Relationship Between Mental Blocks And Focus Issues/add??

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Nov 28, 2015
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Just wondering how many of you who have dealt with mental blocks also have focus issues or possibly ADD/ADHD?
My daughter has been dealing with pretty bad mental blocks on her tumbling for 7 months now after a scary fall in Aug. She has been working with a wonderful gymnastics coach for the past 2 months and has her standing BHS back, but is still struggling with any kind of connected tumbling. She does have ADD, and is currently on an ADHD medication that has a known side benefit of helping to decrease anxiety (she is an anxious child...typical of kids with ADD), but she has grown a lot in both height and weight in the last few months and is due for a dose adjustment. Her focus and anxiety are problematic right now because of this. I am wondering if this could be making it more difficult to get over her block....
 
My daughter has horrible mental blocks with every new tumbling skill. She doesn't have ADD but definitely has anxiety issues and is on meds for that already.
 
My daughter has mental blocks with every new skill as well. It takes her almost an entire season to get a skill. I'm talking an entire season just for a cartwheel when she started cheer, last season it was her fwo, season before that bwo. She has anxiety issues as well but is not on any medication.
 
Mine took a whole season for BHS. She has now been working on Tuck for a year total. She has it. Like she can 100% throw it, but she has to have a coach standing there in case. The coach doesn't even have to touch her but knowing they are there is the only way that she can do it. She is 18 now so it is super frustrating for her.
 
My daughter has been dealing on and off with mental blocks for a year and a half. She doesn't have ADD/ADHD but the anxiety is definitely now part of the issue. Standing tumbling okay-running tumbling can complete part of the pass and then blacks out. We have appointments with three different therapists hoping to find the root of the problem and fix it. One comes recommended from another person with a mental block and specializes in a certain type of therapy. It worked for them and hoping it works for my daughter. It breaks my heart to see this mental block take control of her tumbling and she is/was a beautiful tumbler.
 
I have found the opposite.

It's the kids who are hyperfocused, detail-oriented, and anxiety-prone who are most likely to block.

Think of your Type A kids. Those are the ones I see blocking most often.
Actually, one of the qualities of ADD/ADHD is actually hyper focus oddly enough. They hyper focus on things they really want or love, and just cannot focus on things they are not interested in. I think this causes her to overthink it because she wants it soo badly. Of course, anxiety is also a common symptom in kids with ADHD. Her anxiety has always been bad, especially when her ADHD symptoms are not being controlled well.
 
Actually, one of the qualities of ADD/ADHD is actually hyper focus oddly enough. They hyper focus on things they really want or love, and just cannot focus on things they are not interested in. I think this causes her to overthink it because she wants it soo badly. Of course, anxiety is also a common symptom in kids with ADHD. Her anxiety has always been bad, especially when her ADHD symptoms are not being controlled well.
These were my thoughts when I read that post. I wanted to do more than shimmy my agreement.

Your child sounds a lot like my oldest with the comorbid ADHD and anxiety.
 
Actually, one of the qualities of ADD/ADHD is actually hyper focus oddly enough. They hyper focus on things they really want or love, and just cannot focus on things they are not interested in. I think this causes her to overthink it because she wants it soo badly. Of course, anxiety is also a common symptom in kids with ADHD. Her anxiety has always been bad, especially when her ADHD symptoms are not being controlled well.

Yup this was my daughter to a T. ADHD with anxiety and a major block that started last spring. We did therapy for 9 months and started both adhd and anxiety medications and things are so much better all around (school, cheer, etc). She would not do standing or running back handsprings in September and this weekend she will throw double backhandspring tuck. We needed to deal with her underlying issues and everything else fell into place.
 
SL has ADHD and recently went onto medication full time. She also deals with anxiety but that is currently not being treated medically. When she's blocked, I haven't noticed either to be a factor but definitely could give you a clue.
 
If someone is dealing with anxiety in general this could definitely influence and relate to mental blocks. When someone is experiencing the symptoms of anxiety, they don't stop and think "Oh, I'm anxious in general- this has nothing to do with my tumbling." Instead, they notice that they have worries and feel uncomfortable and this can make tumbling harder. If someone takes medication for anxiety, this may not always help with blocks. Regarding ADD/ADHD, there can be a relationship to mental blocks. If a cheerleader is having trouble focusing (especially when learning a skill) then he or she may not learn it correctly or execute corrections and then there is a higher risk for the skill not going well, falling, and then creating or worsening a block. This doesn't mean that someone with ADD/ADHD will always have this experience. If a coach can help the cheerleader know exactly what to focus on and when, and let them relax their focus in between these times, then the cheerleader may find this helpful. Every athlete is unique so it's hard to say for sure if there is a connection, but a simple answer is that yes they could be related. You may want to look into doing some mental skills training. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.
 
Just wondering how many of you who have dealt with mental blocks also have focus issues or possibly ADD/ADHD?
My daughter has been dealing with pretty bad mental blocks on her tumbling for 7 months now after a scary fall in Aug. She has been working with a wonderful gymnastics coach for the past 2 months and has her standing BHS back, but is still struggling with any kind of connected tumbling. She does have ADD, and is currently on an ADHD medication that has a known side benefit of helping to decrease anxiety (she is an anxious child...typical of kids with ADD), but she has grown a lot in both height and weight in the last few months and is due for a dose adjustment. Her focus and anxiety are problematic right now because of this. I am wondering if this could be making it more difficult to get over her block....
Wow! That's a really good question! I never thought of that! I have 2 kids suffering from mental blocks. One has had 2 bad falls & the other was throwing her bhs but suddenly locked up & refused to throw it without a spot. Both kids have ADHD/focus issues. I never give them their meds before practice because they complain that the medicine changes their personality & they just don't have the energy. I never thought about the ADHD contributing to the mental block. Now I'm really curious!
 
@Aunie with the new season starting how is it going? Any updates?
Unfortunately, things just got progressively worse towards the end of the season, and we have taken her out of cheer for this year. She will be doing gymnastics instead. We told her that she can return next year if she feels less stressed.
 
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