Why Children Can't Sit Still

The article that I read is called "Why so many kids can't sit still in school." This article was all about how so many students are being diagnosed with ADHD. It is sometimes frustrating to the parents and even more so to the kids.  Even in a fifth grade classroom that the author observed, students were constantly fidgeting during the lesson. The author correlated the rising ADHD diagnoses with the fact that students are not allowed to move. They spend too much time in an upright position trying to be still when in fact they should be moving. Kids should be moving so that their vestibular and sensory systems can develop properly. These systems are not developing like they should be in children due to the lack of movement.

I definitely plan to address this issue within my own classroom. I think that one of the best ways to do that is to allow students to be active during lessons. I could take my students outside for science and English lessons. This would allow students to explore and lay-down while writing about their experience with having class outside. Also, it is important to create hands-on activities where students are allowed to move and not just sit still at a desk all of the time. I will also try to allow quick breaks in between lessons where students can move. Hopefully all of these accommodations will help my students' vestibular and sensory systems to develop properly and will help with the attention problems during lesson time.