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Taekwondo > Attention Deficit Disorder and Martial Arts

Attention Deficit Disorder

The martial arts can be a wonderful tool for helping kids with ADD stay focused

by Rose Kennedy (www.sikids.com)

Walk into one of Ken Kaplan's classes at West Side Taekwondo, in New York City, and see if you can pick out the children who have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). If they've been coming to the class for a while, chances are you can't.

"In the beginning, a lot of the kids with ADD are running when they're supposed to be waiting in line and talking when they're supposed to be listening. They're not focusing on the instructor or the task at hand," says Kaplan. "But as the weeks go by, that behavior is slowly extinguished."

ADD is a neurobiological disability that interferes with an individual's ability to sustain attention and to control impulsive behavior. ADD affects up to five percent of all American children, ages five through 18. These kids need help learning to stay focused. Sports --particularly the martial arts -- can be a wonderful tool for helping them do that. ADD kids benefit from the emphasis on structure and control found in taekwondo, karate, judo, and Aikido classes.

"Martial arts training offers mental discipline and physical exercise," says Dr. Edward Hallowell of Harvard University, a child psychiatrist specializing in learning problems. "It provides kids with an ideal opportunity to master self-control."

Hallowell believes that sports in general are "positively one of the best treatments for kids with ADD." But he recommends martial arts because of their structured environment.

PICK A PROGRAM CAREFULLY

Pediatrician Helen Bertrand agrees that parents of kids with ADD need to carefully choose the right sport for their child. "A sport in which kids just run around and let off steam is not going to help a child with ADD, particularly if he's hyperactive," she says. "He may get revved up and never rev down again. Better to stick with structured activity."

Other individual sports, such as swimming or track, can also work well for some kids. These sports offer structure and a chance for kids to perform at their "personal best" without affecting a team or the outcome of a game. Does that mean that team sports are out of the question for kids with ADD? Not necessarily.

"Kids with ADD fall into two types, socially," says Bertrand. "Some are keenly interested in people and can be tuned in enough to play a team sport. Others are not interested in people, and that type of kid might not be much of a team player."

An ADD child's feeling for a sport can help the child stay interested and focused. "If a child with ADD is vitally interested in a certain sport, that may be something he or she 'locks into' with a passion, and in that case, his or her disability becomes a positive," adds Bertrand.
In other words, as Hallowell says, "The main thing is to get kids involved in whatever they love."

KIDS LOVE IT

And kids do love the martial arts. "They watch Power Rangers and Mortal Kombat, so this is the greatest thing in the world to them," says Kaplan. "We have a vehicle that will allow us to work with them. They want to do this."

Kaplan, a second-degree black belt in taekwondo, teaches an early childhood program for kids ages four to six, and one for kids ages six to 12. His classes are integrated so that the kids with ADD are able to modify their behavior by using the students who don't have it as models.

Kaplan structures his classes to accommodate his students with ADD. "I do a lot of small activities where there is constant movement from one activity to another. You build the child up to longer periods of time in which he can stay on focus," he says. "With a lot of children, it takes a little while and you do need patience. As long as you're calm and reassuring and not jumping down their throats, they start to internalize the proper behavior. Once they do, they really start to make strides."

Much of an ADD child's success in any martial arts program rests with the instructor. He or she must command respect while remaining sensitive to the child's needs. Kaplan, who is also a high school special-education teacher north of New York City, fits the bill.

One six-year-old boy started taking taekwondo classes with Kaplan shortly after his problem had been diagnosed as ADD. "My son was having a lot of socialization problems," says the child's mother. "Before the class, he was so out of control that he couldn't deal with a group setting. The class helped him make some immediate improvements. He learned to respect Ken as an instructor."

The mental discipline learned in a martial arts class can have lasting effects outside the gym. "We constantly reinforce that," says Kaplan. "If you can stand still and listen to me, then you can listen to your teacher."

The mother of the six-year-old says her child is living proof. "The concentration my son learned carried over into the classroom, particularly with his reading and writing," she says.

"Taekwondo is not the cure-all," says Kaplan, "but it is one factor that will assist a child with ADD in overcoming the problems associated with it."