I still can't help but be amazed after discovering this "invention" for children with hyperactivity. The intention is to control the energy that a child with hyperactivity has in the classroom, that energy that many pharmaceutical companies insist on medicating so that children are calmer. But this chair has appeared in a school in Canada and it seems that their strategy is not to medicate them, but to tire them.
That is why they have devised this desk-bike, so that hyperactive children do not want to get up from their desk and also pay attention when tired. With this they want the "more active" children to be able to play sports while attending class and thus, being tired, they will not be tempted to get up from their table.
The teachers of this school comment (exactly a teacher named Mario Leroux who explains it to Le Journal de Montréal) that one of the biggest problems in schools is hyperactive children because they bother the rest of the class, and as a mother, a psychopedagogue and a therapeutic pedagogue I can only feel annoyance at these words because my opinion is that hyperactive children will never be the problem of anything. The problem lies in the little tolerance or understanding of the needs of these children.
"Hyperactive" or "attention deficit" children are primarily children, and what they need is that the educational system adapts to their needs and teaches them what they need to learn within their own idiosyncrasies, just as it should be done with all other children. They do not need a bicycle to pedal for 15 minutes and they are tired to attend to. Personally, I think that a tired child simply will not attend properly, he will only find a way to rest.
But the worst thing is not the opinion or the invention of this man with this peculiar desk, what I find most alarming is the social support you have received. I am not a pediatrician, but my teaching experience tells me that a child does not need to play sports to attend class, they need adults to guide them in their learning, regardless of the needs of the child.
What's your opinion about it?
That I am not a teacher, or a pediatrician, or a psychologist, or anything like it. But I am a mother, an observant person and I believe that I am coherent above all else, and I sincerely believe that the bike-desk is unnecessary in hyperactive children. I sincerely believe that to "reach" any child it is necessary for the adult to adapt to him and his needs, and not for the child to adapt to the adult.
Hello maite. Exactly, you have said it very clearly. We must respect the needs of children, they are the ones who are learning. The energy of children labeled "hyperactive" should be seen as something positive and beneficial and not as a problem. Thank you for your words. 🙂
I think you focused on the negative side… .. it is true that hyperactive children have that extra energy, I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to vent them in a healthy way, and at the child's free demand, I mean, not forcing it. It is also an exercise that encourages the activity of the two cerebral hemispheres, the bicycle is therapeutic. I vote for it, as the mother of a child with ADHD.
Hello Maria, I completely agree with you, that energy should be something positive, but tell me what government system will turn around and invest in schools to meet the needs of these children if almost all public schools need everything from the most elementary things to everything you can imagine. The government only pays education workers and that is why it says that education is free. So an invention like this can be seen as positive if we think that children will exercise for a while and be calm. They can be done much, much cheaper and thus solve something that no government will solve and that only rich children can access an education for their needs.
Hello Alberto! Thank you for your words. Sometimes the change is not in the resources that one has, but in the minds of the people. By shifting your perspective and looking at solutions instead of problems, much more can be accomplished. 🙂
regards
Good morning, I am the mother of a child with this condition and I would like to know if any of you have the contact to buy one, I will greatly appreciate it.
Claudia writes to http://www.realdreams.cl ,we can help you
Bretta, I started the design of a special bicycle as a result of having found out what is being done in Canada and especially its exaggerated cost (900 euros, which is more than 10,000 Mexican pesos). However, the idea encouraged me to launch a bike with a much lower cost (hopefully less than half the Canadian version) but with more interesting variants. I am a special education teacher, I have experience specifically in the management of children with attention deficit with and without hyperactivity and children with aggressive tendencies. Perhaps this special interest is due to the fact that in my student years I presented the traits of an overly restless child and adolescent. This has helped me to better understand the needs of children, therefore, I am improving the idea of the bicycle used in Canada by adding these variants:
1.- It can be assembled.
2.- It can generate electrical energy.
3.- You can feed a musical instrument to pedal and at the same time play a small electronic melodic, for example.
4.- A tablet can be fed electronically to observe videos of securities, against violence, etc. that I am selecting previously.
5.- You can feed a bulb or lamp to be able to work in low light conditions.
6.- A simple electric motor could be fed for the child to design figures, shapes, etc. based on the movement of the motor.
7.- I intend for the generator to be adaptable to the child's height.
8.- I intend to include a vibrator that relaxes the child and that the child himself can voluntarily recharge and use it when necessary.
9.- Respond to a weekly intervention plan either in the classroom or at home that has educational objectives and with the essential purpose that the child feels stimulated to pedal, taking advantage of the fact that a large number of hyperactive people have the ability to respond to multiple stimuli .
The main objective is that the movement to dissipate the children's energy becomes a pleasant and surprising moment (that is, that the child can do various activities on his bicycle without getting bored since the Canadian version seems very monotonous to me).
If you like my proposal, you can write to my email: nachitorubio.ira@gmail.com and I will keep you posted, as I will apply my proposal from September on to a boy with violent tendencies and diagnosed with ADHD (receiving medication) and to a tremendously restless girl who is very smart but does not like to work. I am aiming to finish my design before the end of August. If you send me your mail, I can send you the first images of the finished product.
Obviously, those who support the article, like the author, have complete ignorance of the characteristics of ADHD. In the first place, they are disruptive, in many cases gratuitous aggressive and with poor impulse control, which causes them to cause restlessness in other children. These are characteristics that cause them to be rejected at the group level, so I consider that any attempt to make life more acceptable is absolutely valid. I think that those who think otherwise are also overprotective mothers who with their disguised "love" do more harm to children with ADHD. I will put into practice the use of this bicycle with the hyperactive children that I attend with the best intention of finding a solution to their problem. It will not be onerous for me because I will manufacture them myself since although it is not my trade, I know how to work the blacksmith shop. I will be reporting the results.
I think you are seeing it from the wrong perspective since the objective is NOT to tire the child, it does not have to be pedaling the whole class, when it feels restless and wants to move it can do it without the need to get up and not only will it not bother the rest but also he will be able to pay attention to the class. I say this as a teacher who must be in a room with 45 children with more than one with hyperactivity and also as a person who has hyperactivity, I would have loved to have such a desk when I was little to be able to overcome the desire to be moving around the room. I repeat, I think you are wrong when you say that the goal is to "tire the child" with this object, the goal is to help him, children in general need to move and the school system forces them to sit almost all day, it should be a requirement that they did physical activity every day because, apart from being healthy, exercise makes them able to concentrate later in the classroom sitting down (there are studies that support this). Now imagine a child who has to sit all day and only does sports 2 times a week and add the hyperactivity factor, this measure is a great tool for a hyperactive child, I invite you to reconsider your opinion about this invention because it can revolutionize the classroom and change a child's life for meaningful and effective learning.
http://www.realdreams.cl
It seems to me a very interesting invention and I would like Ignacio that you could send your page to follow the improvement that you are developing.
I have read the news of these bike desks on other Internet pages and none of them have the negative connotation that the author of this page gives it, perhaps due to their ignorance.
It erroneously indicates that the objective is to tire the child and teach him tired when it is not. There are even studies that indicate that hyperactive children achieve greater learning while maintaining some motor activity at the same time. The "multitasking" capacity of hyperactive people is impressive and enviable, I know this from my own experience and it is a matter of knowing how to identify, direct and prosecute them positively, which is why I think Ignacio's contribution is very valuable. Go ahead Ignacio !!
WHERE CAN I GET THEM
Hi Fabiola, you have to ask the manufacturer or distributor. All the best.
Goodness today is a plague. Of course we adults should adapt to the child, but the reality is that the child has to keep up with his class and IF IT IS A PROBLEM. If a child is unable to stop his legs while sitting, we can tailor a world for him or we can give him something to do while he studies. If it is something that does not bother others it does not bother him PRAISE GOD! WE'RE GOING TO TRY IT!!