Fidget to Focus

I used to love getting catalogs from  The J. Peterman Company. They sold these funky clothes and accessories invoking adventure, mystery, and “long ago” and “far away”. The products were shown as sketches. The descriptions were artfully created first-person “accounts” of who had been seen wearing this garment, how wonderful they looked in it, and how you could, by wearing the same garment, step right into that same wonderful life. It was good writing and great reading.

Well, the original J. Peterman Company didn’t make it, but it has since been resurrected at JPeterman.com. And the creative entrepenure(s) behind it are still thriving. You can check out the online store or enjoy the same writing, sensibility, and wide-ranging interests at Peterman’s Eye: A Community of Curious Travelers.

If you check out Peterman’s Eye, you will find a wonderful article about the virtues of fidgeting! You can read all about fidget historians, presidential doodles, and new research in the post called Give Fidgeting a Hand. Check it out! And be sure to read all the fidget stories in the comments. They’re great.

We were pleased to find out about this article by , staff writer for the Orlando Sentinel. She is also reporting on the new research out of the University of Central Florida that documents what so many of us have known for so long: fidgeting helps you stay focused (see the article in Time Magazine that we blogged on earlier).

In her article from May 25, 2009, Linda writes:

If you’ve got a kid with ADHD, you’ve probably spent countless hours pleading with him to sit still.

Well, stop it.

Fidgeting, as it turns out, helps kids with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder focus. So just like grown-ups need a cup of coffee before tackling a problem, kids with ADHD may tap their feet, swivel in their chairs or bounce in their seats while their brains are busily figuring out that math test.

That’s the conclusion of a groundbreaking study conducted by a team at the University of Central Florida, led by Dr. Mark Rapport.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

(Thanks, Linda!)