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Can video games be good for ADHD?
Gaming can improve eye-hand coordination, and may foster positive social interactions. Children with attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) or little athletic interest or ability have an opportunity to compete in a different way, and to form friendships with like-minded gamers. Two of the things that many children love about video games — constant stimulation and rewards — are particularly appealing to children who have ADHD. This makes parents worry that their children with ADHD are at high risk for video game addiction or internet addiction. Puzzle games are very good for kids with ADHD or learning disabilities because they help build that brain muscle we were talking about, as do all these exercises. There are maze games (like Perplexus) where players must maneuver a small marble around challenging barriers inside a transparent ball, for example. In general, children with ADHD are right-brained learners. They prefer to learn visually — by watching or doing a task in an activity-based, hands-on format, not by listening to lectures, practicing drills, or memorizing. There are many ways to implement visual learning outside the classroom. Research shows that people with ADHD (among others) report higher frequencies of boredom. Contrary to what your ten-year-old says, boredom won’t kill you, but it can gnaw away at your life satisfaction and can also lead to other problematic behaviors and situations.
Why are games good for ADHD?
Benefits of video games prescribed for ADHD can include: Improvement of visual-spatial skills. Increased hand-eye coordination. Improved ability to utilize visual and auditory content for problem-solving. High-risk activities — driving fast, motorcycle riding, and waterskiing — motivate ADHD brains to focus. Some extreme activities, like daring ski jumps, sky-diving, or taking fast-acting street drugs, elicit a dopamine spike, the brain’s most intense reward. A few studies have looked at how caffeine can affect ADHD symptoms, but the results have been mixed. Even though caffeine is a stimulant, it’s not generally recommended as a treatment for ADHD because it hasn’t proved to be as effective as prescription medications. People with ADHD have less diffusion of dopamine in the brain’s synapses than do people without ADHD, so they do not get the same degree of satisfaction from doing ordinary tasks. That lack of satisfaction is felt as boredom, and it saps a person’s motivation to continue. Can ADHD Be Treated Without Drugs? ADHD and ADD can be successfully treated without drugs; however, that does not mean that a patient should stop taking ADHD medications unless they’ve been advised to do so by a Physician.
Do memory games help with ADHD?
These games appear to do one thing well. They allow users to improve their efficiency in the task they’re doing within the game. But the improvement is short-term and specific to that task. Studies have found no improvement in memory or attention that goes beyond the game. Some people say these games boost memory and build attention. But that doesn’t mean the games are helpful to people with ADHD or would work as a treatment for ADHD symptoms. Brain games are typically designed to enhance and strengthen specific cognitive skills, including one’s ability to strengthen their attention, process information more rapidly, and focus more intently. Brain training can be a valuable tool for your family. Puzzle games are very good for kids with ADHD or learning disabilities because they help build that brain muscle we were talking about, as do all these exercises. There are maze games (like Perplexus) where players must maneuver a small marble around challenging barriers inside a transparent ball, for example. Video games hold special attractions for children with ADHD. A child who’s bothered by distractibility in the real world may be capable of intense focus, or hyperfocus, while playing. Nor is hyperactivity a problem; a child can hold the controllers and stand or pace back and forth in front of the TV as he plays.
What game helps with ADHD?
EndeavorRx improves attention function in children 8‑12 with ADHD. It’s a safe add-on alongside other treatments. “Children with ADHD appear to benefit from shorter periods of screen-based activities more frequently,” says Pavkovic. For example, 40 minutes per day, 5 days a week, instead of 2 hours per day, twice a week. Stimulants are believed to work by increasing dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with motivation, pleasure, attention, and movement. For many people with ADHD, stimulant medications boost concentration and focus while reducing hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. As you know, one trademark of ADHD is low levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine — a chemical released by nerve cells into the brain. Finally, supplementing vitamins B and C can also help alleviate ADD and ADHD symptoms. Vitamin C, like zinc, iron, and magnesium, is used to produce neurotransmitters like dopamine. Additionally, vitamin B deficiency is linked to irritability and fatigue in children. Teacher, daycare worker, teaching assistant, special education teacher, social worker, and even higher education roles such as an assistant professor, all lend themselves to some of the most common presentations of ADHD.
Is Minecraft good for ADHD?
Parents may wonder if so much Minecraft is good for kids with ADHD. Probably not, but it’s not all bad, either. Minecraft practices a variety of executive-functioning skills such as planning, flexibility, and organization and promotes creativity, collaboration, digital literacy, and other 21st century skills. ADHD can affect a student’s ability to focus, pay attention, listen, or put effort into schoolwork. ADHD also can make a student fidgety, restless, talk too much, or disrupt the class. Kids with ADHD might also have learning disabilities that cause them to have problems in school. This makes you wonder if playing video games actually causes ADHD. The short answer is no. There’s no evidence that TV or video games cause ADHD. Genetics. ADHD tends to run in families and, in most cases, it’s thought the genes you inherit from your parents are a significant factor in developing the condition. Research shows that parents and siblings of someone with ADHD are more likely to have ADHD themselves.