ADD & Learning Problems

Focus and Learn Easily … Without Side Effects

 
Children who have a difficult time focusing on one thing at a time, who jump from one thought to a totally different thought in the blink of an eye or who rush headlong into action without any forethought are now labeled with Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder—ADD or ADHD.  But they are already burdened with a poor self image long before the diagnosis. 

The disapproving looks and words these children receive almost daily for their scattered behavior are etched in their psyches.  I know how they feel because I was such a child...long before ADD/ADHD became a diagnosis.  I was called “high strung.”  Others like me were dubbed “nervous” or “jittery.”  We’re the ones who couldn’t sit still or stay quiet for more than a few seconds.

To parents and teachers, this out-of-control behavior can be frustrating and aggravating.  To the child, their hyper nervous systems have not learned how to choose one thought or stimulus to focus on...to digest the world one bite at a time. 

So what can be done to help these kids focus in lieu of putting them on Ritalin or other strong drugs?  Hypnosis can work wonders.  I can teach kids—from kindergartners to teens—to put themselves into a calm, relaxed state with their eyes wide open and their ability to respond to questions intact. 

The ADD/ADHD-diagnosed child is so used to feeling like a behavioral “failure” that they are already in an anxious state before they enter the classroom.  What if that child or teen could feel immediately relaxed and calm the minute they enter their classroom?  What if they could absorb the curriculum like a sponge and give the correct answers on their tests?     

Self hypnosis is easy to learn and allows the child to decide when and where they want to use it.  Even small kids can learn it.  In fact, they are the best learners. 

What can parents do to help their ADD/ADHD child at home?  CATCH THEM BEING GOOD!  They already have a poor self-image.  You don’t need to remind them of their problem.  What they need from you more than anything is approval.  This will give them a warm, fuzzy feeling that is calming.  Criticism only ratchets up the anxiety they already feel from their inability to focus. 

I know it isn’t easy to bite your tongue when they are bouncing off the walls.  But, if they’ve learned self-hypnosis, you can gently suggest that they might feel better if they used it.

The greatest compliment I ever received in my life was when my 11^th grade teacher had a talk with me at the start of the school year.  She told me that she had heard how I couldn’t keep quiet in class from my former teachers.  Then she told me that I was a “very smart young lady” and that she expected more from me than I had given to my other teachers because I was capable of it.  I didn’t know I was smart or capable because all I had ever heard was that I was a disruptive problem. 

Maybe it was the right timing at the right age, but I sat through her classes paying strict attention to what was being taught.  Nine months later I received the “Most Improved” award for 11^th graders.  And I was never again disruptive throughout high school, college or graduate studies.  That teacher changed my life because she believed in me.

Believe in you kid and help him or her succeed in school without strong drugs.