Well, fret not, because new research shows lack of motivation or boredom with school isn鈥檛 to blame for the differing behavior. It turns out that symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder such as fidgeting, foot-tapping and chair-swiveling are triggered by cognitively demanding tasks 鈥� like school and homework. But movies and video games don鈥檛 typically require brain strain, so the excessive movement doesn鈥檛 manifest.

鈥淲hen a parent or a teacher sees a child who can sit perfectly still in one condition and yet over here they鈥檙e all over the place, the first thing they say is, 鈥榃ell, they could sit still if they wanted to,鈥欌�� said , director of the Children鈥檚 Learning Clinic at the University of Central 性视界传媒. 鈥淏ut kids with ADHD only need to move when they are accessing their brain鈥檚 executive functions. That movement helps them maintain alertness.鈥�

Scientists once thought that ADHD symptoms were always present. But previous research from Rapport, who has been studying ADHD for more than 36 years, has shown the fidgeting was most often present when children were using their brains鈥� executive functions, particularly 鈥渨orking memory.鈥� That鈥檚 the system we use for temporarily storing and managing information required to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning and comprehension.

, Professor Rapport鈥檚 senior doctoral student Sarah Orban and research team tested 62 boys ages 8 to 12. Of those, 32 had ADHD. Thirty did not have ADHD and acted as a control group.

During separate sessions, the children watched two short videos, each about 10 minutes long. One was a scene from “Star Wars Episode I 鈥� The Phantom Menace” in which a young Anakin Skywalker competes in a dramatic pod-race. The other was an instructional video featuring an instructor verbally and visually presenting multistep solutions to addition, subtraction and multiplication problems.

While watching, the participants were observed by a researcher, recorded and outfitted with wearable actigraphs that tracked their slightest movements. The children with ADHD were largely motionless while watching the Start Wars clip, but during the math video they swiveled in their chairs, frequently changed positions and tapped their feet.

That may not seem surprising. After all, weren鈥檛 the children absorbed by the sci-fi movie and bored by the math lesson? Not so, Rapport said.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 just using the outcome to explain the cause,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have shown that what鈥檚 really going on is that it depends on the cognitive demands of the task. With the action movie, there鈥檚 no thinking involved 鈥� you鈥檙e just viewing it, using your senses. You don鈥檛 have to hold anything in your brain and analyze it. With the math video, they are using their working memory, and in that condition movement helps them to be more focused.鈥�

The takeaway: Parents and teachers of children with ADHD should avoid labeling them as unmotivated slackers when they鈥檙e working on tasks that require working memory and cognitive processing, researchers said.

The study builds on Rapport鈥檚 earlier research, including a 2015 study that found that children with ADHD must be allowed to squirm to learn.

But new research conducted at 性视界传媒 shows that if you want ADHD kids to learn, you have to let them squirm. The foot-tapping, leg-swinging and chair-scooting movements of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are actually vital to how they remember information and work out complex cognitive tasks, according to a of the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

The findings show the longtime prevailing methods for helping children with ADHD may be misguided.

鈥淭he typical interventions target reducing hyperactivity. It鈥檚 exactly the opposite of what we should be doing for a majority of children with ADHD,鈥� said one of the study鈥檚 authors, Mark Rapport, head of the Children鈥檚 Learning Clinic at the University of Central 性视界传媒. 鈥淭he message isn鈥檛 鈥楲et them run around the room,鈥� but you need to be able to facilitate their movement so they can maintain the level of alertness necessary for cognitive activities.鈥�

The research has major implications for how parents and teachers should deal with ADHD kids, particularly with the increasing weight given to students鈥� performance on standardized testing. The study suggests that a majority of students with ADHD could perform better on classroom work, tests and homework if they鈥檙e sitting on activity balls or exercise bikes, for instance.

The study at the 性视界传媒 clinic included 52 boys ages 8 to 12. Twenty-nine of the children had been diagnosed with ADHD and the other 23 had no clinical disorders and showed normal development.

Each child was asked to perform a series of standardized tasks designed to gauge 鈥渨orking memory,鈥� the system for temporarily storing and managing information required to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning and comprehension.

Children were shown a series of jumbled numbers and a letter that flashed onto a computer screen, then asked to put the numbers in order, followed by the letter. A high-speed camera recorded the kids, and observers recorded their every movement and gauged their attention to the task.

Rapport鈥檚 previous research had already shown that the excessive movement that鈥檚 a trademark of hyperactive children 鈥� previously thought to be ever-present 鈥� is actually apparent only when they need to use the brain鈥檚 executive brain functions, especially their working memory.

The new study goes an important step further, proving the movement serves a purpose.

鈥淲hat we鈥檝e found is that when they鈥檙e moving the most, the majority of them perform better,鈥� Rapport said. 鈥淭hey have to move to maintain alertness.鈥�

By contrast, the children in the study without ADHD also moved more during the cognitive tests, but it had the opposite effect: They performed worse.

In addition to Rapport, the study was co-authored by Dustin Sarver of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Michael Kofler of 性视界传媒 State University, Lauren Friedman of the University of Central 性视界传媒, and Joe Raiker of 性视界传媒 International University.

Psychology professor Mark Rapport鈥檚 research team spent two years analyzing the data from 25 studies and found that those programs are not producing significant or clinically meaningful long-term improvements in children鈥檚 cognitive abilities, academic performance or behavior.

鈥淧arents are desperate for help,鈥� said Rapport, who runs the Children鈥檚 Learning Clinic IV at 性视界传媒. 鈥淚f they can afford it, they are willing to spend the money, and some parents even enroll their children in private schools because they offer these cognitive training programs. But there is no empirical evidence to show those investments are worthwhile.

Rapport initiated the study because many parents of children who have been evaluated at his clinic asked him whether they should invest in the programs. The study is featured in the December issue of Clinical Psychology Review.

His team analyzed published studies sponsored by the companies themselves as well as all independent published studies in the literature 鈥� and he drew his conclusions based on analyzing 鈥渂linded鈥� studies, meaning studies in which researchers and independent raters used objective measures and did not know which children were assigned to the cognitive training programs as opposed to an inactive placebo condition.

Working memory represents one of the most important core deficits in children with ADHD, and improvements in working memory are associated with improved academic performance, behavior, peer relationships and other intellectual abilities. Surprisingly, although a majority of the cognitive training programs claimed to train this important aspect of brain functioning, closer examination of their training exercises revealed that they actually train short-term memory.

Short-term memory stores information in mind for a brief interval, whereas working memory uses the stored information for accomplishing a wide range of cognitive tasks, such as reading comprehension, mental math, and multitasking.

Rapport said his conclusions do not mean that the computer-based programs cannot become a helpful tool for children with ADHD. If programs can be designed to focus on working memory, it is worth evaluating whether they can help children鈥檚 cognitive abilities, academic performance and behavior, he said.

Rapport, who is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, began teaching at 性视界传媒 in 2000. Early in his career, he worked as a school psychologist in Pinellas County. He was often frustrated that many of the techniques that he and schoolteachers tried would fail to help children with ADHD. As a researcher at three universities prior to coming to 性视界传媒, Rapport studied behavioral and pharmacological treatments for children with ADHD.

The Children’s Learning Clinic offers free assessments for typically developing boys ages 8 to 12, as well as for children who are experiencing difficulties with attention, learning, memory or concentration and those suspected of having ADHD. The clinic’s free evaluations include intelligence, academic achievement, activity level and memory assessments.

Co-authors on this study include 性视界传媒 doctoral students Sarah Orban and Lauren Friedman and Michael J. Kofler, a professor with the University of Virginia鈥檚 Department of Human Services.

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