Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy dealing with Psychomotor Overexcitability

I have a 5 year old with overwhelming psychomotor overexcitability.
While his teachers know nothing other than an enthusiastic, but focused student, outside of school the kid cannot stop moving. At times, he acts as though it is nearly painful to stop, almost like you would expect an addict to behave.

About once every couple months, I wonder if this is going to eventually invade school and evolve into ADHD.

If anyone has experience with a child like this, I'd love to hear ideas, strategies, and if it improved or became more of a problem with age.

Thanks!!

I would verbally reward (sincere praise) any still moments, even as short as 2 seconds in the beginning. I wouldn't try it when he's having a difficult time, but more when he is relaxed and happy and still. The more you call attention to the desired behavior, the more he will internalize it as part of his idea of 'who he is.'

I would also try to learn deep breathing techniques and then try to share them if they are something genuine that you can see a use for. It's possible that his gymnastic coach might be recruited to teach deep breathing as part of a 'pre-competition' psych up. Sort of
'The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence' by Josh Waitzkin

A visual you can try is to imagine a diamond in the center of the earth and the pressure it takes to change a lump of coal into a diamond. It may be that when he feels the most urge to move, that he could be encouraged that 'an idea a precious as a diamond is trying to be born - lets sit together and breath all that twitch-desire into the diamond and see what kind of a diamond is being formed'

I have no idea if that would work, but maybe it would, or maybe it will inspire you to think of something similar.

I love for kids to have a flexible range of alternatives for their behavior, if possible, but if not possible right at this age, then there is the alternative of working on keeping yourself as relaxed as possible while he fidgets so that your quiet loving presence can eventually provide leadership. Obviously if it makes you uncomfortable, then he'll be more discomforted, and twitch more and cycle round and round.


My hunch is that if he looks focused to the teachers at 7, when there suspicion is the highest, that you won't have that issue, but of course, it may be crop up.

You may also find that in addition to wearing him out physically with the gymnastics, you need to give him some 'afterschooling' at his actual challenge level to wear him out mentally (if he isn't getting sufficient mental stimulation during the day.)

Love and More Love,
Grinity

I know that girls can be different in this regard but our DD is described as very well behaved and focused at school - what that means is that she is pouring every bit of energy and mental focus into behaving appropriately and is unable to process the actual education at all... It's intensely frustrating to be part of but in general she is thinking harder and learning more the more she is moving. Which is to say the harder she needs to think about something the more she needs to move her body while she processes it.

Edited to add: We had to work very hard to stop telling her to sit still while trying to learn to read and instead remind ourselves that she was not being difficult or disrespectful.

This sounds familiar
My son can focus well, if not better, when he is in motion.

So far, he seems to be absorbing what he needs to at school, but I will definitely keep an eye out for the possibility that he is using all of his energy to stay still. That makes complete sense, and I hadn't thought about that as a possibility.

We have our fingers crossed for admission next year into the public school's self-contained gifted program. Our older daughter is in the program and had a child in her class who rarely sat down the entire year and the teacher was great about it. She completely understood how this kid was wired and was surprisingly accomodating. We also have our eye on a couple local non-traditional private schools that seem to be more of the "you don't have to sit at a desk" all day variety in case we find them to be a better fit in the near future.

Thanks for the advice.
Some days I have those "how is this not adhd?" moments, but in actuality it's just that his body is just moving as quickly as his mind is. It's nice to know we're not alone.

Oh in my DDs case I am sure she has ADD, we are just waiting for the appt to diagnose. I think it has only been missed this long because she is a girl and well behaved. But I don't know yet if treating the ADHD will treat the need to move in order to think. I really hope it does something about the constant stream of noise that comes out of her mouth (and yes I do mean noise, if she doesn't have someone to talk to she just makes like a white noise machine).

Ah...that makes even more sense
Girls can be so tricky! I have ADD without hyperactivity and I wasn't diagnosed until high school. But after starting meds, it was like someone turned on a light bulb. I continued them through college and then just decided to cope with my issues. For me, it's like doing one thing at a time isn't enough for my brain. I need to have at least 2 processes going on at the same time or I can't concentrate on either one. But since I've never been anything close to hyperactive, it's more like researching some random topic to death on the computer while watching tv or reading while I'm cooking. So, it makes sense that someone might have movement as that necessary second process.

Hi,

I still have the constant refrain in my head from my mom regarding one of my older brothers, "please stop tapping", "please stop jiggling", "please sit down", "please go outside to do that", "put her down now", "please stay in the room while I speak to you" and so on. From my perspective as a younger sibling my brother's excess energy was just lots of fun.

It did invade school, he had difficulty staying seated, was distracting to other students, and had complaints from teachers (which may partly have been boredom as he did not receive much differentiation until perhaps middle school). It also invaded sports as he never could quite stay focussed long enough to win anything (exception swimming, in which loss of focus causes sinking). Later (high school) gymnastics and wrestling went fine.

But as the hyper-ness never affected his academic achievement in any noticeable way everyone just lived with it, medication was suggested at some point but I believe turned down. Around puberty he toned down quite a bit, and then again more at around 30. Now to meet him he seems average, but that is probably just sleep deprivation.

Currently he runs a company, seems to thrives on juggling all his commitments and personal assistance gadgets, only rarely appears tired, somehow still finds time for thrill seeking sports and his kids' science fair projects, etc. Really found an an environment for himself that rewards his energy.

My parents did not find any particular strategies other than trying to keep him busy and handling his organizational tasks entirely for him until early high school years.

Polly

My 8 year old is definitely psychomotor overexcitable. She craves and needs movement but if you inquire, she's always on task. This summer has been the first time that I've seen her sleep a little longer and be a bit more still. The only thing we are doing differently is we enrolled her in a wrestling class she wanted to take and she has also since started going to muay thai and jiu jitsu classes at the same place. The teachers are great with kids and very safe and gentle. It seems as if this particular activity is working for her. She loves swimming but being on swim team didn't soothe her like this does.