Essay on Effects of Exercise on Students with ADHD

1. Background and history of topic include current definition of ADHD.

Initially, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was not recognized as a distinct disorder by health care professionals and psychologists. However, as more and more children as well as adults developed symptoms of the disorder, health care professionals and psychologists could not ignore the phenomenon and deep studies of the disorder had started and resulted in the development of the concept of ADHD. Today, ADHD is defined as the problem with inattentiveness, over-activity, impulsivity, or a combination, which are out of the normal range (Pliszka, 20007).

2. Theoretical foundations related to topic.

The emergence of studies of ADHD laid the theoretical foundation to the concept of ADHD and its treatment. The major approach to the treatment of ADHD was medication, although recently more and more researchers (Kehle & Bray, 2005) grow inclined to using physical exercises in the treatment of the disorder.

3. Explanation of changing practices over time

The change in practices over time has occurred because of the growing costs of medication and its failure or inapplicability in some cases, especially if children could not undergo medication because they suffered allergic reactions and could not afford taking medicines. In addition, exercise contributes to the overall improvement of health of children and may be beneficial for the treatment of ADHD.

4. Policy, legal statutes or current events that impact topic

Today, policies focus on the promotion of healthy lifestyle in children and children in ADHD are not left behind of these policies. In addition, recent findings prove the effectiveness of physical exercises (Tantillo, et al, 2002), although there is no systematic elaboration on the effectiveness of different systems of exercises and their comparison.

5. Impact of changing demographics

In addition, ADHD grows more and more frequent in children (Rojas & Chan, 2005) that raises the problem of the effective prevention of the disorder and its treatment since, if the disorder remains untreated, it keeps progressing and persists in adulthood that may lead to anti-social behavior of individuals.

6. Impact of geographic locations (urban vs. rural education, geographic region etc)

Urban population is more vulnerable to the development of ADHD than rural and some specialists (Kehle & Bray, 2005) explain this trend by the difference in the level of physical activity of children in urban and rural areas

7. Variables that impact topic

In addition, other factors, such as the age of children with ADHD, their physical condition and general health has to be taken into consideration in the course of treatment of ADHD.

8. Disproportionality related to your topic

However, today, existing studies fail to offer the comparisons of different systems of physical exercises to compare and reveal their effectiveness and there is no homogeneous system of exercises that could be applied effectively to the treatment of children with ADHD.

9. Current contributions of research that influence topic

However, existing studies of the impact of physical exercises on children with ADHD (Tantillo, et al., 2002; Kehle & Bray, 2005) prove the positive effect of exercise on the condition of patients.

10. What educators must know and understand to intervene and improve practices in area of topic

Educators should be aware of the importance of exercise in the treatment of ADHD while working with children, who have ADHD. Educators should also develop an individual approach to each student and understand his/her special needs.

11. What explicit skills strategies or interventions can be used to positively impact topic

The further research and revelation of the specific system of exercise that is effective in the treatment of ADHD can boost further development of new approaches to the treatment of the disorder.

12.  What you learned that most surprised you in your study of topic

The most surprising is the seeming simplicity of the treatment of ADHD through using exercise, on the one hand, and the lack of studies that elaborate a complex analysis of various systems of exercises that could be applied in the course of the treatment.



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