Free Guide: How Fidgets Improve Student Behavior & Focus

For a child with ADHD, trying to focus intently on a dry math lecture is not unlike stabbing small needles in his eyes. It hurts. Yet that same child may be able to hyperfocus for hours on a video game or comic book that grabs his attention.

“People who think ADHD means having a short attention span misunderstand what ADHD is,” says Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D. “A better way to look at it is that people with ADHD have a disregulated attention system.”

“Like distractibility, hyperfocus is thought to result from abnormally low levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is particularly active in the brain’s frontal lobes,” says Royce Flippin, co-author of The Diabetes Reset. “This dopamine deficiency makes it hard to ‘shift-gears’ to take up boring-but-necessary tasks.”

When insufficient dopamine hampers focus, there are tools designed to help people with ADHD tune into the things that aren’t naturally interesting (read: schoolwork). These tools — also called fidgets — help to balance levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, both of which regulate attention in the arousal center of the brain.

NOTE: This resource is for personal use only.

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