Is your youngster only quiet when asleep or watching TV?

Kids need quiet activities that require focus and concentration. The trick is getting them to do it.

And it's especially important for them to practice some quiet time before school starts. They'll be asked to sit quietly in school and often get in trouble if they don't.

You need the down-time too. Schedule some time every day which doesn't involve driving kids to the pool, and you'll stop counting the days till they're back in school.

O.K. I admit that hammering and building like the boys in the picture are doing isn't quiet. But it does require sitting still (or kneeling), concentration, and not too much talking. Plus it's creative. Count it as a great quiet time activity.

Succeeding in school requires the ability to be quiet and focus. Your kids will benefit by practicing these skills right now that they'll need in the fall when school starts. (You can do these same activities again during Winter and Spring break or any other school vacation.)

The key is letting them choose fun un-school-like quiet things.

Try alternating between mental activities like word puzzles and physical activities that build eye-hand coordination such a building models or sewing.

Try a couple of these Quiet Time suggestions:

1. With very young children and older children who resist this idea, start small. Begin with as little as 10-15 minutes a day and do the activity with them.

2. For kids who are “antsy” all the time or have ADHD, try having them sit for TWO minutes (not TEN) with their arms crossed like they're giving themselves a hug and their legs crossed at the ankles while taking deep breaths. Use a timer. It's a Brain Game modified from Wayne's Cross-Over which you'll find in "The Five Brain Games Shift for Taming ADHD."

Or try having them put one hand on their forehead, resting their elbow on the table. Take deep breaths and set the timer for no more than two minutes. This is a modification of the Brain Game, "Magic Fingers" which you'll also find in "The Five Brain Games Shift for Taming ADHD."

3. Take the kids to an arts and crafts store and let them pick out something that looks like fun: sticker books, paint-by-number, model cars and airplanes, jewelry kits, art projects or science experiments.

Do watch, however, that they haven’t picked out something beyond their skill level. You don’t want “This is too hard and I can’t do it” as part of quiet time! I just put a 3-D castle jigsaw puzzle in the garage sale. Neither my husband nor I could do it and our grandson, who enjoys quiet activities, gave up in 10 minutes.

And steer them away from things you know will drive you crazy. Is this an activity that makes a huge mess and you can’t stand messes? Something else will interest your child. Our granddaughter chose a sand painting kit. We had colored sand everywhere for months. Never again!

4. Check out books at the library. However, for children who hate to read or have difficulty with reading, this is not a good choice. Practicing quiet time in the last days before school starts must be something fun. Being quiet for most kids is hard enough already. If you’re working on reading over the summer, and I hope you are, choose a different time.

5. Card and board games: Quiet and focused doesn’t necessarily mean by all alone by yourself.

6. Word games, puzzles, mazes, hidden pictures, activity books: “Where’s Waldo” is great fun for older kids. Kids intrigued with astronauts? Try Dave Phillips’ “Space Age Mazes.” Have a child passionate about dinosaurs? They’d go for “Dinosaur Word Search” by John Chaneski.

Dover publishes sophisticated activity books of all kinds for older children and adults.

Torn between coloring books that limit creativity or free-hand drawing your child won’t do? You can have it both ways with Anna Pomaska’s “Create Your Own Pictures Coloring Book” where pictures are partly drawn.

7. Do you have a quiet hobby they can do with you? Perhaps you do scrapbooking. Your child works on her scrapbook while you work on yours.

Maybe you enjoy knitting. Let your child make fluffy scarves with giant needles. Easy for the first-time knitter, and they’re all the rage. Think birthday gift for Grandma. You’ve never held a knitting needle? Learn together. And Grandma gets two scarves.

Boys can knit too. And girls can make model cars and airplanes. It’s o.k. (You can always promise boys that you won't tell anybody so they won't worry about being embarrassed. And stick to your promise! Embarrassing your kids isn't o.k.!)

Bottom line: Have fun. Fun helps the brain develop more quickly than struggle. And remember quiet time isn’t an excuse for those children who would sit all the time anyway instead of running and playing outdoors. Kids need both.

Listen to more suggestions for Quiet Time and download the handout.

Please leave us a comment below. What Quiet Time activities have worked at your house?

One of the most important things you can do BEFORE school starts is to help your kids get organized for school.

And I'm not just talking about shopping for new clothes and shoes.

Even if your kids don't have ADHD, organizing all their stuff and keeping it organized is often a challenge.

Staying organized is also a big key to school success.

Proceed with one project at a time.

Start with their room if there's stuff on the floor, under the bed and piled everywhere.

Set an intention to do this together without arguing. Your job is to make suggestions, not demands. Buy three brightly colored bins (even three good-sized waste baskets will do). Label them "put away," "give away" and "throw away." Now encourage your kids to get rid of as much as possible.

You'll want to model the behavior, so choose a similar project for yourself and get them to help you. I'm sure they'll have some great ideas about things you should toss.

Now that you've got room to move around their room and to temporarily take things out of the closet or drawers for sorting, repeat the "put away," "give away" and "throw away."

Use small crates, shelves, and drawers

Once they've gotten the "throw away" and "give away" bins out of the room, it's time to start figuring out ways to organize everything. One big toy bin isn't the answer--just keeps all that clutter in one place.

Small shelves and small plastic crates, drawers make organizing much simpler. You can buy organizing "stuff" at WalMart or Target, even a Dollar Store, or you can improvise and save money. The rule of thumb is the smaller (within reason) the storage unit, the easier to keep things organized.

Now label everything. When drawers and shelves and bins or crates are labeled, kids have an easier time sorting their belongings. They can decorate with stickers--whatever makes it fun for them.

Finally, take a close look at the height of dresser drawers, clothes rod, shelves in the closet. Are they too high for your child? When children use adult-sized shelves, rods, drawers, it makes staying organized more difficult.

Clutter and disorganization is hard on the brain. It's confusing and distracting. So you'll want to take care of your kids' rooms first. Then it's on to organizing school supplies, lunches, homework habits, and schedules.

I invite you to get more tips for organizing everything from lunches to desks plus strategies for helping tame ADHD and ADHD-like behavior before school starts.

Be sure to leave a comment below. Share your tips with our readers. How do you help your kids keep their rooms organized?

Worried that ADHD or ADHD-like behavior will get in the way of good grades and high test scores, not to mention completed homework, when your kids go back to school?

ADHD always got in the way of school success for me. I loved school and had the very best intentions but my brain just wouldn't cooperate.  Back then nobody had even heard the words "attention deficit disorder," much less had resources to provide for those of us who couldn't sit still, couldn't concentrate.

If you had ADHD when I was growing up, you just struggled, got in trouble at school a lot, and listened to your parents and teachers tell you that you weren't living up to your potential.

Now the challenge is how to choose the appropriate ADHD resource for your child from among the dozens of programs and activities that are available.

Neurofeedback? Maybe a video game designed for ADHD? Behavioral therapy? Or how about one of those programs that helps with auditory processing like Tomatis or Samonas?  Of course the question about stimulant drugs always comes up.

And what about changes at home? Which strategies are the most effective?  What should parents be doing to help their kids who, even if they don't have ADHD, certainly have all the symptoms?

To help you make these decisions about managing ADHD, I'd done the research for you. I've scoured the web, I've read the books and the articles, I've talked to teachers, I've interviewed research psychiatrists who specialize in ADHD. In short, I've become an ADHD expert. It's my passion! No child should have to suffer the way I suffered as a kid.

And for the first time, I've put together a TeleWebcast just for parents. It's 4 sessions designed so you help your kids now before school starts. Help them get a head start. Give them the skills to manage ADHD. There's even a module on getting organized for school. And includes Brain Games plus 7 videos.  The activities are fun, easy, and effective.

Check it out now. Enrollment is limited so you'll want to jump on it right away.

Secret to Your Child's School Success

OK, if you've been following this blog, my articles, my audio classes and the Tuesday Teletips, you already know the secret.

It's physical exercise. It's movement. Kids can improve additude, grades, and test scores with movement--even manage ADHD.

So how about organizing a race in your neighborhood to raise money for your kid's school?  It's a fabulous end-of-summer activity and fun for everybody. Just be sure to have it early in the morning so it isn't too hot yet.

In San Diego, the Girl Scouts organize a 5K race (that's about 3 miles) every year and everybody gets free Girl Scout cookies. Last year's race raised $20,000. Open to kids and adults, 1,000 folks turned out to run and eat cookies.

Note: Cookies are great but oatmeal makes a better breakfast before the race. And new oatmeal products are coming out from Quaker Oats. The company is reducing sugar and salt--a very good thing indeed. They're introducing multigrain oatmeal (hmm, does that mean it isn't oatmeal anymore?) and an oatmeal product for kids where they can mix different flavors together.

Your race doesn't need to be as elaborate at the San Diego Girl Scouts--could be shorter and fewer people. Could be open only to kids. It's up to you--better yet, your kids. Let them organize the whole thing.

To organize a race or fun run, kids will need to:

• Decide on the route and the length of the race
• The date and time for the race
• How to let other kids (and parents and teachers) know about the race
• Choose whether to charge for entering the race and who to give the money to. Perhaps their school's sports program.
• What to give as prizes. They could make prizes
• How to design the numbers each contestant will wear. (Don't forget safety pins for attaching the numbers.)

Now have fun. Stay fit. Succeed in school.

Have you and your kids done a fun run or 5 or 10K race?  Organized a race? Raised money for your school?  Share your thoughts and ideas with our readers. Just scroll down to the comment section below.

Creativity seems to be everywhere these days.

How about the dress made from 1000 origami whooping cranes? If you're in London, you can take a look at it in the London Science Museum.

Or the two college students at Rice University who used a simple kitchen salad spinner, yogurt cups, a comb and a glue gun to make a centrifuge for separating blood to test for anemia.

The professor told the class to invent a cheap medical device that didn't use electricity and could be used in developing countries. They didn't just get an A for their class project. This summer the two young women, Lauren Theis and Lila Kerr, are traveling in Africa helping clinics test their device!

Now I'm not suggesting your kids are going to come up with an invention like this during summer vacation (of course, they might) but they certainly can work on developing their creative talents and having loads of fun.

Creative Activities for Kids

One classic and fun way of creating is putting a bunch of junk on the kitchen table, setting the timer for 15 minutes, and saying "Go."  The challenge is to make something from the stuff on the table: tape, paper clips, a couple of small rocks, a broken shoe string, a lone earring, some stickers, and a potato, for example.

If you've got several kids playing, have a contest. They can take turns selecting the stuff.

Inventing games works also. Give kids a couple decks of card, a piece of cardboard, some crayons or markers, and trinkets for player pieces. The rule: Make up a board game. Or make it simple by making up a card game with just one deck of cards.

Ask questions? Don't give all the answers. Praise your kids for their creative efforts. It's fun and it's great for brain development.  And be sure to read my recent post about creative playgrounds. While you're there, vote for your favorite kind of playground.

Scroll down to the comment box below and share your ideas with our readers. How are you encouraging creativity in your kids?  What have they come up with.

Traditional Playgrounds or Creative Playgrounds? Perhaps an Adventure Playground?

Even when I was in college, I still loved the swings. I used to go down to the playground at Cascade Park and swing. It just felt good and made me happy.

Little did I understand that swinging was just what my brain needed. By stimulating the brain's vestibular system which regulates balance, I got a sense of where I was in space.

The fancy word for that is proprioception, and I had lousy proprioception--always bumping into things, tripping, falling down a lot. So I knew instinctively that swinging was just what my brain-body connection needed.

Swings are an important part of every traditional playground. Money bars are too. The brain loves monkey bars and rings because they require crossing the center mid-line which is essential for reading, writing, math and tons of other skills.

You can even hang upside down on monkey bars--another good thing for the vestibular system.  They help with

sensory integration and focus. Not to mention developing strong muscles.

So let's jump forward from the 60s to the current movement for imagination playgrounds with lots of movable parts so kids can build things and adventure playgrounds for exploring.

Building things is good. Helping kids develop creativity is crucial. Certainly nothing wrong with exploring. And these new playgrounds do look like loads of fun.

My beef is with the theory that these are "good" playgrounds and the playgrounds of my childhood which helped with sensory integration are "bad." One proponent of the new playgrounds calls the old playgrounds "lame" and suggests we need a movement to get rid of them because they stifle children.

No, no, a thousand times no! Why can't we have both elements in one playground so kids like me can develop better balance and improve sensory integration? And another kid can build something or explore. Who knows? Maybe we'll take turns. I'll swing today. Tomorrow I'll build.

Creativity is only one piece of healthy brain development. With the number of kids with ADHD, ADHD-like behavior and sensory integration challenges, we need swings and monkey bars too.

Let me know what you think: Given the choice, will you take your kids to imagination playgrounds or playgrounds with swings and monkey bars?

Ethan is hyperactive, acts without thinking, talks out of turn and can't pay attention. Mom thinks he has ADHD.

Sophia is "spacey," never seems to know what's going on, doesn't make friends at school, and her grades are lousy. Her teacher says she has ADHD. Is Ethan's Mom right? Is Sophia's teacher right? Maybe so. Maybe not.

ADHD is real. That's a fact. And it can cause all kinds of problems in school, with friends, at home. It can make kids miserable and their parents frantic. It can drive teachers crazy. ADHD-like behavior is epidemic, but ADHD itself is wildly over-diagnosed.

ADHD: How Is It Diagnosed?

There's no lab test for ADHD. No throat culture. No x-ray. In short, no medical procedure is available to help doctors make the diagnosis. Usually only a series of questions from the DSM4 ("Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders," 4th edition) determines the diagnosis.

Often ADHD is casually diagnosed. Eight-year-old Ethan is running all over the house and it's driving Dad crazy. For two weeks in a row, Ethan hasn't done a bit of homework. His grades are lousy. Ethan's teacher thinks he has ADHD. Dad suggests taking Ethan to the doctor.

Mom agrees and takes Ethan to Dr. Levin, a pediatrician. Mom says, "We think Ethan has ADHD, so does his teacher. Can you prescribe something to help him do better in school and calm down at home." Dr. Levin, who is not trained in psychotropic drugs or neurological disorders or psychology and has only 15 minutes to spend per patient, writes out the prescription.

Or ADHD is diagnosed by a psychologist who refers Sophia to a child psychiatrist who can prescribe an ADHD drug. Dr. Allen asks Sophia's Mom a few questions from the DSM4. Sophia's Mom answers "yes" to all the questions and leaves the Dr. Allen's office with a prescription for Ritalin, the most common drug prescribed for ADHD. Dr. Allen like Dr. Levin has only 15 minutes per patient.

Dr. Levin and Dr. Allen are both excellent physicians and have the best training in their specialties. They care about children's health and are highly respected among other doctors. But Dr. Levin isn't trained in psychology, psychiatry, or the stimulant medications used in these fields. And Dr. Allen isn't trained in looking for medical conditions or diseases that aren't of a psychiatric nature.

Turns out that Ethan is extremely allergic to red dye 40 found in dozens of foods and most candy that isn't chocolate. As for Sophia, she has extremely low levels of Vitamin D.

When Ethan stops eating anything with red dye 40 and Sophia starts taking Vitamin D supplements suggested by Dr Levin, their behavior improves. And their grades go up.

At least half a dozen conditions and situations can look like ADHD.

ADHD: How to Get the Right Diagnosis

Many psychiatrists agree that the most accurate diagnosis comes from a brain scan such as the qEEG. However, brain scans are expensive and insurance rarely pays for them.

But a complete physical exam with lab tests can help determine if something other than ADHD is going on. And a family psychological evaluation can help determine if stress at home is causing behavior that looks like ADHD.

Savvy parents can experiment at home. Cut out foods with artificial color and artificial flavoring. Ask the pharmacist about side effects for medications your child is taking. Decide that you will stop worrying and arguing about the mortgage and car payments every night at dinner in front of the kids.

Maybe your kids don't have ADHD after all and maybe just a change in diet or environment will help with ADHD symptoms. To find out what looks like ADHD and isn't, I invite you to get your copy of the FREE "Maybe They Don't have ADHD" inventory and checklist. Discover 12 factors that can contribute to ADHD-like behavior at http://smartkidssmartparents.com/adhd/inventory/ Give it to teachers and parents. Help stop the over-diagnosis of ADHD!

Last year our teenage grandson lived with us. He had some adhd behavior, little motivation for school, and lousy grades.

We loved having him with us but what a challenge. Just getting Caleb to eat breakfast at all, much less a healthy one, started out as a struggle. But it was step one toward doing better in school and helping tame the adhd behavior.

We're at the grocery store together.

Caleb: "Grandma, let's get Froot Loops (with red dye 40, artificial flavor and mostly sugar)?

Me: "Are you kidding?"

Caleb: "But you said you wanted me to eat a good breakfast."

Me: "Right."

Caleb: "Then how come I can't get Froot Loops (with red dye 40, artificial flavor and mostly sugar)?

Me: "Because Froot Loops (with red dye 40, artificial flavor and mostly sugar). It isn't even food."

Caleb: "Well, I'm not gonna eat some gross old people's health food cereal that tastes like dog food."

Me: "I agree. Sounds truly disgusting."

Despite that conversation, by the time the year with his grandparents was up, Caleb was happily eating a low sugar, high protein and fiber, whole grain cereal for breakfast. In the end, he chose the Kellog's Frosted Mini-Wheats, not me--a cereal with a whopping 74 out of 82 on the Cereal Nutrition Scale versus Kellog's Fruit Loops with a measly score of 38.

Post Shredded Wheat comes in at 82 but I don't care since I've always thought it tasted more like cardboard than cereal.  And unfortunately the Cereal Nutrition Scale doesn't look at grams of protein.  For some kids and often ADHD kids, a cereal low in protein may not provide enough energy for a whole morning.

So back to the story.  How did I get Caleb to eat a relatively healthy cereal which he chose?

I got Caleb interested in the nutritional value of food by convincing him-along with the help of his football coach-that eating well would help him play better football. And then by sending him on a mission in the grocery store to read labels. It became a contest between us. Contests are great for motivating teenage boys.

Here's what happened. I had declared that sugar-coated cereal will never appear on our shelves. Period! So to push my limits, Caleb asks about a cereal that is frosted. I repeat the no sugar-coated cereal at our house.

Then he, in typical teenager fashion, goes back to the cereal he chose so he can prove to me that it meets my standards. And he was right! He had found a cereal, despite the frosting, that's low in sugar for packaged cereal and relatively high in protein and fiber. He won the contest, and I won the goal of getting him to eat a healthy breakfast.

Do whatever you can to get your kids interested in eating well. Teach them to read labels. Make a game out of it. Count grams of sugar, grams of saturated fat and compare to grams of protein, grams of fiber. Connect eating well to something they're passionate about like a sport they're playing. If they aren't concerned themselves about getting better grades, doing better in school won't be much motivation.

Have a red dye 40 contest. How many foods can they find in your kitchen that have red-dye 40? How many foods on the grocery store shelves? How many kinds of candy (other than chocolate) can they find that don't have red dye 40? For some kids, just omitting any food or candy that has red dye 40 in it will stop ADHD behavior in its tracks.

What they eat affects how well they learn. So a kid who survives on junk food loaded with sugar and fat will struggle more with learning and have more behavioral issues including ADHD-like symptoms.

Maybe your kids don't have ADHD after all and maybe just a change in diet will help with ADHD symptoms. To find out what looks like ADHD and isn't, I invite you to grab your copy of the FREE "Maybe They Don't have ADHD" inventory and checklist. Discover 12 factors that can contribute to ADHD-like behavior Give it to teachers and parents. Help stop the over-diagnosis of ADHD!

Reading is Essential--Not just an option

The other day I ran across a Tweet on Twitter (these words just crack me up!) linked to a blog that suggested we stop pushing teaching kids to read and just let them listen to audio, to us read, to videos. Why? Because that's what they like. It's a great example of taking "teaching to learning styles" to an extreme.  An extreme that doesn't serve children well.

Hmm, maybe we should stop encouraging kids to eat fruit, veggies, and whole grains and let them eat sugar all the time because that's what they like.

I've always had trouble with some of the accommodation suggestions for ADHD kids such as read the test aloud for them so they don't have to struggle with reading it.  In high school? In college?  And for several reasons.  This implies that these kids can't learn to read.

Wrong. Kids can learn to read--lots of programs out there that have been highly successful in helping kids learn to read, even those with severe dyslexia.  The biggest challenge is motivating kids to read--and this blog as certainly addressed that issue!

Reading is essential. Period. Not all kids are going to love reading. Become avid readers. Want to go to the library. That's o.k. But they must learn to read.  Encouraging reading at home goes a long way to helping kids learn to read.

And given that a large number of ADHD kids poor auditory processing, the  "read the test to them" accommodation may not help at all.

To allow kids to go through school without learning to read is limiting them. Luckily the Federal law, "No Child Left Behind" (despite it's many flaws) is requiring reading fluency. What if they want to go to medical school? Law school? Become an engineer? A teacher?

No different than allowing them to eat nothing but sugar and junk food will limit them. They'll get sick. They'll get fat. They'll get diabetes.

Leave me a comment. Should kids read or is it enough to just let them to listen to books?

The Reluctant Reader, Pt. 3

By now Caleb is doing fairly well with his reading. I'm in the room with him reading my newspaper and the timer is on for 15 minutes. (Be sure to read The Reluctant Reader posts pt. 1 and pt. 2) But remember, this is a boy who doesn't want to read, thinks it's a waste of time, and is convinced it's not cool. His friends don't want to read either.

But within a month, we're back to the whining, the excuses, the stalling around. "Grandma, I can't read now. I gotta take out the trash. Then I hafta do my laundry." What some kids will do to get out of reading! Now what am I going to do?

Crossing the Midline and Cross Crawling to the Rescue

I'm sure if you know me the answer will come as no surprise. Of course . . . we'll do some Brain Games. He learned a few Brain Game activities when he was just a tyke. But now, you guessed it: "Grandma, I can't do Brain Games. It's for little kids. I'm grown up!" I don't argue that 14-years-old isn't my definition of grown up. I suggest that it will help and I promise not to tell his friends he's doing Brain Games. But he doesn't care whether it will help or not since he doesn't want to read. How to get him to do Brain Games?

I say I'll do Brain Games with him. Still not enough. Finally I suggest that he, I and Grandpa will do Brain Games together. This works. After all, Grandpa is considerably cooler and less weird than I am!

So the three of us do just a couple of Brain Game activities for no more than 3-4 minutes. Eureka! It works. He sits down calmly, picks up his book and . . . continues reading AFTER the timer has gone off. Eventually he actually reads for a full 18 minutes to finish a chapter!

Are Movement-based Activities Really a Magic Bullet?

I don't want to exaggerate. Brain Games (aka movement-based learning) wasn't a magic bullet for Caleb. Certainly didn't turn him into an enthusiastic reader. Didn't turn him overnight into reading at grade level.

But it changed his attitude on the spot and helped him focus! No more fussing about reading. No more interrupting his reading to ask if I had the timer on or how much time was left. And he was able to tell me more specific details about what he read than before and with more interest in engaging in the conversation.

You'll find lots more ideas for getting your kids into the reading habit when you sign up for this month's FREE Smart Kids Smart Parents TeleClass Tuesday evening, Feb. 23, 8 pm eastern. Can't make it. No worries. Just listen to the recording later.

End of the Story

My husband, a daughter, a granddaughter, and I clapped and cheered wildly as Caleb walked across the stage to accept his Certificate of Completion from Kepner Middle School. He returned to Ohio in June to be with his Mom and sister and to start high school in the fall. Eric and I went back to being empty nesters once more and still happily reading.

Leave a comment. How have you helped reluctant readers at your house? Or in your classroom?  Do you have other movement-based activities that you find helpful?