Wiggle while you work. Why kids with ADHD & Anxiety are benefiting from Bouncy Bands

My son twists, jiggles and wrestles in his chair. He has never been able to sit still for most of his school life. He is 9 and we continually look for ways to accommodate his unique learning style. When we found the BOUNCY BANDS and installed them on his chair and desk at school we weren’t sure if he’d like them… He is very particular and doesn’t want to seem different from the other kids. We decided to order a few BOUNCY BANDS for other kids in the class so he’d see other kids using them! It was a hit and now the teacher wants BOUNCY BANDS for all her student’s desks! As a mom of child with a different learning style and neurobiological issues, I think this product is brilliant.

Research shows that kids learn better when they aren’t forced to sit still, glued to a desk or chair for hours on end during a school day. But can they actually fidget, squirm and wiggle their way to better grades in a classroom? And can they do it in a way that’s not disruptive and promotes productivity? According to Scott Ertl, a Winston-Salem, North Carolina elementary school counselor, they can – especially with the help of his effective solution called “Bouncy Bands” that is quickly winning over teachers and students nationally.  Ertl has spent several years refining and perfecting Bouncy Bands, an innovative classroom tool that aids “kinesthetic learning” for kids. Bouncy Bands are heavy duty rubber straps that attach to the legs of student desks that allow the kids to lightly bounce their feet and stretch their legs as a way to release their extra energy, anxiety, and boredom during the day while working quietly in a classroom. The Bouncy Bands come with support pipes that keep the bands suspended at the perfect height for kids’ feet to rest and bounce.

In a national survey of 144 teachers and 686 students in 22 states:

• 87% of students said that Bouncy Bands helped the m feel calmer during tests

• 92% of students said that Bouncy Bands let them move so they can relax betting in class

• 88% of teachers reported that kids using Bouncy Bands focused better in class

• 76% of teachers reported that kids using Bouncy Bands tended to stay on task longer

Bouncy Bands are also an excellent resource for those students who suffer from test anxiety. Nationwide, as many as 38% of students have moderate to high test anxiety, making it the most prevalent scholastic impairment for students.  Bouncy Bands help those students reduce their stress and focus more on the learning tasks at hand since the product helps soothe the anxiety they feel. Scott Ertl is not new to making breakthroughs in active learning in education. In 2009, he created the nation’s first “Read and Ride” program for students to ride exercise bikes and read books at the same time. Hundreds of schools around the world have replicated his program in their schools.

Bouncy Bands sell for $12 for chairs and $13 for desks. They are available at: www.BouncyBands.com and on Amazon.com 

 Teachers have used crowdfunding efforts to get Bouncy Bands into their classrooms so all students can benefit. 

More than 400 teachers nationally have turned to DonorsChoose.org to get funded to equip their entire classes. 

Scott Ertl is an elementary school counselor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He created Bouncy Bands to help students at his own school to have a way to move when they worked so they wouldn’t have to stay trapped at their desks for 5-6 hours a day. He wanted to help them be able to stretch their legs, bounce their feet and prop up their feet instead of having them dangle all day from their chair. Through sharing Bouncy Bands at his numerous conference presentations where he travels throughout the nation to work with educators about a variety of topics (Progress Cards, Parent-Child Retreats, Playshops, and Read and Ride), he decided to start making Bouncy Bands available to others. Orders started coming from around the nation to have Bouncy Bands for individual students, classes, grade levels, and whole schools!