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By redesigning learning with physical movement, outdoor discovery walks, photography, and added mindfulness and breathing supports, the story shows how slowing down can improve focus, confidence, and self-understanding while transforming teaching and evaluation practices.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/reinventing-adhd-in-out-of-school-time/590901/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/reinventing-adhd-in-out-of-school-time/590901.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Stanford","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":30},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"Why was Matthew difficult to focus during the school day?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"Matthew struggled with restlessness and attention, often getting distracted and becoming disruptive, which made long periods of focus hard for him.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How did the author’s adult diagnosis shape their understanding of Matthew?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The author recognized in their own past that ADHD wiring underlies similar challenges experienced since elementary school, and used that insight to interpret Matthew’s behavior.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What changes to out-of-school time helped Matthew slow down and engage?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"The author used outdoor discovery walks and photography activities, then added mindfulness and breathing components so students could slow down and observe their surroundings more effectively.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},590901,1793002493,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,91,95,100,105,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":106,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":30,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":101,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},2336477552062,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","Reinventing ADHD in Out-of-School Time  \nDevan Blackwell  \nAttention issues made it difficult for Matthew, a fifth grader, to sit down and focus for long periods of time. He was easily distracted and often got into trouble during the school day for being disruptive.  \nI nicknamed him Matty Go-Go when he was in my school classroom because he was always on the go. If you spent any time observing Matthew, you would likely find yourself exhausted. His internal motor kept him in a constant state of motion. His chair was often empty because he was busy making frequent trips to the pencil sharpener (because somehow the point just kept breaking), to the hook on the wall where his backpack hung (because something he desperately needed was in there amidst the clutter), and to my desk to share the rapid flow of thoughts, ideas, and questions that came into his mind (because he just had to). If you are an out-of-school time (OST) practitioner, I’m sure you know a kid, or possibly many kids, like Matty Go-Go.  \nWell, I was that kid.  \nUnlike Matthew, I was not diagnosed with attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) until I was an adult. But as far back as my memories go, I always felt that there was something different about the way my brain worked. I felt driven by an internal motor that sometimes accelerated beyond my control. Though I did not receive a formal diagnosis until I was in my 40s, I could present a list of struggles that began in elementary school and persisted through my adult life and career. These struggles, I would learn, were connected to my brain’s ADHD wiring.  \nADHD is typically diagnosed among children in grade school. Children like Matthew who have ADHD typically present with restlessness and with difficulty  \nDEVAN BLACKWELL, MA, considers himself one of the oldest kids in afterschool. A National Afterschool Matters Fellow, his professional career includes a variety of leadership roles, teaching in urban school populations, and study abroad. His work emphasizes youth potential, practices that improve the quality of participant experiences, and strategies that create a positive climate and culture in learning environments.  \nin paying attention and controlling their [impulses. to](impulses. to) comfort. The English language arts curriculum, Because I had been that kid, I knew why Matthew for example, came not only with required readings struggled during the school day. I also knew that and writing assignments, but even with prescribed children like him need an environment that is designed questions for class discussion. It all felt very scripted.  \nto accommodate all that go-go energy. How well I followed that script was part of the measure  \nWhen I introduced an urban landscape of how tenure-worthy I was, a supervisor told me. photography project to students during afterschool Further, the intense focus on teaching to a state  \ntime, I encouraged Matthew to participate. This test left me full of angst. I felt pressured to see my project offered opportunities for physical movement students mostly as data points on the growth charts through outdoor discovery walks. While working with district overseers used to assess both them and me. him and other students who I suspected had similar That perspective was so one-dimensional, I thought, wiring, I emphasized the importance of looking and in comparison to the multidimensional students I was observing as we travelled an urban landscape capturing working with every day. They were more than data photographs of all that we saw. “Don’t move so fast points to me. I thought there had to be other ways—that you miss something amazing,” I would remind the more meaningful ways—to assess their strengths student photographers. and aptitudes.  \nOver time, I added One afternoon, after we had  \nmindfulness components to this finished reading The Wizard of Oz  \nlearnactiviingties experthaitence.enTcohuroughraged In the end, Matty Go-Go bymy Lfi.ftFhrank Bgraderasumto , tIhein1t","cbCailV8xOV30YUC","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailV8xOV30YUC","pdf",102168,"English","# Reinventing ADHD in Out-of-School Time\n## Introducing Matty Go-Go and the ADHD wiring\n## Rethinking scripted curriculum and assessment\n## Outdoor photography, movement, and mindfulness supports\n## Journey into Technicolor","[{\"question\":\"Why was Matthew difficult to focus during the school day?\",\"answer\":\"Matthew struggled with restlessness and attention, often getting distracted and becoming disruptive, which made long periods of focus hard for him.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the author’s adult diagnosis shape their understanding of Matthew?\",\"answer\":\"The author recognized in their own past that ADHD wiring underlies similar challenges experienced since elementary school, and used that insight to interpret Matthew’s behavior.\"},{\"question\":\"What changes to out-of-school time helped Matthew slow down and engage?\",\"answer\":\"The author used outdoor discovery walks and photography activities, then added mindfulness and breathing components so students could slow down and observe their surroundings more effectively.\"}]","Reinventing ADHD in Out-of-School Time | PDF",1792070692,15]