WAG ADHD gymnasts and staying tight/sticking stuff?

[LJL07]

Before I joined CB, I thought we had a little prodigy on our hands. My middle child (7) is a fearless little tumbler, super flexible, really good on bars, and is a constant blur of motion. She has ADHD but has come really far this past year behaviorally and in terms of working hard on team. Even though she can do some level 3 and 4 skills, the gym has her competing JO level 2 this year. This is appropriate because DD's issue is that she struggles to stick landings, stay tight, be precise. Some of her skills look beautiful, but it's the finishing that we can see causing deductions. Her little feet are always moving. She takes little steps to the side that she's not even aware of. She kind of skids to a stop doing leaps. The hardest level 2 skill for her was the heel snap turn (she finally got it! Yay!).

At our recent back to school visit with developmental ped, he commented that some kids with ADHD struggle with being tight (mild low tone) bc their brains have to go through an extra step to "tell" the body to stay tight and controlled. The pediatrician said she might be frustrated in gymnastics because they expect such precision. Ughhhh. Dd thinks she's going to be a college gymnast, but we all realize that's a super long shot at 7. I think it would be great to see her be successful at optionals. Is this something a child with ADHD can overcome with age and practice? My 4 yr old is definitely more tight and precise naturally, so I can see the difference her coaches are seeing.

 

[Amusibus]

Well... my 8 year old is also doing level 2 this year, and has adhd and aspergers. She does have low tone and has always been "form challanged", although has come a long way in the last year. I have accepted that she is going to progress at her own pace, which seems to be slower than average. Her coach believes that she's going to be great... so it helps to know that. Just wanted to tell you mine made a lot of progress form/tightness-wise between ages7 and 8.

 

[gopuckgo]

Do not fret it gets better! Mine sounds just like yours from what you are describing. At 7 she was sloppy, but by 9 she is great! The ADHD has the added bonus of no fear.

I disagree with the doctor that told you this. Most kids that I have worked with that have this diagnosis are not slow, but super fast. Trust me I do this for a living, all kids are different, but most are not slow or uncoordinated at all. It does take them more time to learn to be tight and more on the coach to remind them constantly but it does come with age and patience.

Good luck to you and your daughter! It sounds like you have an awesome gymnast on your hands.

 

[gopuckgo]

I meant low toned. Not slow. Darn spell prediction text. A lot of these kids are hyper toned and extremely muscular.

 

[LJL07]

She IS super fast. She can whip through robhs at the speed of light and throws back flips and aerials. The flips and aerials are NOT gymnastics quality, and she probably should not be doing this stuff, but she truly has no fear. She cannot stick the landings. She will jump from the low bar to the high bar and has no worry about falling on her face, and she has fallen on her face. Just when I start to feel good about what she's doing, I heard about the "tone" thing maybe being an issue long term and felt discouraged...again. The coaches do say "loads of potential," but they do not appear to be fast tracking or anything like that and say it's a "body control" thing. Thank you both.

 

[gopuckgo]

It is not a body control thing at all. They are missing the boat completely! Her body moves so fast that her brain cannot keep up with it. There is a disconnect between the speed of her cognitive processing and integration of information and how fast her body moves. This does catch up eventually and boy watch out when it does! She will skyrocket! Some kids start to integrate around age 9 others a little older. It just depends on the kid.

Mine caught up around 8-9. And her progression has been insanely fast. We are talking triple full twists with excellent form and CRAZY speed at age 9 that you would need to see for yourself. Not to mention a lot of other skills too! I was a gymnast too, but mine travels mock 10 in the air, I was fast but not like this. Her air sense is beyond normal.

As much as her ADHD is a disability, it has been a blessing too! We look at all the wonderful things she has been able to accomplish in spite of it. Keep positive and encourage her. She will develop at her own pace and speed. She will grow into the greatest of whatever she puts her mind and body to, whether it is this sport or another.

 

[LJL07]

It is not a body control thing at all. They are missing the boat completely! Her body moves so fast that her brain cannot keep up with it. There is a disconnect between the speed of her cognitive processing and integration of information and how fast her body moves. This does catch up eventually and boy watch out when it does! She will skyrocket! Some kids start to integrate around age 9 others a little older. It just depends on the kid.

Mine caught up around 8-9. And her progression has been insanely fast. We are talking triple full twists with excellent form and CRAZY speed at age 9 that you would need to see for yourself. Not to mention a lot of other skills too! I was a gymnast too, but mine travels mock 10 in the air, I was fast but not like this. Her air sense is beyond normal.

As much as her ADHD is a disability, it has been a blessing too! We look at all the wonderful things she has been able to accomplish in spite of it. Keep positive and encourage her. She will develop at her own pace and speed. She will grow into the greatest of whatever she puts her mind and body to, whether it is this sport or another.

You hit the nail on the head. So that's why she isn't realizing she's stepping off to the side and continues to move after landing tumbling stuff? I think it is a little confusing for her because there is a 7 yr old at her gym competing level 3, but there's just no comparison in terms of skill. Dd is way ahead on tumbling and bars, BUT the other little girl will outscore her in level 3 bc she is tight and precise and would certainly do better on beam. I can see that, and I'm sure that's why dd is level 2. And it does make sense to compete her down at this age with these issues? I think the gym is hoping if they can get dd to nail down the form for this very basic stuff they could skip her ahead "in a couple of years" (so they said), but it sort of feels like an exercise in futility at times. I asked about switching her to xcel last year thinking she'd do better at that, but they told me no way. Gymnastics is such a mysterious business! Thanks again!

 

[gopuckgo]

I wouldn't worry too much at those compulsory levels and at her age. Optionals is where she will come in to her own. Have patience it will come in time.

I will say that you do need to make sure that she is in a strict program. We had to switch gyms a few times because the coaches didn't understand her diagnosis and thought she was just acting "naughty" and cried all the time. What she needed was structure, time and for her frustration over her body-brain connection to catch up.

In her mind she always knew she could do a skill but it took her some time and learning how to slow her body down a bit for the connections to occur. She literally had to think about slowing her body down. Now her body and brain work together very fast. But she did cry out of frustration and a lack of understanding by her previous coaches. Her current program gets it and works with her on it. Make sure you have the right type of coaches for this diagnosis, it will make or break her.

 

[kgymn]

I think the most important thing to remember is that there's isn't a "can't" here. She CAN do these things, eventually, it will just be harder for her to learn. Patience is the key here, and practice!

My suggestion would be to break down what she is having problems with as much as possible and practice very specifically what she needs help with. This is as simple as standing and laying in a laid out position staying tight with good form, also holding good form sitting in a tucked position and a piked position. Having someone support her so she can hold an arched position, again focusing on staying tight with good form. For landings, this can be as simple as doing a straight jump and landing and holding the landing counting to 3 before moving from the stuck position or even just from a stand moving into a stuck position and holding it. Just so she can get used to what that feels like to not be moving. These are things she can do at home, as they are really so simple that there is little risk of injury, so it's not taking away her gym time. The more she practices the simple act of being tight and being still in basic positions, the easier it will be for her to stay tight and land still with her skills. There may be other skill specific drills she may need to spend more time on at the gym making sure that her body is tight, as well. She also may need to take more time focusing on just one specific thing at a time within a skill until it comes naturally and she can focus on another thing to improve on within the skill. For example, I'm working on fly springs (and only fly springs... I'm an adult, I work on what I want LOL) and I also have ADHD, and at first I focused on just throwing it on the tumbltrak and not worrying much about form. Then I started to focus more on my entry into it with good form/staying tight until that part was consistent, then I started to focus on my hips being forward and staying tight in when I landed until that was consistent, then I focused on looking at my hands until that was consistent, and then I started to focus on cleaning up my form.

From a behavioral standpoint, if there is a simpler part of a complex behavior (skill) that she is having trouble with, the best approach is to take the part that she struggles with and work specifically on that in its simplest form, without the more complex skill to worry about. It may be as easy as practicing the static holds with a tight body, or she may need to then practice moving between those positions maintaining a tight body (for example, moving from a laid out position into an arched position while staying tight, before being able to maintain tightness in a back handspring.) The good thing about gymnastics is that there is a certain small set of shapes made with the body that combined in different ways make up every skill you learn. So taking extra time to learn the shapes with good form and tightness will help with nearly every skill she learns in the future. Work with her coach and find out which shapes are in the skills she is currently learning and focus on holding those shapes at home. That is where I would start.

But don't worry there is no reason that she *can't* do any specific part of gymnastics because of her ADHD. She just may need a more broken down approach, she may need to work on certain things a little more, she may take a little longer to get things just right, but that doesn't mean she can't get there and even better, if she can learn how to work with/around her ADHD in the gym she will be more able to use those techniques to work with/around her ADHD in other settings (like school) as well.

Oh one last thing- motivation! Motivation is always a BIG factor in learning something new. Is she not *motivated* to stay tight and control her landings? Is she content with just being able to throw the skill? Or is she motivated to do the skills *better* and she just doesn't know how to make that happen? If she is already motivated to do them better, then what I suggested above should help. If she isn't truly motivated, though, to fix up her form then it's a matter of either figuring out what would motivate her. Whether that is looking more like her favorite gymnast or whether that is being able to compete at a higher level. Ultimately if it is going to be hard work for her, it needs to be worth it to her.

~Katy

 

[Pea'sMom]

Pea has AHDH too. Her first season (old L4) was horrible, she missed all the little details. She did much the following year (old L5.) She was 9 so it sounds like that might be a 'magic' age for ADAH kids! Pea is VERY self conscience and is therefor not a daredevil in the gym, that is what holds her back. And as for muscle tone...I can't imagine what she would look like if her current build was based of low muscle tone...total six pack! Hugging her is like hugging a tree

 

[wheezy]

I have an ADHD level 8... At first he was very 'sloppy' and always did the little stick it 'dance' as we called it. Almost like a shuffle! Drove us crazy. As he grew older, his gymnastics matured. As an ADHD person he also has incredible ability to hyper focus too. Don't worry, she will grow into her ADHD.....it can be a great asset if she is taught how to use it. Just keep pointing out the positive and how she can improve...

 

[iwannacoach]

IWC+adhd+time=swing like butter with enviable precision.

Sure am glad sports wasn't seriously until high school back then....... about the time rocks were invented.

 

[wheezy]

I have always told my ADHDer that as long as her can navigate the pitfalls, and master the condition, he really can use it to his advantage. It is hard when they are little and they can't control it....teachers generally don t like it! But I have never considered it a 'disability'. Why do you thing there are so many kids with ADHD in gymnastics??

 

[LJL07]

Thank you, kgymn. Those are very helpful tips. If I can get her to hold still long enough, static holds with proper form would be helpful. Example--she can only hold a good handstand for about 3 seconds but can walk on her hands with poor form. Her motivation is not medals. It's working on the "fun" hard skills. She won't get to do much of that for a while because they are going into routine mode.

As far as gyms, we did move her to a stricter gym. They seem to like her, and she's not all over the place like she was at the first gym.

Lol about the shuffle dance. That is totally what she did last year.

Thanks for the reassurance. I have posted several times about dd and the ADHD issues. I haven't been too concerned lately, but then when the dr made the comment about it possibly being the wrong sport, I immediately started worrying again.

 

[wheezy]

has she competed yet?

 

[aerials]

It is not a body control thing at all. They are missing the boat completely! Her body moves so fast that her brain cannot keep up with it. There is a disconnect between the speed of her cognitive processing and integration of information and how fast her body moves. This does catch up eventually and boy watch out when it does! She will skyrocket! Some kids start to integrate around age 9 others a little older. It just depends on the kid.

Mine caught up around 8-9. And her progression has been insanely fast. We are talking triple full twists with excellent form and CRAZY speed at age 9 that you would need to see for yourself. Not to mention a lot of other skills too! I was a gymnast too, but mine travels mock 10 in the air, I was fast but not like this. Her air sense is beyond normal.

As much as her ADHD is a disability, it has been a blessing too! We look at all the wonderful things she has been able to accomplish in spite of it. Keep positive and encourage her. She will develop at her own pace and speed. She will grow into the greatest of whatever she puts her mind and body to, whether it is this sport or another.

I HAD NO IDEA. My dd has ADHD and this explains so much. She also is very muscular, fast, fearless...but has problems staying tight to the point that her coaches think she is lazy. If they can get her to really think about being tight then she does it. Wow, this gives me a lot to think about. Thanks!!

 

[aerials]

?Question for those with ADHD kids. Do you find that your dd/ds also gets frustrated more easily than the other kids with the perfection of gymnastics? And the frustration is more intense?

 

[LJL07]

has she competed yet?

She competed new level 1 last year and it was not the best experience. She consistently placed well on the bars. Despite being a great tumbler, she didn't even score that great on that ridiculously easy routine. To our untrained eye her cartwheels are beautiful, but when we went back to watch the video from state (scored 9.1) she took tiny steps to the side when landing her jumps that I'm sure she was deducted for. Beam was a struggle too. She never fell but her routines were way too fast. It was a little discouraging that she is supposedly very talented but placed very middle of the road at level one. Although I hear that's meaningless. She should do better this year. Her form is slowly improving.

 

[LJL07]

?Question for those with ADHD kids. Do you find that your dd/ds also gets frustrated more easily than the other kids with the perfection of gymnastics? And the frustration is more intense?

Everything seems more intense with my dd!! Not just gym! I think mine is younger and at a much lower level, but she does get mad and frustrated when she doesn't get it exactly right. She is definitely trying. I would not be making it as a gym mom if I couldn't ask questions here. Thank goodness she's not the only one!!

 

[purpleleomom]

My DD has adhd as well. We moved across the country a couple of months ago, so she is new to her gym. I really want her to have the experience of competitive team for at least one season, but she can't seen to get off preteam. The coaches say she has talent (and tightness has never been an issue). I'm starting to wonder if she is just not getting anywhere because of her adh, and I'm not sure if it's her messing around or coaches getting frustrated with her. Her gym does Xcel instead of JO compulsory, and she could totally compete bronze. It is frustrating for us both, but I don't want to be the CGM. I hate to say this but I suspect her coaches find her annoying once they get past the initial good impression, but that is probably the mama bear being worried about her cub. Adhd kids can have such a struggle with the social skills.