Celebrate Calm

Kirk Martin was the son of a military man and when he had his own son, he approached the child the same way his father had approached him: loudly.

The problem was that that method didn't work well with Martin's son, Casey, who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), among other conditions. After much trial and error, Martin found that the only thing that improved Casey's behaviour was calmness.

Out of this discovery, Martin has built a business, called Celebrate Calm, which offers workshops for parents and teachers and is both financially and emotionally rewarding.

When Casey was diagnosed, Martin had a new focus. That's when he dived into medical, psychological and educational research and tried the various approaches that led to Celebrate Calm.

His thinking is not that something is wrong with “intense'' children, a term used to describe those who can be volatile because of conditions such as ADHD, oppositional defiance disorder and sensory integration and anxiety disorders.

Wired differently

Rather, Martin believes these children are just wired differently and have “gifts, talents and passions'' that are not compatible with traditional educational settings.

Rather than asking how to “fix'' these kids, he says he asks: “What are the advantages, what are the ways we can work with this mind to obtain good results?''

The central tenet of his approach, for parents and children, is “I am responsible for myself'', he says. “That's it.'' Martin says he learnt “I can't control my child; I can't control his behaviours and attitude. But I can control mine.''

After modelling calm behaviour for his son, “I now have a teenager who, instead of freaking out every 15 minutes over everything, is now in control of his emotions'', Martin says.

Martin started sharing his insights with Casey's teachers and holding “camps'' at his house for children with similar behaviours.

His approach included incorporating movement into learning. “Because our strategies were working and they were very practical,'' Martin recalls, “people began seeking us out.'' Now Martin travels across US giving a variety of workshops on how to handle intense children.

A two-day workshop costs $1,500 (Dh5,510) for professionals and $600 (Dh2,204) for
parents.

Website

For more information, go to www.Celebratecalm.com Some workshop videos are available on YouTube — search
“CelebrateADHD''.

Information

Symptoms of ADHD

The principal characteristics of ADHD are inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. These symptoms appear early in a child's life.

Because many normal children may have these symptoms but at a low level or the symptoms may be caused by another disorder, it is important that the child receives a thorough examination and appropriate diagnosis by a qualified professional.

Symptoms of ADHD will appear over the course of many months, often with the symptoms of impulsiveness and hyperactivity preceding those of inattention, which may not emerge for a year or more.

Different symptoms may appear in different settings, depending on the demands the situation may pose for the child's self-control.

A child who “can't sit still'' or is otherwise disruptive will be noticeable in school but the inattentive daydreamer may be overlooked.

The impulsive child who acts before thinking may be considered just a “discipline problem'' while the child who is passive or sluggish may be viewed as merely unmotivated. Yet both may have different types of ADHD.

All children are sometimes restless, sometimes act without thinking and sometimes daydream the time away. When the child's hyperactivity, distractibility, poor concentration or impulsivity begin to affect performance in school, social relationships with other children or behaviour at home, ADHD may be suspected.

But because the symptoms vary so much across settings, ADHD is not easy to diagnose. This is especially true when inattentiveness is the primary symptom.