4 Ways to Improve ADHD Symptoms (That No One Talks About!)

 Hey, welcome back to the Connected and Capable Podcast. I am truly so glad that you are here. If you are joining me again, or maybe this is your first time tuning in because you see that we are talking about a really huge topic that affects so many kids, including. One of my own today, and that is ADHD.

Specifically, we’re gonna be talking about four ways to improve ADHD symptoms that nobody talks about, and literally, I do mean so few people talk about this especially. When you are going through the process of having your child evaluated, diagnosed, and you are given recommendations for treatment for your child, I know because I’ve lived this personally as a mom, but I also know this from my decades of working as a pediatric ot.

I have had more kids on my caseload with ADHD than I can count, and I have worked with. Probably thousands of families around the world at this point that have a kiddo with ADHD. And it is so clear to me, uh, from my very direct experience, which I will share with you in just a minute, but in working with these families, that this is a very common pattern that we see these difficult behaviors in our child or that they’re having a really hard time, right, paying attention, maybe sitting still.

That they don’t seem to listen, that they seem disorganized. And when we get them evaluated or sometimes we don’t, we see these signs. And we may not get them evaluated, but we’re wondering if they have ADHD. We take that next step, get them evaluated, and then the only form of treatment that we tend to hear about is medication.

And please hear me my episode here today is not about should your kid be on medication or should they not. Medication can be effective for some kids and there are so many factors to take into account when we are kind of considering medication, so maybe that’s a different episode. You can let me know if you wanna hear about that.

But what I really wanna talk about where my heart so much is, and those of you that are inside the connection hive, know this with me. Or if you’ve taken my unlocking ADHD workshop, you know this and that is that there is so much more that we can do to help kids with ADHD, both in supporting them. But also in actually improving their ADHD symptoms, the things that make it really difficult.

Now, before I get there, there’s a couple of things that I wanna talk about. First, I wanna talk about what ADHD really is because our understanding of it culturally is pretty limited. And to be quite honest, even as therapists, we can have a pretty narrow view of what ADHD is. We’re also gonna talk about the hyperactive component.

Is that because of ADHD or is that because they have sensory knees? Like are they a sensory seeker, like what’s going on there? Then we’re gonna get into these four ways that you can help your ADHD kid or your kid that you suspect might have ADHD, or that just has some of these struggles. Okay? So if you’re here listening and your kid is struggling with any of the things we’ve already talked about, this episode is for you.

And certainly if you have a kiddo or you yourself have ADHD, stick around. We’re gonna get into some really important. Strategies today. Okay, so first we have to understand that ADHD actually has three subsets. So when a child gets a diagnosis of ADHD, they are either getting a hyperactive. Subset, they are getting a inattentive subset or they’re getting both.

Okay. It is almost always, hyperactive and inattentive. It’s pretty rare to just see a hyperactive diagnosis without the inattentive part. However, many kids, especially girls, tend to have the. Inattentive subtype, so you do not see the hyperactivity piece, even though hyperactive is in the literal title of the diagnosis, which is why we used to have ADD and ADHD.

That was so confusing that they combined those terms into one. But it’s still a little confusing because your kid could have ADHD and not be hyperactive. These kids tend to fly under the radar. These kids. Tend to not get diagnosed. And this is the subset that my child has. And here’s the really interesting thing, he is a pretty big sensory seeker.

Some would absolutely describe him, especially, people that know him, better would maybe describe him as hyperactive. So why did he not get. The hyperactive subset as well? Well, because he’s able to control it. So from the very early age when I would take him to story time at the library, he was able to sit on his carpet square when he went to preschool, when he went to kindergarten, and all throughout his school years, which he is still in, he is able to control his desire for more movement.

Which does mean that we see more of it at home because he is able to kind of restrain himself from getting the movement that does help him regulate. Okay? This is often, the case for kiddos that fly under the radar. Okay? So their needs. Aren’t as obvious, so these kids tend to get diagnosed a little bit later, which was the case for my son as well.

Of course, I saw the signs, but I wasn’t sure as I was watching development unfold. Is this really ADHD or is he a little behind in his development? Does he just have some sensory needs? Which brings us to our second point and a question that I get asked often. Well, my kid has ADHD and they do have the hyperactivity subset.

So their hyperactivity is because of the ADHD, not because they’re a sensory seeker, but this isn’t really an either or situation. You see these things actually go really closely together. Kids that have ADHD frequently have sensory needs. Hyperactivity is part of that. Hyperactivity is the brain’s way of trying to regulate.

It’s trying to organize itself and it’s doing that excessive movement to try to be able to do whatever it needs to be doing in the environment. It may not seem like it if your child is jumping up from the table a hundred times or can’t sit down and have a meal if they are at that circle time. At the library, and they’re the kid that is struggling and getting up over and over and over again.

It is a result of their sensory needs that are happening. It’s a result of them trying to regulate their whole nervous system because that movement helps do that. Now again, another episode, we can talk about sensory seekers and what actually helps them regulate because sometimes when we give sensory seekers or kids that are hyperactive.

Movement, it just doesn’t seem to help. Like they could just participate in this movement endlessly. But there are things that we can do to help sensory seekers kind of hone that in and actually help it regulate their system. Okay. So just know that we can put that on the, on the side burner for right now.

But what I really wanna stress here is that we don’t think about putting hyperactivity and sensory seeking in different silos. They’re really the same thing. So thinking about them more holistically with how the brain works is helpful because that brings us into our next point, which is that there are ways.

That we can actually help our kids ways that are proven by research that actually improve ADHD symptoms, or I would even say are just support to them. So that’s actually what we’re gonna talk about first, and we’re gonna get into, we sensory kind of fits into this in just a couple of minutes, but the very first thing that we want to think about.

When a child has ADHD is, what are the executive functioning supports I can give them. Why? Because ADHD is so much more than just poor attention and possibly hyperactivity If they have that subset, it’s so much more than that. See, attention is actually one of many executive functioning skills. If you listen to episode five, we talked about five of them.

I touched on this point a little bit because we tend to just see the attention and we, we can identify, especially once our kid has this diagnosis, when they are struggling to focus on their schoolwork or listen to a story that you’re reading or they’re playing with a peer and they’re jumping from activity to activity and their peer is trying to just sit there and play with the Legos.

When we see that attention piece, we’re like, oh, that’s their ADHD. Okay. Like we can see that there is, there is kind of the struggle that they are having , or that’s even okay. Like this is how their brain is wired. They’re only able to hold their attention for this long and they, they need to get up and move.

But that is only one executive functioning skill. Remember, our, our executive functioning is in a specific area of the brain. It’s up here in the frontal lobe of our brain. It is developing all the way into adulthood. Well into the late twenties. Executive functioning skills are still developing, so that’s part of what’s happening, but also that there’s a whole suite of skills.

Okay. Executive functioning is like the brain’s boss. It’s in charge of all of these different sorts of jobs. It’s in charge of attention. It’s in charge of self-control. It’s in charge of starting hard things. It’s in charge of doing hard things. That’s called perseverance. It’s in charge of problem solving and.

Sequencing steps. Like if I have to get dressed, I know that I need to take my clothes off first. Okay. That’s executive functioning, helping with that. It’s in charge of self-awareness. There’s, there’s so many skills. Okay. I really lean into focusing on 10. Organization is another one. Memory, remembering things you have to do.

The reason I’m mentioning this is because a lot of the things that feel frustrating when you’re parenting a child with ADHD are a result of these other executive functioning skills. When you have to remind your child 20 times to do something, that’s because of their working memory. That’s an executive functioning skill.

When you tell your child, Hey, I need you to clean up the toys, put your shoes away and grab your drink. We’re we gotta get to that doctor’s appointment and they do one or none of those things, that’s their executive functioning. Okay, so the list could go on and on. I could just, I could just keep giving examples.

Emotional regulation is another executive functioning skill. If your kiddo is flying off the handle or has these big emotional roller coasters throughout the day, or is stuck, you know, like they get angry or they get really sad, or they get really scared and they kind of just get stuck there. This is a result of emotional regulation.

It’s a result of their executive functioning skills. So the point I’m trying to make here is that ADHD affects all of these skills. ADHD is actually not the best title for this diagnosis. It would be so much better if we called it executive functioning disorder. Because even though executive functioning is still developing, we see a gap in these skills compared to kids that are the same age, and a lot of kids have ADHD, but the CDC says over 11% of all kids from three to 18 have ADHD.

Guys. That might not sound like a lot, but in terms of a diagnosis, that is a huge, huge number. We also know that kiddos with autism have big connections to what are, you know, we would consider like these gaps in executive functioning skills as well. So when we’re talking about uniquely wired kids, we see this kind of trifecta of executive functioning skills, sensory needs.

And specifically like this emotional regulation, which is technically an executive functioning skill, but it’s such a big one that is kind of affecting all of everyday life. So if we’re just focusing on attention and hyperactivity, we’re kind of missing it. We’re kind of missing. The struggle that is happening, and I think even once we know our kid has ADHD, we can still be so frustrated by so many of the things that we’re they’re doing because we’re like, Ugh.

Why can they not remember anything? Why do I have to repeat myself all the time? Why are they checked out? Why are they so emotionally charged? Why do they get aggressive? It’s all related to these executive functioning skills. Is at the heart of the challenge that that ADHD presents. Now, please hear me.

There are some wonderful aspects to ADHD that can really be leveraged and used well in a child’s life. Kiddos with ADHD often tap into high levels of creativity and empathy and can hyperfocus. So often kiddo kiddos with ADHD will, when there is an interest, can focus so much longer than than a peer their age without that diagnosis.

But we have to acknowledge that these other things do often present challenges in their life. They often feel frustrating to the child and they often. Can start to affect how they see themselves in their own self-esteem because these things can feel hard. So how can we help them? Well, I think we first have to acknowledge that the first support that you are likely recommended when your child is given this diagnosis.

And you may even be thinking, I don’t wanna get my child diagnosed because I know that this is what they’re gonna suggest. That is medication. Now, again, there are so many implications as to whether medications may be a good fit for your child or whether you want to or interested in trying them. Again, that’s not our conversation here, but why I am bringing it up again is that it’s concerning to me as a pediatric occupational therapist that nine out of 10 times, if not even higher.

The number one recommendation and often the only recommendation that is made for a child that is given this diagnosis is medication. So that is a form of treatment, but there’s so much more that we can do. Now, you may hear some suggestions of, oh, well use checklist with your kiddo. Maybe use a visual schedule.

That’s when you kind of show every step of an activity or even the steps of a particular activity. So if your child is having trouble sequencing how to get dressed, you may see put on underwear first, on a little picture, put on socks, put on pants, and it’s completely broken down. So they’re able to follow each step.

Or with older kids using a planner. I did receive a few of those suggestions when my son was diagnosed, but I was presented with the option of medication and was told nothing else, and I was, I, in my particular situation, was pressed pretty hard to start medication. With no discussion of other treatment options because that was the only thing that was presented.

I think that is because medication is so black and white. There are, kids that really respond to treatment and it feels like a very tangible thing that we are doing. And you, you may see immediate results. But these other things that I’m talking about are a good other first step, and those are executive functioning supports.

Like when I’m talking about the visual schedule, when I’m talking about a checklist, when I’m talking about using a planner, a timer to help them know when the next thing is coming. Giving reminders to your child, setting up systems in their room that are color coded to help keep their items organized.

Those are all executive functioning supports. We’re not making change at the brain level there, but we’re helping them get through the day. And individuals with ADHD, especially kiddos that get older and adults can learn how to kind of put these supports in their life to help them in the areas that feel hard or frustrating.

That’s a good thing. So I got a couple of those strategies, but honestly not many. And there are many that we can do. There’s something else. And this brings us to our second thing. So if we’re talking about the four ways, the first one is being intentional with executive functioning supports. There is almost always a support you can put into place for every single challenge related to ADHD that your kid has in their life, because it’s all related to that executive functioning.

But the second thing is, and this is what is so exciting. Is that you can actually strengthen executive functioning skills. It is a skill. That means when we practice it or we leverage certain types of activities, we can actually strengthen it like you would a muscle. Is this a short term gain? No. You are not gonna use an executive functioning building activity one time and see.

See, immediate change. It is going to take practice because the brain is learning just like it takes practice. If your child is learning to play soccer, they are not gonna go out there when they are three or four or five years old or however they are, and they’re learning to play soccer for the first time and be an expert soccer player.

Why? Because the brain is learning how to play soccer. The more your child plays soccer, the better they are going to get at it because it is a skill. Attention, emotional regulation, working memory, sequencing steps, perseverance, self-control. They are all skills. This is not predestined or dictated that this is the max capacity that your child can function at.

And I know that this gets a little bit tricky when we start talking about the neuro affirming conversation. For me, I believe there is nothing more neuro affirming because our brain has the ability every brain at every age, and more so in childhood, has the ability to make new connections, to build new pathways.

That is why this podcast is called Connected and Capable. Okay, so this is possible. Does it mean we force it? Does it mean we expect it to happen overnight? No, I think that’s when we step away from neuro affirming. I think when we say, I have to fix this, I think when we say this is broken. I think we step into territory that’s not neuro affirming.

We need to recognize where kids are. We need to give them the supports so that they feel seen, that they can have good self-esteem, that they know that they have super abilities because of their unique wiring, but in the areas that they’re struggling, we can help them. We can help them build these skills.

Okay, now I wanna get a little bit specific, and so we’re gonna get into another key area. This third way that I think is probably one of the least talked about, but is so grounded in research, and that is movement based activities. Now this is where the sensory component comes in, okay? So not only can we use sensory strategies to help.

The nervous system regulate because when the nervous system is regulated, executive functioning skills are operating at their optimum level. So often our kids with ADHD are dysregulated. And so we see the constant movement when they are regulated, and we know movement is a path to help doing that. When we give them sensory activities that actually help them regulate, when we help them hone and figure out what those are, they’re in a more regulated state and they have more capacity.

We see a decrease and kind of the hyperactivity and the inattention that are often glaring, some sensory activities. Can be leveraged in a way to actually help promote this brain growth. That’s called sensory integration. In a nutshell, that’s a huge topic. That’s why I’m, I’m, I am chuckling a little bit to myself because I’m trying to explain sensory integration in 30 seconds.

And another layer of that in when we’re talking about movement-based activities is using movements to help integrate reflexes. So way back in episode two, we talked about these primitive reflexes that are sometimes firing in the brain all the time. For kiddos, they should have went away, these reflexes by the age of two, but they didn’t.

Not all the way, and they interrupt executive functioning skills. There have been multiple studies. Have showed a strong correlation between kids that have a diagnosis of ADHD and having these retained reflexes, particularly ATNR and STNR. And so there are certain movements or exercises your child can do to actually make these reflexes stop firing in the brain so that executive functioning skills can grow without them interfering.

And then we see these challenges decrease. There are also numerous other studies. Again, for those of you that have taken my Unlocking ADHD workshop, that is also in the connection hive. So if you’re a member and you’re listening and you’re like, wait, I didn’t even know about that. It’s in the library, in the connection hive, then you can actually try specific movements.

Games that are appropriate for kids as young as four and five and work for teenagers that actually have been shown to greatly reduce ADHD symptoms without any medication. I mean, gosh, that’s amazing. So there is some brain stuff going on here that I don’t think we fully have a grasp on, but we’re seeing it show up in the research we’re seeing when kids participate in these types of movement activities.

It’s building skills in their brain that this is all connected in the brain. These challenges aren’t happening in separate silos. No. They’re connected and when we can leverage movement, it is actually building executive functioning skills. You know, if you’re getting excited because I am, I am. I am excited.

If you can’t tell about executive functioning skills. I hope you join me for executive Functioning Week. We are actually just opening it today. It’s totally free. If you are in the connection hive, you’re gonna have some opportunities for extension activities and some lives. But we’re gonna be going over executive functioning skills in executive functioning week in one action packed short video a day.

To help you start to see what is the quick support that I can give my child? What is the thing I can do to help build these skills? Some of them are movement based, some of them aren’t, but you are building longer term skills with these executive functioning. Please, if you have a kid with ADHD, make sure that you see the show notes and sign up for this free event.

I don’t know if we’ll ever do it again. We’ve never done it before, but this is so important and it’s such a gap that we’re missing. That it’s so important that we do this.

Okay, so moving on to our fourth way. All right. And I think this is gonna have to be its own dedicated episode, but I would be totally remiss in not mentioning it. It’s nutrition. Now, please. I know if anybody stressing, to be quite honest, it stresses me a little bit because my ADHD kid sometimes struggles with self-control around sweets.

High sugary foods, processed foods, and there are some experts out there that are doing great work around ADHD nutrition recommending pretty intense protocols that can feel really overwhelming as a family to start to put into practice. So what I wanna say here about nutrition is that again. Our nutrition, our stomach is deeply connected with the brain.

Have you heard of the, you know, the, the mind gut connection that vagus nerve is connecting Both. It’s huge. The biggest nerve in our body. Okay. So these two systems, the mind and the stomach are very closely tied together. And so what we eat does affect our brain. I think, and it’s something that we’re working on in my own home, that there is a way to support nutrition without it being all or nothing, without feeling like you have to go on a drastic, put your kid on a drastic diet or go on a drastic diet.

But I do think, generally speaking, we want to be aware of working towards eating more whole foods, less processed or highly sugared foods. Certainly. Food coloring and additives have been shown to produce more hyperactivity in kiddos with ADHD in particular. And so those are aspects that we wanna start just, I would say being aware of if that feels overwhelming to you at all.

As always, and my connection Hive members know this because I say it all of the time. That we do not have to make major changes or figure this all out overnight. It’s always just about what is the next small step that feels doable for your family. So with the nutrition conversation, I know everybody listening is on a totally different spot on that.

And if it’s not for you right now, that’s okay. You can lean into these other aspects and it’s why we are going to be focusing on executive functioning. So I hope that you will join me for this free week that is coming up in April. If you are already in the connection Hive, remember you will have access to all of that and some bonus content there for that week.

All of the links that I have mentioned are in the show notes. If you are a therapist listening, shout out to you guys. I know there are many OTs, PTs, and speech therapists listening, and I love that. I love that you are listening to better understand for your population. For the kiddos that you are working with, know that all of those supports will also be added in our therapist membership.

And the link for that will also be on the show notes as well. It has been so good to be with you. I think we have a lot more to talk about ADHD coming up. So I, I know I’m gonna go, I’m gonna go write down future episodes, right now, but I’m so grateful to be here with you. If you know somebody else that has A-D-H-D-I hope you’ll share this episode with them.

’cause it’s just a conversation that we do not have enough and we need to change the way that we think about ADHD. How we support kids and even adults with ADHD, and there are a lot of kids and adults with ADHD. I’m so grateful for you being here with me. As always, know that you are capable. You are capable and helping your kid or the kids that you work with.

It’s just one small step at a time. All right, until next time, friends.