Wii for ADHD?
A parent recently made a blog post on the
ADDITUDE website, telling about how two medical professionals had recommended that she get a
Wii for her ADHD daughter. More and more, I’m hearing that the latest generation of games is helping kids with their focus. If any of you have experienced success with video games – the Wii or something like PlayAttention – please share it below. In particular, what Wii games would you recommend?
And yes, as I mentioned in the newsletter, part of me remains skeptical, probably because my boys will STILL hyperfocus on video games and do nothing else for hours.
I am a Clinical Psychologist and I work mainly with kids. After getting the WII Fit Plus, I realized how amazing it is for ADHD. With all the games that require attention and the need to control impulses, I think it could be a great intervention to help everyone with ADD/ADHD.
I’m starting to think that Wii is the worst thing I ever got for my son, 7 y.o. (on medication, adderall and tenex, w/ the hope of getting him off adderall). We play the Star Wars Lego game. I’m the only one he has played with. We play for 30 minutes and I have a timer in front of us. I give him and 5 and 10 minute warning.
When it’s time, he gets very frustrated. I’ve tried to get him to turn it off, but he can’t. When I turn it off he goes ballistic and can’t control his emotions which is usually intense anger. He does every thing short of physical stuff – kicking and hitting We’ve been working on anger and he’s doing very well except for this Wii stuff.
Does anyone else have this problem? I think it’s almost like a drug for him.