Brain of your ADHD can't easily stay focused, therefore training with the help of interesting games will gradually reduce impulsiveness.
Brain training also helps adults who are still impacted by it. There are a number of scientifically developed games and apps available to exercise the brain of ADHD patients. Experiment with them. Develop your own games and other activities that can help your child to slowly become normal.
The strategy to train the brain should begin with building strong personal bond with the child so that he/she can remain interested in those games which will ultimately reduce ADHD symptoms.
Repetitive activities develop habits. Brain subconsciously begins to follow these habits. Once you begin to channelize the energy of your child to form new habits in a fun way, the child will become more disciplined and less impulsive over a period of time.
A lot of commitment on the parent part is required. You as parent will do it after all it is your child and you want a good life for him/her. Remember you as parents have to invest years into resolving your child's ADHD. Do it with pleasure.
Following 5 brain exercises will help your ADHD child to become normal.
How you conduct yourself will have an even bigger impact on your child than these games. So, commit yourself to stay calm if things don't workout initially. It is a tough journey and your maturity will make it simple for both you and your child.
1. Establish A Routine - Training Mind and Body Integration
This must be fun otherwise the ADHD child may not do it or spoil it. Encourage the child with love and affection to do it. For example you can give your child the responsibility of putting things in the same spot every day. Once the child begins to get into the habit, it will build his confidence. This is simple yet difficult to do ADHD exercise if you lose patience.
2. Train the Brain to Improve Concentration - Puzzles, Quizzes and Games
Start with simple games and gradually increase the complexities of the games over a period of months and years. The objective is to train the brain to make new circuits by repetitive game playing.
Encourage and involve your child to play jigsaw puzzles. Initially you partially complete the puzzle and just leave one or two places for the child to connect. Once the ADHD child begins to connect well, increase the complexity. Over a period of time the child will be able to solve the complete jigsaw puzzles.
Child psychologist Dr. Robert Myers has developed many interesting brain exercise games for children with ADHD. One of them is a coin game that has worked well with many children.
Get involved and play this game with your child. You can develop other similar games yourself to keep your child amused as well as improve his/her concentration levels.
Keep piles of mixed coins on a table. Make sure that you have sufficient numbers of each coin to form repetitive combinations.
Choose any five coins (You can change the number of coins as you succeed with 5 coins over a period of time) and arrange them in a sequence on the table. Ask your child to carefully examine the coins and then cover the coins with any cloth, cardboard or any other object.
Ask your ADHD kid to make the same pattern from the remaining coins within a specific time limit. Note the time the kid has taken to finish. Uncover the hidden coins for your child to see if he/she got it right.
Repeat this exercise until the child does it right. Since the game is fast paced your kid will surely enjoy it. As a result your child will improve concentration and memory.
Repetition is key to improve memory and concentration. Keep spending more quality time with your child regularly on a daily basis in a fun way by playing puzzles, quizzes and games to train his brain to retain information longer and increase attention span.
3. Improve Memory - Increase Brain's Attention Span
The above games will improve concentration and memory of your child, but you can even add more memory specific games and exercises to improve memory and increase attention span of your ADHD affected child.
You can develop simple memory games instantly to train the brain of your ADHD child. You do not need to be in a specific place at specific times. In fact you can play these memory games anywhere any time. For example, if you are inside your own house sitting in a room with your child.
Ask your child to note the things in the room within the next five minutes. Once 5 minutes are over, tell him/her to close the eyes.
Now you can be creative in asking him questions to test his memory. For example, ask him how many chairs in the room, how many pictures are there on the wall? What are the colors of the cushions? Playing together and having fun will not only emotionally bring your child close to you, but will also increase his attention span to slowly reduce his ADHD.
4. Increase Staying Power - Learn Self Control
With all the above fun activities with the child you would have developed a much closer relationship with the child. It might take you months to reach this stage but you must do it.
Now that the child is listening to you, you need to train the brain even more to take the child to the next level of his ADHD improvements.
He will now be ready to stretch a bit more with your proper motivation to get engaged in somewhat boring exercises and activities such as sitting calmly in one place.
You can instruct your child to sit on a chair quietly without moving as long as possible and note how long the child is able to sit. Share the time score with him. Encourage him to increase the time. Stop the game as soon as you realize the child is bored.
Repeat this practice on a daily basis and you will see some improvements within a couple of months. This exercise helps the child to learn self-control which is a very significant step towards improvement in ADHD.
5. Channelize Kid’s Energy - Build Confidence and Self-esteem
Children with ADHD are hyperactive. They often have excess energy as compared to a normal child. Channelize this extra energy of your child by enrolling him/her in the classes for karate, dance, skating or swimming.
This not only provides him an outlet to channelize his physical energy but also helps to build confidence and self-esteem. You should offer your child a variety of options and let the child choose the outlet that appeals.
You can enroll your child in such multiple activities if time permits. Let him change his preferences initially for him to see what he enjoys. Once the activity is chosen, then encourage and motivate the child to continue it.
As you have learned that the repetition develops the habits and habits superimposed on the subconscious habits bring the change.
Your involvement as parents of the ADHD affected child is crucial to his continuous improvement to finally become normal with the help of these lifestyle changes and simple home remedies.
It may take years of hard work with commitment but is well worth it. While working together on taming your child with love, affection and convictions for such a long period of time will also develop a strong emotional bond with your child which all of you will cherish for your entire life.