what your views on cheerleading for a DD with ADHD

[Anonymous]

MY DD is a 4th grader and we been thinking of singing her up for to become a cheerleader. Do you think is the right "sport" for someone with ADHD or will it be too boring like Softball was?

[Anonymous]

Softball and cheerleading are very, very different sports.

It is like asking if your kid will fins lacrosse as boring as he felt figure skating was.

They are very different so what is the harm in trying?

[Anonymous]

ADHD is helped by exercise. The physical exertion of cheerleading would probably be beneficial.

[Anonymous]

If this her idea, then see if she if she likes it. Can she observe what a practice is like.

[Anonymous]

My DD has ADHD and does cheerleading through Shockwave (Rockville). She loves it! She is not that great- always seems off a beat- but her enthusiasm makes up for it. Does your DD like gymnastics? If so, it is definitely worth trying.

[Anonymous]

I didn't know I had ADHD at the time, but I cheered intermittently from grade school to high school. It was fantastic for me. I loved it. Cheer is one of the few places in life when being high-energy and enthusiastic is an asset.

Cheer was much better for my self-esteem than ballet or other forms of dance. I had to concentrate and pay attention to learn routines, cheers and chants, but for the most part, you're moving while you're learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't know I had ADHD at the time, but I cheered intermittently from grade school to high school. It was fantastic for me. I loved it. Cheer is one of the few places in life when being high-energy and enthusiastic is an asset.

Cheer was much better for my self-esteem than ballet or other forms of dance. I had to concentrate and pay attention to learn routines, cheers and chants, but for the most part, you're moving while you're learning.

Quoting myself here. "High energy and enthusiastic" = hyperactive. In school and often in social situations, I was too "hyper" in 80s/90s speak. But in cheerleading, I kept winning individual spirit awards. It's all about context.

[Anonymous]

My DD did Cheer and there were several girls with ADHD on the squad. I will be honest, it was tough because we had practices later in the evening and the kids were just spent after a day of school , after care/homework, hungry, and most of the time their meds had worn off.

In the beginning, Cheer can be very repetitious with a lot of static moves at this age with less moving around than you think. It takes them a while to get coordinated arm/leg movements down.
And there can be some waiting around if there are not enough co- coaches to work with smaller groups.

Once they get the moves down, it does require focus and attention to execute the moves as a group. This again is a lot of repetition of the same exact part of a routine many times so it can quickly get boring.

[Anonymous]

DD has a girl on her squad with ADHD. She has a hard time because she can't maintain focus and is constantly doing things she shouldn't so she gets redirected a million times. It drives the other members of the squad nuts after a while b/c the coach gets frustrated and yells at all of them for not "paying attention and being quiet".

[Anonymous]

My DD with ADHD did cheer when she was in middle school and the beginning of high school. She loved it and I'm sure there were plenty of other girls with ADHD on the team. She is inattentive, not hyper, so she wasn't engaging in off task behavior. My problem with cheer is that it's supposed to be a sport, but they spend too much time on hair and make-up for competitions. To me that's irrelevant, but I think the girls liked it. Overall, it was a good activity for my DD.

[Anonymous]

My teen DD with hyper ADHD cheers. She loves it. Did allstar and now high school. I don't like it as in her high school parents are adding so many additional events to it(it is seriously insane, non stop mom organized brunches, lunches, dinners, baby showers, wedding showers, races, sleepovers, just about any event you can think of), that it interferes with her homework and studying. It these moms(yes, it is always moms) stopped using their kids to fulfill some social need, it would be fine. Sure, I can have DD not go, but then she is the only one on the team not going...If your school is different, then it might not be as big of an issue as it is for my DD. DD takes all Honors and AP classes and with her ADHD it is no picnic having these extras. Maybe kids without ADHD can handle such heavy loads better, but honestly I doubt it.