Training white belts with ADD

[Chuck]

It's a new session and I'm training the new white belts.

Most of the kids listen.

The 5 and 6 year olds need a little work, but there's this 4th grader that must have ADD (or something). He does not listen to instructions well.

It's not like he out-right misbehaves; he's just not all there sometimes (autistic maybe?). His front stance is barely a front stance; when I ask him to copy me; his stance hardly changes. No kiai(s). Front kicks with no snaps. His forward punch, rising block, inside block, and outside block are really soft with little form with no bent knees. Most kids fall in line with instruction, but this kid doesn't get it. It's not like he's a 5 or 6 year old kid. He about 9 years old; usually it's easier to instruct the older kids.

Anyways, his mom sits through the entire sessions but shows no reaction to his behavior.

I don't want to ask her about his behavior (if there's a chance I might offend her somehow) but having some insight might help with his instruction.

Needless to say me and the other Sempais need to spend extra time to train this kid.

Anybody have similar students.

[bushido_man96]

I have dealt with students like this as well, and at times, it is just plain a lack of motivation. He could be there because his parents want him there. If thats that case, he'll likley be difficult for a while.

If you can find something that he does well, really praise the heck out of him for it. It might spark him into giving a bit more effort everywhere else.

If it is ADD, then it is going to take some time. You might need to have an assistant that would be assigned to helping him throughout the class. He may not be able to go the same speed as the rest of the class yet, so some individual time might help him out.

[DWx]

We had a kid who had ADHD and it was actually better for him when his mum didn't watch because she was just another distraction. Someone had to constantly prompt him, either an assistant or sometimes older students working near him. If it is ADHD or another condition you can't get angry or impatient with them, just keep prompting them and hope something gets through. When it does, it'll be really rewarding .

Is the class mainly younger kids and he is one of the few older ones? You do get situations where if its mainly younger kids, the couple of older kids resent being taught with the "babies". Or like bushido_man96 said he's only there because his parents want him to be. In either case making them feel special can work well. So if you need someone to help you out with holding a pad for you or being your partner to demonstrate something, pick them. And praise them loads.

[BDPulver]

Bushido and DWX summed it well. We had a student was sortof this way also. What we did was always changed the format of the class when he came.

Tried to always have something different going untill they get use to it. Once our student hit purple was when he felt comfortable and his attention quickly fixated to karate and not around the room. Its tough but sacrifices are good.

[Chuck]

Thanks for the insight guys.

Just so I won't keep calling him the kid; I'm gonna call him Raymond, like from the movie RAINMAN. Raymond has some sort of dis-association from relating to people or a social situation (Asperger syndrome? ).

Today during warm ups and basic drills he could not fall in-line with everyone. I don't think Raymond wants attention; any extra attention he got today he didn't even seem to noticed when I was around.

However, when we started hitting the kicking pad with front kicks, Raymond was able follow instruction a little better.

[Rateh]

He might not be able understand what he is doing when you are asking him to do a technique in the air. To him it might seem like he is just sticking his arm out or throwing his leg up in the air, because he is not able to connect that exercise to being a move used to kick/strike/block a target/person.

Perhaps you could try spending more time practicing in ways that he wouldn't need to imagine the movements use, and see how he reacts to that type of training.

Another possibility is that he just enjoys using equipment and so reacts better to those types of drills. Lots of kids, especially the young ones, react more positively when they get to use equipment, even if you are having them do the exact same techniques and repetitions that you would have without the equipment.

If he does have aspergers (a type of autism) he probably has difficulty following social ques. For example if you are sitting in a group and everyone starts standing up to leave, then you get "cued" by their action and unless you have DECIDED you are going to stay, you get up and leave to, now you may stop and chat with someone before you leave, but it is not because you don't realize that the group gathering has ended. Someone with autism will often not catch that people are leaving, and if they do, it wont trigger any sort of action for them. So they end up staying where they are not because they have decided to, but because they don't even realize the implications of people standing up and going.

This might have an effect on his being able to follow along during warm-ups and group drills. If he isn't getting cued by the other students actions as to what he should do, then he would struggle with these parts of the class.

Another symptom of autism, which directly relates to what I said above, is a difficulty (or sometimes near inability) to "model". Which means that they do not copy anothers actions. Most learning in life comes from following what you see someone else do. Many students with autism have to actually be trained to follow another persons actions. A difficulty with modeling would of course make it a challenge to learn martial arts techniques.

Another issue is called "joint attention". This is two or more people focusing on the same thing together. For example if a parent and say a 1 year old are together, and the parent points at something to direct the childs attention, many times they actually look at the finger rather than in the direction that the parent is pointing. Most people eventually learn, but for some people, such as those with autism, it never clicks. Pointing itself is just a very easy to understand aspect of joint attention, which is really anything that involves both people purposely focusing on the same thing. This again makes it difficult to learn.

Of course we don't know exactly what his particular case is, or what exactly his disorder is, so these are all just things to think about that maybe will help in relating to him.

[bushido_man96]

These are all good thoughts and ideas to consider so far, guys and gals.

[white owl]

In my past experience the parents usually give instructor a heads up when there child has difficulty's with comprehending stuff. I surprise there was nothing said.

I am finding out lots and lots of Patience's which my son makes sure they are limited and constant repetition. Maybe assign him a partner to help him out and change that partner each day that he is there.

[ninjasan11]

I have ADHD. And ive been doing karate since I was a little boy. The thing here is lack of interest. A kid with ADD or ADHD has trouble focusing on things, however, when given the chance to do something that is interesting to him, the focus is inhanced. for example, I love puzzles, and when Im doing one I sometimes get so into it that I dont even notice anything or hear anything around me, though I cant focus neraly as well with other stuff. Same thing with karate. If the kid doesnt really want to learn it, he wont focus on it, and no matter what, there isnt really anything you can do to make him except get him interested.

[bushido_man96]

Thanks for the information, ninjasan. Its good to hear it from someone with the experiences of it, and how it looks from their end. Very helpful for us all.