Why can't she sit still?

[Beekissed]

Try looking at diet. I had one like that and when doing testing for allergies, we found that sugar and red dye sent him into a fidgeting frenzy...within seconds he had touched everything in that examining room and was starting around the room for another try. He wasn't allergic but he was hypersensitive to these and they triggered increased activity that wasn't true and normal child activity...it was hyperactivity.

We had to really watch food labels and go to natural sugars like raw honey for any sweeteners for our family. No processed foods with MSG..another biggie..and red dyes. It made all the difference in the world and it got even better when we cut out store bought dairy products. It made a difference in his health and in our whole family's health when we cut out these food items.

None of these items actually showed up on his allergy testing as being allergens, but they sure made a night and day difference in his life and ours when we removed them from his diet.

 

[ninny]

Hi everyone. Sorry I didn't respond sooner. We have been busy. My little busy bee is well a huge busy bee. I get frustrated with her so much because I see my kids in her class (I am the kid's church director for 2-12 year old) being able to sit still and not wiggle. Even a few of the younger ones can. It's her and her friend with ADHD that wiggle. We do learn through play so they only have to sit for a few minutes. I try very hard to keep sugar and food dyes out of my house and a ton of physical activities. She was much better today when reading stories but she had also been playing hard outside for hours. I really have to watch tv time. I was at the end of my rope last week and she watched a lot of tv which makes her stir crazy afterwards. Thankfully mama got a break. So goodbye tv! We are starting her homeschool this year. Her cousin is going back to preschool so when he is gone she will do school too. We have been doing it on and off this summer and she begs to do school time. I have started making her a school room out of our sunroom and she can't wait until her school starts. She is very smart and a little sponge. We do everything in sections each section with a quick break between them so she can wiggle. My husband is convinced if she went to public school someone would try and get her on meds. Not a huge reason why we are homeschooling just a tiny one.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...she is undoubtedly learning all the time she is wiggling. My youngest was and is just that way...all the time the other kids were sitting still in Sunday school, he's be crawling through the chairs or fiddling with this or that thing. The teachers thought he was distracted by all that activity, but when it came time to tell what they learned that day in the Bible story, my boy could answer all the questions and the other kids couldn't.

When I home schooled him, I found he did much better if I didn't try to make him sit still at a desk like most kids...I let him pick the chair or place and the subject matter each day and let him learn however much he wanted each time. Some days he would sit all balled up in a chair and read through several chapters of his science book and be so excited to tell me all that he learned and other days he would resent having to write things down and do even one page of written work. He could do math in his head, even complicated things, and write the answer but couldn't really show the work on how he got it. He loved to read stories but didn't like to have to write them..or having to write at all. He preferred to print and all his words would run together without spaces.

These kids tend to be highly intelligent and their minds move in leaps and bounds, second by second, and they are often lost in public schools due to the schools being standardized. I've found that he did much better at un-schooling type curriculum than he did at standard book work. this requires a little more work on the mother's part but it can also be more fun and rewarding for the kids and parents alike.

The public school wanted him on medicine but I refused as he wasn't unruly,he just was fidgety. He made excellent grades and could ace any test and still can, but these kind of kids just don't seem to have a place in public schools. They are far too advanced in intellect but can't really sit still to do the daily work required to actually show it...but the testing shows it right away.

 

[ninny]

Glad to know shes not the only one.

 

[haserd]

To make a good nation the responsibility of a teacher a lot.Because they make a student ready for the life.So they have to try hard and soul to make a easy process to teach the kids though they can understand.Thanks for your post.

 

[Dragonwriter]

My son, who is now 13, has ADHD as well as a verbal learning disorder and mild depression because of the other challenges he faces. I respect the viewpoints of those who go without meds, but for us, meds were a step my son needed to function. All that being said, he only takes them for school when the demands on him are higher. We have the flexibility to work differently with him on weekends and holidays. He has a very hard time sitting still also. Frequent breaks help, as does more sleep and fewer distractions. For him, diet was a factor as well.
I would suggest more frequent breaks and maybe considering a different approach. But honestly... she is 3. She will never be 3 again. As a teacher friend of mine says "modify and adapt". Lower your expectations perhaps. Maybe let her move around a little on the floor while you read to her. Maybe in a different room? As someone else said...experiment!

 

[Britesea]

I think some children are being misdiagnosed with ADD and ADHD and put on medications to deal with that. My son was one of those. When we moved to a new state and my husband started a new job, we ran out of DS's meds while waiting for DH's insurance to kick in... we never noticed a difference between when he was on the meds and off. Now as an adult, we have discovered that he has Asperger's, not ADHD.