming to try to get her to use up some of her energy, but that didn't make a difference.

 

 

 

At one time, I was going to a gym that had classes for kids during the adult workout classes. I was doing a 6-week challenge and sometimes going twice a day, so I'd bring DD and she'd do her 1-hour class in the morning and then another one in the afternoon. (One hour of non-stop activity for the kids- hard things like mountain climbers, burpees, sprints, situps- boot camp type stuff.) That was a blissful time for me because she'd actually be tired at bedtime and would SLEEP all night. She was also getting hungry enough to eat 3 meals a day (which is not something she normally does) and was more likely to play quietly with toys in the afternoons. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to keep doing that long-term, but it was nice while it lasted.

 

I think some kids just need more physical activity! Does he do sports?

[ChristineW]

DS definitely plays sports. He's in a soccer league. He also has gymnastics and TKD once a week. At recess, DS plays either soccer or basketball with the big kids.

 

I'm going to try to find a way to walk to school. We live at the top of a steep hill and I'm 8 months pregnant but DH walks him once a week and DS says he can focus better that morning so I'll have DH take my car to the bottom of the hill so that I can get home.

[Storm Bay]

Excercise before school, and also things that involve physical pressure (in a positive way) can be helpful. Does he have movement breaks in class? How much recess time do they get?

 

Your ds may be a kinesthetic learner & need to move in order to learn. This doesn't work well in a classroom. Ways my kinesthetic learners (one is auditory kinesthetic & the other is a gestalt learner, so needs to have learn all ways at once) handle this now are by fidgeting or chewing gum. However, most teachers don't let dc chew gum. A great book to invest in is The Dominance Factor by Carla Hannaford; it's the only book on learning profiles I've ever read that makes sense & goes beyond a few oversimplified learning styles.

 

re active dc learning, one of the posters either here or on the old WTM boards (don't remember who she was so can't look for her) once shared about reading aloud to her 2 sons. One would sit & listen & the other would play in the room. They had a long gap, and when they came back, she & the ds on the couch were trying to figure out where they were when the ds who seemed to be ignoring them while he played said, "Don't you remember, xzy happened & we're here..."

 

You may note be able to do this, of course, and I undertand this (not all of mine are homeschooling now & my eldest was in ps for K-2 as well as being there now for 10-12) but if you can homeschool him when he's, it might make things easier and save you endless team meetings, evaluations, suggestions for unnecessary meds, etc.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Karin

[FairProspects]

Excercise before school, and also things that involve physical pressure (in a positive way) can be helpful. Does she have movement breaks in class? How much recess time do they get?

 

Your ds may be a kinesthetic learner & need to move in order to learn. This doesn't work well in a classroom. Ways my kinesthetic learners (one is auditory kinesthetic & the other is a gestalt learner, so needs to have learn all ways at once) handle this now are by fidgeting or chewing gum. However, most teachers don't let dc chew gum. A great book to invest in is The Dominance Factor by Carla Hannaford; it's the only book on learning profiles I've ever read that makes sense & goes beyond a few oversimplified learning styles.

 

re active dc learning, one of the posters either here or on the old WTM boards (don't remember who she was so can't look for her) once shared about reading aloud to her 2 sons. One would sit & listen & the other would play in the room. They had a long gap, and when they came back, she & the ds on the couch were trying to figure out where they were when the ds who seemed to be ignoring them while he played said, "Don't you remember, xzy happened & we're here..."

 

You may note be able to do this, of course, and I undertand this (not all of mine are homeschooling now & my eldest was in ps for K-2 as well as being there now for 10-12) but if you can homeschool him when he's, it might make things easier and save you endless team meetings, evaluations, suggestions for unnecessary meds, etc.

 

 

:iagree:Especially with the bolded. Both of my boys are like this, and it was the main impetus to homeschooling for my oldest. I hope your school is more accommodating, but our school and teacher finally said no to the adaptations, meetings, problems, etc. and just began asking for meds. At that point, I pulled him out. OT can help some too, but in our experience, what the school promised and what they were actually able to offer or accomplish when it came to letting ds have accommodations were vastly different.

[crazyforlatin]

Some swim teams in our area have practice in the mornings, so about 7 to 8, right before school. I have an extremely active child, who only sits still if I read a book to her or she reads one to herself. Otherwise, it's just tumbling and climbing. In fact, she does this in Chinese school, but the teachers allow it since there are only a few kids and it's just one child who does this. And, well, it's just Chinese school.

[Storm Bay]

Some swim teams in our area have practice in the mornings, so about 7 to 8, right before school. I have an extremely active child, who only sits still if I read a book to her or she reads one to herself. Otherwise, it's just tumbling and climbing. In fact, she does this in Chinese school, but the teachers allow it since there are only a few kids and it's just one child who does this. And, well, it's just Chinese school.

 

And some active dc find swimming very calming, including one of mine.

[jenbrdsly]

:grouphug:

 

Look in the Target $1 bin for fidget toys. Maybe see if the teacher is open to having a basket of them in class that "everyone" can use.

 

 

Another idea would be a masking tape labyrinth. More on that here.