Moving is learning

Always telling your child to sit still and pay attention? Wondering why they find this so hard?

For a child to learn and accomplish things, he needs the ability to pay attention. This may tempt you as a parent to repeat the age-old mantra of, “Sit still and pay attention!” But, neurologically, this is impossible to achieve. Throughout the day, our attention goes through slumps and peaks. The brain regulates our arousal levels, which directly affects our ability to pay attention.

What happens is that the brain takes in the stimulation it receives via our five senses, and the movement provided by our sense of balance and body position. The reason children never seem to sit still is that their maturing brains need high doses of this sensorimotor input to stay alert. The mature adult brain does too, but in much smaller doses.

For this reason, when you find your concentration fading, you may find it sufficient to tap your foot or twirl your hair to improve it, while your child may need to rock back and forth on his chair like he’s riding the rodeo to get the same effect.

When it comes to paying attention, it’s just about impossible to expect your child to sit still, and it becomes a choice to either sit still or pay attention.

To discover the impact of sensory deprivation on your ability to pay attention, try this exercise: while you continue reading this article, sit dead still. Don’t fidget with your clothes, hair or any object. Keep your feet where they are. Stop chewing or drinking. Don’t make any sounds or movements, not even to adjust your posture. Freeze. See how difficult this becomes and how unnatural this feels.

We all need help from our senses to remain alert. For most of us, this is an unconscious process. At the end of a day, when we are all wound up as a result of the accumulation factor of sensory stimulation, we are in a state of overarousal. We need to be in the underaroused, drowsy state to sleep. We find ways to reduce our arousal. For example, you may put on some relaxing music, which provides the perfect auditory sensation to reduce your arousal, or you may find the visual and tactile systems work wonders for you as you enjoy a candlelit bubble bath.

Two other states of arousal feed our activities of practical life. You may experience a state of over-arousal when you watch the Springboks play their heart out. You’ll notice this as you tend to jump about, clap or shout out. On the other hand, a calm-alert state of arousal helps us perform most of our daily tasks and is pivotal to learning.

Let’s take a look at a typical example of self-regulation in your child’s life.

It’s dinner time, and your child comes bouncing into the kitchen. He is overexcited and a bit agitated. You expect him to sit still or at least remain seated at the dinner table. To achieve this, his brain needs to reduce his level of arousal by means of “top-down” or “bottom-up inhibition”. Top-down inhibition engages the top part of his brain, known as the cortex, to inhibit his arousal level through self-talk. He tells himself that he must keep his bottom on his chair otherwise he’ll be in big trouble and upset Mom. This method helps but is often not sustainable or easy for young children.

The second method at his disposal is “bottom-up inhibition”, where the brain receives input from the body via the lower part of the brain, known as the cerebellum. It feeds the proprioceptive input to the mid-brain, which triggers it to help the body to attain an optimal arousal state. So, when you ask him to focus and eat, your child may start to drum the cutlery on the table. Before you respond with, “Stop that,” it’s vital to recognise that this behaviour is resourceful. It provides the proprioceptive input he seeks to focus on the eating task by “bottom-up” inhibition. By telling him to stop, you’re removing this strategy. However, this may be necessary, as his strategy is not acceptable, but you need to replace it with an appropriate and effective one. Otherwise, it may lead to serious distress, and he may even choose a less appropriate strategy to replace the one you remove. For example, he may use his hands to drum on his sister’s arm.

OPTIMISE LEVELS OF ALERTNESS STOP AND PREPARE

Observe your child’s level of arousal before he begins an activity, and increase or reduce it if it isn’t ideal before launching into the task at hand.

Recognise the states of arousal:

1 OVER-AROUSED – BOUNCING. Your child’s movements are large and rapid. He tends to be emotional – either laughing hysterically or agitated.

2 UNDER-AROUSED – FLOPPY. Your child’s movements tend to be slow and few in number. His posture is slouched, he seems floppy, and his eyes are glazed over.

3 ALERT – READY. Your child is brighteyed and calm. His posture is held upright, and he appears focused.

TRIAL AND RECORD

We all respond in a unique manner to sensorimotor input. For example, some of us may find a back massage calming, while others find it stimulating. Learn what works for your child through observing the kind of input he unconsciously chooses for himself when he’s running on low arousal or high arousal to bring himself to “just right”.

Some sensorimotor contributors result in either an increase or decrease in arousal, although some can have both effects. The proprioceptive system tends to help adjust the arousal levels to the alert state regardless of whether they are over or under aroused. So, begin by checking the impacts of this list of activities.

UNDERSTAND BEHAVIOUR

Your child’s behaviour is based on several factors – sensory, emotional and attention seeking. However, these three entities are interlinked. For example, when you taste rotten food, your emotions become riled up, and you feel distracted. Even though all three elements have equal impact on each other, the sensory system is the first one to receive impulses from the outside world. If your child is not paying attention or is “acting out”, first look at the foundation, whether his senses are providing stimulation and whether his brain is able to self-regulate. Also, check his emotional state. By understanding your child’s need to constantly move and fidget, you’ll be able to apply helpful strategies to manage his attention. ●