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My 7 year old has ADHD combined type and we are currently using medication to help her because of a lot of reasons, but basically the bottom line is we need the meds at this stage of life. Anyway, she's having a bad day today and I'm so frustrated and feel so helpless! I've sent her off to play because she literally couldn't focus on anything. I had to walk her through the English page (she loves English and typically does this independently before I have a chance to come sit down and help her - I always have it laying ready for her in the morning so she has something to start on before I get to the table).

 

Then we did spelling - that went ok, it was test day and she was prepared and knew her words so she didn't have much of a problem finishing that quickly. Then I gave her a break because I could see her ability to sit and focus was gone. 

 

After a break I tried to do math with her, but her brain was shut down. She literally couldn't do even the simplest math problems that she knows how to do (like her 10s fact families). Her automatic recall works, but her thinking ability isn't. So for example if I say "7 and 3 make..." she'd automatically say 10. But if I showed her 7+3 on paper, she would stare at it like she's never seen the numbers before in her life... and she had just told me the answer! This was just the warm-up and I was already frustrated, so I stopped and sent her off to play. 

 

I feel helpless on days like this and don't know how to help!

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:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

I know things seem frustrating and bad, but it doesn't sound bad to me.  Just a day where she is having a bit of trouble focusing.  All kids have those days, and parents, too.  Kids with additional issues just have them more often, more intensely, but we all have those days.  Hang in there.  I know this can be mentally and physically draining.

 

Could there be some issues with linking the word labels with the actual written numbers, especially if she is tired or having a focus issue?  DD sometimes gets confused on the verbal labels versus the actual written symbol.

 

Maybe play some math games where there is physical movement?  Perhaps do some math on a dry erase board.  DS does so much better if we pull out our big dry erase board.  He can write big and there are lots of colored markers to choose from.  I let him create stories with the numbers, too, and play mathy games he comes up with himself.

 

For instance, yesterday we were trying to work on factoring.  He was getting tired and having trouble focusing, but decided he wanted to multiply all the factored numbers together.  I helped him with the computation and we multiplied a bunch of factors together, then he started experimenting by removing different factors along the list and multiplying the sequence again to see what would make the product the smallest/largest.  I let him play with the numbers to his heart's content, then afterwards he was better able to focus on actually factoring again.

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Just a quick question?  Is there any chance she missed her meds this morning?  I ask as when we had that trouble I would go look at the med sorter and 95% of the time I found out that did had NOT taken her meds...........so I would have her take them, go play for 1/2 hour and then come back and try again.

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No, I checked, she had her meds this morning.

 

Part of my difficulty is knowing how much it is behavioral in her control and how much of it is behavioral out of her control. Her whole mood changes and I can't figure out if it's the ADHD preventing her from focusing or if she's choosing to not do her work so that I will let her go play.

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Spring has sprung in my area of the country, and the weather is beautiful..  My DS has struggled to focus all week, plus all of his friends are on Spring Break.  Our Spring Break begins this afternoon once all work is accounted for.  The last 5 days have been one huge distraction.  Why not just read aloud the math questions, get her to answer aloud, and be done with it?

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We've been having a hard couple of months and I'm dealing with what you describe. Everyday is a big struggle.

 

Mine's been reading all morning but when I've tried to get her to do anything else, she starts yelling. I even offered to let her take pictures for her coop project or go to the library to print things out on their color printer. But no. 

 

You really have my sympathy. It's not easy, is it?

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I think spring fever/cabin fever might be playing into it - we had one nice day this week and all the rest have been cold and rainy. 

 

I decided that today was going to just be a wash and I would start fresh again on Monday. We are only going to the end of May because I'm due in June, I just really wanted to get a decent amount finished before June!

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My son has ADHD too (inattentive), and he is a SLOW processor. He was talking through something similar yesterday out loud, and it was clear that the numbers and his brain weren't going together for that task. He was trying mightily, but the road was just blocked. We did a different task instead.

 

Sometimes a "bad" math day is a great grammar day. Sometimes the whole day is difficult. I try to save some special stuff (or things they enjoy) for days that are like this. If it's a good day for a different subject, then we tend to focus on that. If it's a bad all around day, we do the special stuff or resort to educational videos, life skills (if they can focus), or whatever makes things work. Sometimes they need to do something therapeutic, like sort legos or sweep the floor.

 

Sometimes they just need an "organizing" task before they start the day. For my older one, that usually looks like work or sorting. My younger one often needs a physical task or something that makes him have to do something quickly (playing Count Battle on the ipad) to get the brain connections primed.

 

it sounds like you handled things well. I just threw out the other ideas in case they work for you at some point. It also can take some time to get meds just right, and they still have some random functioning with meds too. The time change is still throwing us off, plus we had a conference at church last week that messed up bedtimes. It shows.

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My son has ADHD too (inattentive), and he is a SLOW processor. He was talking through something similar yesterday out loud, and it was clear that the numbers and his brain weren't going together for that task. He was trying mightily, but the road was just blocked. We did a different task instead.

 

Sometimes a "bad" math day is a great grammar day. Sometimes the whole day is difficult. I try to save some special stuff (or things they enjoy) for days that are like this. If it's a good day for a different subject, then we tend to focus on that. If it's a bad all around day, we do the special stuff or resort to educational videos, life skills (if they can focus), or whatever makes things work. Sometimes they need to do something therapeutic, like sort legos or sweep the floor.

 

Sometimes they just need an "organizing" task before they start the day. For my older one, that usually looks like work or sorting. My younger one often needs a physical task or something that makes him have to do something quickly (playing Count Battle on the ipad) to get the brain connections primed.

 

it sounds like you handled things well. I just threw out the other ideas in case they work for you at some point. It also can take some time to get meds just right, and they still have some random functioning with meds too. The time change is still throwing us off, plus we had a conference at church last week that messed up bedtimes. It shows.

:iagree:

 

FWIW, today DD was stressing over a dance she is supposed to go to tonight.  She was struggling to focus at all on school so instead I asked her what she might like to do to get her mind off the dance that would still be productive in some way.  She went and ruthlessly cleaned out her room.  She made a pile of things to give to a friend's little girl and a pile to donate and a pile she thought I should look through in case I needed anything.  Afterwards her room was so organized she felt really happy and was able to finish her school work in her nicely organized room.

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My son has ADHD too (inattentive), and he is a SLOW processor. He was talking through something similar yesterday out loud, and it was clear that the numbers and his brain weren't going together for that task. He was trying mightily, but the road was just blocked. We did a different task instead.

 

Sometimes a "bad" math day is a great grammar day. Sometimes the whole day is difficult. I try to save some special stuff (or things they enjoy) for days that are like this. If it's a good day for a different subject, then we tend to focus on that. If it's a bad all around day, we do the special stuff or resort to educational videos, life skills (if they can focus), or whatever makes things work. Sometimes they need to do something therapeutic, like sort legos or sweep the floor.

 

Sometimes they just need an "organizing" task before they start the day. For my older one, that usually looks like work or sorting. My younger one often needs a physical task or something that makes him have to do something quickly (playing Count Battle on the ipad) to get the brain connections primed.

 

it sounds like you handled things well. I just threw out the other ideas in case they work for you at some point. It also can take some time to get meds just right, and they still have some random functioning with meds too. The time change is still throwing us off, plus we had a conference at church last week that messed up bedtimes. It shows.

 

 

Thank you for these ideas! I used to have a chart with organizing, calming, and stimulating activities, I should really find it and laminate it and put it on the wall so that I remember that sometimes she needs something other than just her meds to get going.

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:iagree:

 

FWIW, today DD was stressing over a dance she is supposed to go to tonight.  She was struggling to focus at all on school so instead I asked her what she might like to do to get her mind off the dance that would still be productive in some way.  She went and ruthlessly cleaned out her room.  She made a pile of things to give to a friend's little girl and a pile to donate and a pile she thought I should look through in case I needed anything.  Afterwards her room was so organized she felt really happy and was able to finish her school work in her nicely organized room.

 

Lol, that is EXACTLY the kind of thing I was talking about. So like my older son. (And truthfully, sometimes like me when things spin out of control.)

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:iagree:

 

FWIW, today DD was stressing over a dance she is supposed to go to tonight.  She was struggling to focus at all on school so instead I asked her what she might like to do to get her mind off the dance that would still be productive in some way.  She went and ruthlessly cleaned out her room.  She made a pile of things to give to a friend's little girl and a pile to donate and a pile she thought I should look through in case I needed anything.  Afterwards her room was so organized she felt really happy and was able to finish her school work in her nicely organized room.

 

Lol, that is EXACTLY the kind of thing I was talking about. So like my older son. (And truthfully, sometimes like me when things spin out of control.)

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Oh my, all of my posts are doubling up. Sorry. Not sure why that's happening.

Just means I have a chance to really study up on what you are sharing.  :)

 

Lol, that is EXACTLY the kind of thing I was talking about. So like my older son. (And truthfully, sometimes like me when things spin out of control.)

:laugh:

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