With our son Landon, his journey started out a little more difficult than most. In addition to having ADHD, when he was 3 1/2 years old he fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a concussion. Due to his age, he had to stay in the hospital overnight for observation. The fall down the stairs had temporarily left Landon unable to walk, regress to bed-wetting and he forgot his colors. Thankfully when Landon’s brain activity stabilized, he could walk again unassisted and go to the bathroom alone without accidents. Unfortunately, he had to relearn all of his colors.
As time passed, my husband and I noticed behavioral changes in Landon. He wasn’t as happy as he used to be, he struggled with reading people’s facial expressions, he was aggravated easily and he didn’t listen to instructions or follow through without being confrontational. Upon taking him to the doctor, he was diagnosed with ADHD and put on medication. The medication worked well for several years. However as he progressed through school, we noticed him struggling in other areas… like fidgeting in his chair, talking out of sync, playing roughly with his peers and not following through with instructions from his teacher. As his parents, we wanted to take a different approach to help Landon in addition to him taking his medication.
After a lot of research, we decided to try Play Attention. We chose Play Attention for a variety of reasons. One being, my son loves to play video games and the concept of changing negative behavior and tendencies through a learned, concentration based system intrigued us. Play Attention has games based on the needs of your child and Landon was excited about the fact that he could play games “with his mind.”
We have been using Play Attention 4 times a week for roughly 2 months now and I couldn’t be happier with the results. A lot of tendencies that Landon used to exhibit such as fidgeting, getting easily frustrated, and calling out instead of waiting his turn has diminished to the point of almost nonexistent. It’s been amazing to see him so disciplined and focused while playing his games. He feels so accomplished when he meets his goals and truly enjoys the rewards he’s earned.
Play Attention has also helped us, as parents, to see Landon’s strengths and weaknesses. What’s great about the program is that it tracks everything he does and modifies games and goals accordingly. However more importantly, the goals that Landon has yet to meet, don’t make him feel like a failure or lead to a complete meltdown. He has learned and recognizes that some days are going to be awesome… and other days may not allow him to feel as accomplished BUT that tomorrow is a new day with new opportunities for success. Play Attention has truly been great for his esteem.
Landon’s in 5th grade now and will go into middle school next year. Instead of being worried and anxious, we’re excited to see how well he’s going to transition on. Thanks, Play Attention!