What was the situation?
At forest school, two of the young people have ADHD, which created issues daily with their schooling and had at times led to them being excluded from school because of their behaviour. Both took medication which they stated was at different times of the day either too high and made them tired and unable to focus or too low and made them restless and fidgety.
They both stated that to ensure they were ok and not too listless to enjoy the sessions they
took less medication before coming and said they felt fine all day.
What was the intervention?
We discussed that the natural, outdoor environment may be having an impact on their concentration levels, and they both realised this as they independently play different team sports on Saturdays and this also had a positive impact on the behaviour. They decided to try and spend more time outdoors on a daily basis.
One had been discussing with one of his teachers the sessions, how much he enjoyed the sense of achievement with the woodland project he was creating. He had made a sword, bow and arrows and a knut chug.
What was the outcome?
One was able to explain to his teacher how much he felt he was benefitting from forest school and how focused he was with each task. We explored the idea that if the school could accommodate it, would he be prepared to attend more regularly if he could have one day a week doing outdoor schooling, attending a forest school similar to this one or visiting the woodland trust and participating in one of their projects. He said this would motivate him to attend more and focus at school, this was discussed with his parents at the family day, who are trying very hard to support him with his education and said they would do some research into it. They felt the sessions had had a very positive impact on him and believe he had learnt a lot and his confidence had increased. It was very hard to get him up in the morning for school, but he always got himself up and was ready on time for forest school.
