Putting Hyper focus with ADHD to Good Use

3. September 2008 by Shirley.

My husband and I bought Charlie a Rubik’s cube last semester. We thought it was something that would get his little mind thinking. Charlie only likes to watch TV or play video/computer games. This is because it’s an easier fix for him to release dopamine. This is why ADD/ADHD tends to hyper focus on things that they find interesting. The tendency to become absorbed in a task that offers stimulation and reward is called hyper focus. When Charlie is playing video games, our house could be on fire and he would never know unless we turned off his game. Here is an example of putting his hyper focus to good use, Charlie must have worked on that Rubik’s cube for 3 weeks solid until he figured out how to solve it. I must admit, I was pretty excited and proud watching him apply himself. Once he figured out how to solve the cube, he would start timing himself. He had set a goal to solve it under 2 mins. He would take it to school and work on it during study hall. This seemed to have started a trend with the kids in his grade. He said one day he went to school and everyone had a Rubik’s cube. The kids in his class started setting up tournaments against one another at lunch to see who could solve it the fastest. Charlie’s fastest time to date is 55 seconds. His average time was 1:20 mins. I got an e-mail from one of Charlie’s teachers. His teacher said he had taken Charlie’s Rubik’s cube up in class because it’s an “illegal possession.” You know, I’m not sure why a teacher would want to take away something that makes a student use his mind. I mean it’s a Rubik’s cube for crying out loud. It wasn’t a pocket size play station video game. When I picked Charlie up from school that day, he was kinda of bum out about it so we went and got him another cube. But the kids at his school are no longer allowed to bring their cube to school anymore. Crazy, huh?

Anyway, the moral of the story here is, is that you need to find what your child loves to do. Or if you are an adult, your job needs to be something you love doing. Instead of trying to beat off ADD/ADHD with aggression, use their ability to hyper focus to trick their ADD/ADHD into submission. Out smart your child’s ADD/ADHD and use it to your advantage.

Enthusiastically yours,

Posted in Charlie's Personal Experiences, ADD/ADHD Hyperfocus | 1 Comment »