Jimmy’s* reputation preceded him. Teachers warned me mutiple times during staff development that he was a low performing behavior problem when they found out I was to be his teacher that year. I heard a least a dozen oh boys and you got whos?! Without saying a word three of my colleagues just shook their heads while grimacing.
It came as no surprise when a wet paper towel was thrown from behind me as I wrote the lesson on the board that first day. As the moist brown tissue stuck to the ct in the word fractions (a direct hit) I quickly turned around and saw Jimmy at the rear of the room. He was innocently pointing to his friend that he had walked in with as if to pass the buck. I attempted to separate them and deal with it later but instead of moving to the front as I had asked, he shouted many four letter words and left.
With parental involvement I was able to get Jimmy to do his best. I soon discovered he just couldn’t sit still let alone focus on the lesson for more than a few minutes. Controlling sweets and getting him on a well-balanced diet helped. The entire year we worked together to get him to succeed. He could handle the material but not necessarily the way it was delivered. Lessons involved probability dice games, clearing out the desks and running from one end of the room to the other in a race work problems on the board, and measures of heart rate after specific lengths of in-class calisthenics (graphs included). Within three months he was excelling.
ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder in children and affects about 3%-5% globally. Ironically, it is commonly treated with a stimulant (Ritalin) that prevents the re-uptake of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a naturally occurring chemical that allows us to experience pleasure. Think about how you feel when you are eating chocolate. Since the brain interprets this activity as enjoyable, dopamine provides us focus for the length of time that particular activity is being performed. Strattera, a more novel, non-stimulant medication used to treat ADHD is required by the FDA to display a black box warning label. The label warns of suicidal thoughts as potential side-effects.
With obesity rates soring in children due to poor diet, it is tempting to link ADHD as a by-product. According to The Journal Of Clinical Psychiatry evidence exists that consumption of certain combinations of oils reduces ADHD-type symptoms in children. Three studies demonstrate that ingestion of omega-3 with omega-6 fatty acids (fish oil and evening primrose oil) had a therapeutic benefit over the placebo group for children with ADHD. The treatment was for at least 12 weeks and was conducted amongst groups that ranged from 41 to 117 children. The two studies that tested the effects of fish oil alone could find no benefit. There were no side effects observed in any of the five total studies.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are long molecules that consist of two major groups depending on where the first double bond appears in relation to the last (or omega) carbon. If it is at the 3rd-carbon it is termed an omega-3 and if it is at the 6th-carbon it is termed an omega-6. We obtain them fish or vegetable oil respectively and are essential since we lack the enzymes to create a double bond at this position. Our brain is made of about 60% DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid), fully formed by the time we are 5 or 6 years old. Scientists believe it was our diet consisting of fish over the last 200,000 years that enabled humans develop such large brains.
I believe in taking medicine. It makes me feel better when I am sick. Although I am more of a believer in preventive medicine and try to find ways of improving my health long-term by reading about the latest ground-breaking and exciting scientific studies on nutrition (well, exciting to me anyway). I think about Jimmy when I hear or read about ADHD in children. Although he was never diagnosed he did seem to display symptoms. Scientifically, I am not sure to what extent improving his diet or kinesthetically tailoring lessons had. One thing that I do know is that Jimmy made me a better teacher.
*names have been changed
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