Taekwondo is being used to help treat an 8-year-old boy's ADD.
Spencer Jones, 9, is still working his way up to black belt in taekwondo, but he's already a success story. He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder -- always in trouble. Even from the beginning he didn't like school.
"Spencer has had a lot of struggles, especially in school, where his focus has been off and it's caused him to act out emotionally in ways that are not appropriate at school," said his mother, Angela Jones.
The taekwondo class changed all that.
"We've watched him kind of laser beam his focus in, and go from maybe struggling a little bit to follow along in the class to ultimately being right at the front of the pack in terms of paying attention and focusing," said Dan Vigil, the academy owner.
Learning how to focus, gain confidence, understand discipline and build physical strength has transformed Spencer.
"They say ‘Yes sir, yes ma'am,' when they're asked to do something. We found right away, he learned that in his very first lesson in taekwondo. and we use it at home and it's been a great reinforcement at home for him to follow directions," said Angela Jones.
Dan himself remembers how martial arts helped him as a child.
"I got started because I was kind of the picked on, beat up, bullied kid at school and I started martial arts and it helped me a lot to kind of overcome those things and it really made me a stronger person," said Vigil.
Now for Spencer, life is more under control.
"It's carried over into school and we've actually seen an improvement in other sports," said Angela Jones.
And he's well on his way to that black belt.
"My goal is to finish taekwondo with a black belt and be proud," Spencer said.
Dan said that there are a number of informal studies on the effects of martial arts on kids with ADD, but there haven't been any large scale studies. He's working on one with the University of Michigan right now.
Wednesday, May 22 2013 8:51 AM EDT2013-05-22 12:51:47 GMT
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