"FINALLY!" A Breakthrough in Living with ADHD

So, let’s go back to Mrs. Smitherman’s class and take a look at Zachary and Todd. After Mrs. Smitherman conferences with both sets of parents, her hope is that Todd’s behaviors will be changed with a good cooperative relationship with his parents and her own skill as a teacher. Zachary’s problems will be more complicated. His parents will resist having their son tested, not wanting to put a label on him that will follow him throughout his life. When they finally they become convinced to test him, he will be subjected to a wide regimen of medications in the hope that one of them might work. Some of the medications will be hard on Zachary’s stomach, one will give him severe headaches, and one will make him weepy and emotional. He will suffer and it will seem hopeless at times. His parents will try putting him into a variety of sports programs, hoping that the coaches and the activity will help him develop the skills he needs to function more normally. It is a fiasco. He is too different from the other children on his teams, and the coaches have little patience with his restless, impulsive behaviors. He grows resistive, and finally, out of desperation, someone suggests that he be put into a martial arts class. His parents decide to give it a try, and they come to me. Yes. Zachary is a real little boy, and I know him well. You see, I am his martial arts instructor, Sifu Helana, and I am now part of his story. Has the study of martial arts helped him? Yes! How? Join this journey with us, and let’s discover the ways and reasons why studying the martial arts have impacted Zachary and other children with ADD/ADHD in a positive way.