Category: ADHD Parenthood

Ugh! False Rumors about Fidget Spinners

I start with “ugh!” because I paid for the Special Edition of TIME today on THE SCIENCE OF LEARNING and opened it up by chance to an article with a picture of a child holding a fidget spinner with the caption, “Fidget spinners can help children with ADHD focus.” WT*? I thought. Is the rest of the magazine going to present false claims? I scoured through the one-page article looking for a research citation, wondering whether the latest research shows something different than earlier studies (Fidgeting: Spin vs. Science).

Well, the article had no research cited. So I pulled up pubmed.gov to check on the latest. I found a 2020 study. As prior research, it shows that fidget spinners DECREASE kids’ ability to focus (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29676193/).

The FIU researchers found, “Children’s use of fidget spinners was associated with poorer attention across both phases of treatment.” They concluded, “Fidget spinners negatively influence young children with ADHD’s attentional functioning, even in the context of an evidence-based classroom intervention.”

A glance at other recent research revealed that there are now battery-powered fidget spinners that some kids are swallowing.

So I ended up learning something at least.

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The Frontier of ADHD Interventions

In my last post, Let the Games Begin?, I shared the recently approved video game prescription for ADHD and this got me thinking about other interventions on the frontier… 

Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation. In the spring of 2019, the FDA approved TNS as a “treatment” for childhood ADHD based on research out of UCLA:  here.

The device the researchers used is called Monarch eTNS. It sends gentle electrical pulses to the trigeminal nerve, which then leads to stimulation of various brain regions.

For a user-friendly description of the research, read this.

Neurofeedback. A 2020 review by scholars from several countries found it useful for children with ADHD: here.

Other research suggests its promising use with adults, too, including research out of MIT (here). Also see here.

 

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ADHD and Attentional Interference from Competing Brain Networks

As prior research out of MIT (Go, Go, Go and Slow, Slow, Slow?), research out of Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) recently examined the coordination between two brain networks:  the task positive network(s) and the default mode network. These networks have largely opposite functions. In the first–task positive network(s)–there’s increased activity when we have a particular task that demands focus, letting us start and sustain attention on the task. In the second–the default mode network–there’s increased activity when we have no particular task to do. In adults without ADHD, per the MIT research, these two networks cooperate:  When it’s time for one to get on stage, the other fades into the background. In adults with ADHD, these networks are uncooperative and can compete for attention at the same time.

vibrations-545138_1920In kids with ADHD, according to the results of the OHSU study (here), we see the same lack of coordination/cooperation between the networks as compared to children without ADHD, with this lack of coordination between networks increasing with age.

The result? Mixed signals. Attentional interference. Or, as the researchers put it, decreased attentional control. A reminder that behavior reflects brain activity, coordinated or otherwise.

Of interest, the OHSU researchers found that the brains of female children overall, with or without ADHD, showed more coordination between the opposing networks than the brains of male children.

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Two Awesome ADHD Resources

One resource focuses on children and teens; the other is for adults. Both can be remarkably useful for those with ADHD.

The first is understood.org (here) for “learning and attention issues.”  What it offers is vast and, though, it’s targeted to parents of children and teens with ADHD, many adults with ADHD can find it of use. Much of what’s suggested for teens applies to adults, except for the context (e.g., work vs. school).  Also, given that 25-35% of parents of youth with ADHD are likely to have ADHD (source), parents using the site may want to use the recommendations for themselves as well as their children.

The second resource is JAN, Job Accommodation Network (here), which is all about workplace accommodations for employers and employees needing or wanting to know what the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) encompasses, including job coaches…even the possibility of free ones.  Who knew? From what I can tell, fewer than would have liked to have known.

I hope something here is of use to you.

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ADHD Elimination Diet

The U.S. has lagged behind Western Europe when it comes to examining the effects of diet on ADHD. Recently, however, U.S. researchers giving this another look agree that the evidence persistently indicates that some children with ADHD will benefit from dietary intervention. This list of such an intervention comes from Nigg and Holton (2014).ADHD Elimination Diet

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MIT & NYU Study: Your Input Gatekeeper may be to Blame for your “Distractibility”

Some people with ADHD have a Ptchd1 gene mutation (more often these are males).  MIT and NYU scholars studied the Ptchd1 gene using mice and discovered that its loss may be the basis for symptoms of ADHD (as well as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia).

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Why?

Because its loss most significantly affects the part of the brain responsible for keeping out sensory input that’s irrelevant.  This part of the brain is the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN).

According to one of the senior authors of the study, the TRN determines what input reaches the cortex, where thinking and planning occurs.  “We receive all kinds of information from different sensory regions, and it all goes into the thalamus,” Feng says. “All this information has to be filtered. Not everything we sense goes through.”

Except when Ptchd1 mutations lead to TRN defects.  Then, more of everything can go through, leading to, you guessed it, being distracted and overwhelmed.

Can you imagine no filter or one that loosely functions? For some, there’s no need to.

Last year, the prestigious science journal Nature published the study.

Find a summary of it here.

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Social Skills Training and ADHD: What Gives it the Best Shot at Working?

A short supply of self-restraint and other characteristics of ADHD can hurt relationships.  Social skills training is one of the interventions used to prevent relationship damage and increase relationship repair.  But does it work?

The results of a fresh-off-the-presses study on social skills training support Russell Barkley’s argument (Understanding ADHD) that skills presented and practiced away from real-life situations at the moment of trouble (e.g., as one is about to curse someone out) may be of little value.

Social skills training had “limited efficacy” according to Canadian researchers reviewing social skills training for kids and teens with ADHD (study here).  Nonetheless, they identified “two promising” ways to increase its usefulness.  First, offer “increased reinforcement and reminders of appropriate social behavior at the point of performance to youth with ADHD (e.g., in vivo, in real life peer situations as opposed to in the clinic).”  Second, encourage “peers to be more socially accepting and inclusive of youth with ADHD.”

In other words, go to the youths’ environments to work on what’s happening there (looking at both their actions and the actions of others toward them).

Maybe some day, we’ll send kids to mental health clinics less often and start going to them, where the action is.  And where science suggests we need to be.

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What predicts ADHD symptom reduction over time?

In school-age children with ADHD, “visual spatial working memory maintenance” improvement predicts symptom improvement.  See the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) study here.

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Let’s unpack this.

“Visual spatial working memory maintenance” is about maintaining mental representations of the arrangement of what you’ve just seen as the next sights show up.

It’s what you have to do when you drive.  You have to remember the positions of other cars and cyclists as you also attend to traffic lights and road signs.  Imagine you come to a light where you want to turn right.  To do this without an accident, you need to maintain the representation of the cyclist who was riding on your right side seconds before.

Air traffic controllers and pilots require especially good visual spatial working memory maintenance (for a brief, clear description of visual working memory from the University of Michigan, go here).

Now, hold on to this idea as we look at the OHSU study.

What the OHSU researchers found is that the children of their study who showed some ADHD symptom “recovery” or “remission” were the ones whose visual working memory maintenance improved as they developed.

It raises interesting questions, including whether to focus attention on developing this cognitive ability to reduce ADHD symptoms and whether a third factor contributes to both visual working memory maintenance improvement and ADHD symptom reduction.  Of note, the researchers examined how two other cognitive processes changed over time.  These processes were response inhibition (self-restraint, essentially) and delayed reward discounting (depreciating the value of a non-immediate reward).  Their changes were unrelated to symptom reduction.

 

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How to Make ADHD worse

When you have ADHD, here’s your recipe for disaster:  Mix sleep deprivation with carnival food.  Deep fry.

Hold the physical exercise and Omega-3s.

No one says, “I want to be my worse self.”  Yet many of us are doing exactly what we need to get us there or keep us there.

When you have ADHD, sleep deprivation makes your symptoms worse, carnival-like food makes your symptoms (particularly forgetfulness) worse and lack of physical exercise and Omega-3s keeps them from getting better.

If you want to give yourself the best chance at optimal brain functioning, here’s the winning combination:  sleep enough, eat healthy food (including Omega-3s), and exercise regularly.  This is true for all us but is essential when you have ADHD.

Consider that chronic sleep deprivation looks like ADHD.  Imagine what happens when you combine them.  Check out recent research on ADHD and circadian rhythms here.

Omega-3s matter so much, there’s even an Omega-3 prescription for ADHD called Vayarin.  See specifics on the Omega-3 and ADHD connection here:  Something Fishy.

For a recent review and meta-analysis on use of Omega-3s for ADHD, go here.

As for exercise, namely cardio exercise, check out this recent review.

Try the winning combination for even just one week and see what you notice.  I bet your brain will thank you.

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