high schooler trouble staying focused

[Holly IN]

He has always struggled with school at home. We had considered that he may have attention problems. He is talking to us and saying that when he is reading his brain shuts down or spaces out. He can't focus on his reading. His grades here at home reflects what he is saying.

 

He is not hyperactive at all but does have trouble paying attention and staying focused. He said he is trying to stay focused but his brain wins.

 

Anybody experience this?

 

He is on fish oil and we can tell a big difference in him especially his IOWA test scores.

 

He said he needs help but we do not want to medicate but will use any natural remendies.

 

Holly

[TravelingChris]

Why do you not want to medicate? It can be the difference between doing fantastically or struggling mightily. I know my dd would not be the great student she is without her medication. She realizes how much it helps her and wants to take it.

[Holly IN]

I should have mentioned that not to question why we won't medicate. ;) We prefer not to medicate. We want to utilize natural medicine first. I really do not want to focus on discussing medication. Please stick to the natural remendies for my post please. :001_smile:

 

Holly

[Ottakee]

If the fish oils help, make sure you are giving him enough of the EPA. 1000mg of EPA (not just total fish oil) is suggested. Most fish oils only have 200-500mg of EPA per SERVING which might be 2-4 pills.

[Greta Lea]

15yo ds has Asperger syndrome and my 12yo ds has ADD and dyslexia. We tried meds with both of them, a few different ones in fact, and they didn't help. If we'd found one that worked, we'd be using it! My 15yo ds does take Zoloft for moods, but it doesn't help his attention span at all.

 

My 12yo ds actually has gotten a LOT better since we discovered he had really bad nasal allergies. He takes meds and shots for that. I guess we saw a big difference after getting the shots for about 6 months. He also does take a natural supplement that helps some too.

 

My Aspie *really* struggles with staying focused. He describes his issues like your son does. One thing we've noticed that helps is to get regular, vigorous exercise. It's amazing how that helps.

 

He's figured out that if he can listen to a book or text being read aloud (either by me or on audio cd) while reading along (he really needs to do both...listen and read along), he can stay focused MUCH easier. We've done a lot of this over the years and I honestly think that this has helped him kind of train his mind to stay focused. THis is one of the reasons that he likes Teaching Textbooks so much. He gets the visual and the auditory input from that program.

 

Both of my boys have a lot of trouble staying focused when they are doing math. A year or so ago my older son asked if he could listen to music with lyrics while doing the written work in his math book. I decided to let him and I was amazed that he completed the work quicker and with LESS mistakes. Now, this child struggles in math and this has really helped him.

 

Last week my almost 12yo ds asked if he could try this too during math and it worked. He struggles with math also a little bit, but he is doing better if he listens to the music during math. In fact, for some reason he did not listen to music when he did his math today and it's the first lesson that he's made a huge amount of mistakes all week. It was a drastic difference.

 

My 15yo ds says the music distracts him from his thoughts so he can focus on his math. His psychologist has explained to me why this works for him. He says that there's not a lot of people whose brain works like this, but there are others.

 

HTH,

Greta:)

[Greta Lea]

My 12yo and I both take L-Theanine. It helps with stress and relaxation. He and I both are very anxious people and that makes the attention span issues worse (for me too).

[Beth in OH]

I have been reading the book, Teenagers with ADD/ADHD: A Guide for Parents and Professionals, and I have found it to be helpful for ideas on structural support. It also helps me understand my dd's issues better so that I can be creative in helping her.

 

The book doesn't address "remedies", only meds.

 

Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Teenagers-ADD-ADHD-Parents-Professionals/dp/1890627313/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251371080&sr=8-1

[AK_Mom4]

Can I throw out an idea on the Music? Music is good - Music with HEADPHONES can be even better. We played around with both for DS13 and definitely found improvement in his focus abilities when using headphones as opposed to just background music. I have no objection to listening to his music, but having him use headphones really helped with the concentration. He says it gives his brain something to do while he reads.

 

And the best part - it's a totally natural remedy!:) No meds required!

[elizam]

There aren't any proven natural remedies for attentional problems.

 

That said, a few things *might* help, or might not, depending.

 

Chewing gum

music

more physical activity before difficult subjects, or during breaks, or after school time

different curriculum

 

If nothing else works, I would highly recommend consulting a professional who also is sensitive to your hesitancy to medicate.

 

Medication is not necessarily bad for all kids. FOr some reason, most homeschoolers balk at this concept. I know; I was once one of those homeschool moms. I did my son a great disservice.

[Greta Lea]

My son prefers headphones, so there must be a difference.

[Carol in Cal.]

and boring black and white printed books are helpful to some distractable children.

 

For genuine ADD, I have heard that a little caffiene can help quite a bit. This is because the 'focussing' part of their brain is 'off' and the caffiene turns it back on. The right kind of dose is supposed to boost that part of the brain activity without overly boosting the rest; thus no increase in hyperactivity. It's hard for me to imagine this working, but others swear by it and it's easy enough to try half a cup of coffee and see if it helps. BTW, this mechanism is the same one as for the Ritalin type 'upper' drugs commonly prescribed for AHDD, so it makes sense intuitively.

[mom4him]

He has always struggled with school at home. We had considered that he may have attention problems. He is talking to us and saying that when he is reading his brain shuts down or spaces out. He can't focus on his reading. His grades here at home reflects what he is saying.

 

He is not hyperactive at all but does have trouble paying attention and staying focused. He said he is trying to stay focused but his brain wins.

 

Anybody experience this?

 

He is on fish oil and we can tell a big difference in him especially his IOWA test scores.

 

He said he needs help but we do not want to medicate but will use any natural remendies.

 

Holly

When I started watching my ds's chemical exposure the change that I saw was amazing. Perfumes, colognes, cleaning products, laundry products, air fresheners, candles, personal hygiene products, the list goes on and on.

I am also very chemically sensitive and for me when I have an exposure to some of the above listed items it is like someone took my brain out and set it on the shelf.

[cjbeach]

My 43 yo DH has some ADD going on.. always has and has always be resistant to meds. On a whim he gave Focus Factor a try with pretty *amazing* results. However, getting him to take it everyday, or do anything consistently or finish anything .. that's a whole other story. ;)

My 8 yo ds (ASD) was on a Sea Buddies formula... Concentrate and for a while did well. I think for him I found that initially everything seems to help but then tapers off. I did recommend Concentrate to other moms, 2 of which said they tried and felt they saw a difference in their child! But like everything else, it's pricey...

We're all Nordic Natural Fish Oil takers here. Even my 4yo can swallow a really fishy tasting fish oil cap right down complete with fish burps after and take it in stride LOL.

[sheryl]

He has always struggled with school at home. We had considered that he may have attention problems. He is talking to us and saying that when he is reading his brain shuts down or spaces out. He can't focus on his reading. His grades here at home reflects what he is saying.

 

He is not hyperactive at all but does have trouble paying attention and staying focused. He said he is trying to stay focused but his brain wins.

 

Anybody experience this?

 

He is on fish oil and we can tell a big difference in him especially his IOWA test scores.

 

He said he needs help but we do not want to medicate but will use any natural remendies.

 

Holly

 

 

Holly,

 

It sounds like ADD, not ADHD perhaps. Also, has he had a neurological checkup to make sure he is not having absence seizures? It doesn't sound like that unless it's in the beginning stage, which I doubt.

 

I fully agree with and respect your desire to use natural remedies. When our dd was diagnosed with epilepsy and now add,adhd and odd I knew we did not have a choice. The pros outweigh the cons. In my dd's case, the doctors are optimistic that in time she will be able to be weaned from her meds. Right now we "have" to put her on meds and believe God is bigger than all of this. We have to have faith that the meds will not hurt her. That is why she has blood work. And, the younger the meds are started the better the outcome for many of these issues.

 

Sheryl <><

[LizzyBee]

There is some good evidence that Cogmed helps improve attention and working memory weaknesses. You should be able to find some information with google. In our area, it is offered by the Psychoeducational Clinic at NC State University and costs about $1500. I think if it works, it would be money well spent. We haven't used it for our dd with ADHD yet, but we will consider it if some other things we're doing don't help.

[printrobin]

This is the age when the mind of kids wanders here and there. It is not a problem. You must also have faced such problems. It is the part of the biological cycle. Just do not get worried. Talk to him about his friends, his school, the problems he is facing, give him some of your time etc. You will surely help him.

[EKS]

My son has ADD and dyslexia. He is also not hyperactive, though he was a handful when he was little. I also didn't want to medicate and we didn't until he was 12 and taking 5 hours to do a 1 hour math assignment (and 1 hour was a generous estimate). A protein breakfast (eggs) helped quite a bit. We also tried fish oil and zinc which may have had an effect but it wasn't as pronounced as the protein. The biggest change occurred when he started taking stimulant medication last fall. Night and day. Though it came at a price. When he takes the medication he gets cranky and he also doesn't eat. He became extremely thin and hypoglycemic before we got a handle on it. As a "natural" alternative you could try coffee.

 

Have you gotten a developmental vision exam? Or perhaps you could try something like Idea Chain (I have not used this myself) that will help with comprehension by getting him to visualize what he's reading. Is it only when he's reading? Maybe having him take notes while he reads or underline important material in the book would help because it would require him to be more active. Or if you have the time, you could break the reading into smaller bits and have him orally summarize each bit until he retrains himself to pay attention.

 

The Myth of the ADD Child has numerous natural suggestions for dealing with attention problems. You might also want to take a look at The Mislabeled Child. It has some good information about different conditions that look like attention problems. The authors are against medicating unless it is absolutely necessary.

[tex-mex]

and boring black and white printed books are helpful to some distractable children.

 

For genuine ADD, I have heard that a little caffiene can help quite a bit. This is because the 'focussing' part of their brain is 'off' and the caffiene turns it back on. The right kind of dose is supposed to boost that part of the brain activity without overly boosting the rest; thus no increase in hyperactivity. It's hard for me to imagine this working, but others swear by it and it's easy enough to try half a cup of coffee and see if it helps. BTW, this mechanism is the same one as for the Ritalin type 'upper' drugs commonly prescribed for AHDD, so it makes sense intuitively.

 

:iagree: I know of two people whom have had severe ADHD - hyperactive. As adults, they often went without eating and always had a cup of Starbucks in hand. Self-medicated. It actually helped them to focus. One person lived on coffee and coke. He would drink 10 cokes a day. Unfortunately, now that he is 48, the sugary caffienated drinks have backfired on him (Mountain Dew, Red Bull, Coke, etc) as he is now diagnosed as Type II Diabetic. He still does coffee with sugar substitute. But no more sugary colas. He misses the help it gave for focus.