Dealing with inattention

[ClassicalTwins]

We seem to not be able to get over attention during school. It was a problem in ps and has carried over to home. They have been out of school since Feb 09, and it just isn't any better....What else can I do. We've have tried nearly everything for our 7yr old twin boys...but paying attention to ANYTHING just is beyond them...

 

Games for school, individual time, nothing works

[Haiku]

My son is very inattentive, too. I just keep verbally redirecting him. "Son, what are we working on here?" "Son, what question did I just ask you?" "Son, that's not what we are talking about right now." "Son, I need you to be looking at me right now," and etc.

 

Tara

[MIch elle]

http://www.westfieldacademy.org/adhd/index.sht

[Stacey in MA]

I don't have any magic cure yet (:lurk5:), but one trick that works sometimes is this: Keep having small mileposts through the school day. "When you're done with that math, we'll have a cookie", or "When we finish that spelling worksheet then we can watch a Magic School Bus video!", or something else fun to keep the focus forward. It doesn't always work though. My DD gets distracted by EVERYTHING - things around her on the floor, sounds outside, things she's thinking - everything! so removing the possible distractions is the best solution....just not always possible. For instance, she loves playing with her younger brother. If she passes by him on the way to her book shelf, she ends up touching him or playing with him ALWAYS!! But if he's in a nap, it makes my life (and hers!) much easier...no baby to distraction, no distraction, focus remains! Of course, if she finds an unsharpened pencil on the way to the shelf, I might not see her back at the table for another ten minutes!!! lol! Anyway, I'm not exaggerating when I say that more than 1/2 her day is spent being distracted doing "nothing"....drives me nuts.

 

Anyway, good luck! - Stacey

[Kristine in VA]

Sometimes food allergies can contribute to inattention. For my ds it is artificial flavors and colors in food. I can always tell if he is off of our natural/organic diet. For example, this weekend he was camping, eating lots of processed foods. Today, he is whiny, complaining, and can't stay focused. Also, I've found that fish oil makes a difference, but it does take a few weeks to kick in.

 

Also, I have a friend who has her active ds jump on a trampoline while saying is math facts, memory work, etc. For some reason he focuses more and expends extra energy!

 

Kristine in VA

[diaperjoys]

We made a sticker chart. "Staying On Task". Anytime our 6yo gets his work done in an attentive manner he gets a sticker...every so often there is a reward on the chart which he really looks forward to.

 

For our son this is not a cure, but certainly a help!

[sagira]

:lurk5:

[Food4Thought]

Sometimes food allergies can contribute to inattention. For my ds it is artificial flavors and colors in food. I can always tell if he is off of our natural/organic diet. For example, this weekend he was camping, eating lots of processed foods. Today, he is whiny, complaining, and can't stay focused. Also, I've found that fish oil makes a difference, but it does take a few weeks to kick in.

 

Also, I have a friend who has her active ds jump on a trampoline while saying is math facts, memory work, etc. For some reason he focuses more and expends extra energy!

 

Kristine in VA

 

:iagree: All of this is good stuff. We too notice behavior issues with additives.

If it's an issue with being wiggly, they may be kinesthetic learners. My son actually paces sometimes when learning something new and intense, but I know he's getting it. It took a while for me to settle down on making him just sit and do it, but if I give him some "wiggle room" then we get along a lot better.

[KrissiK]

I've had this problem, too. It comes and goes with my 7 yr. old DS. Driving me crazy. He lacks drive in all areas of his life, it seems. He basically wants to do what he wants to do and anything that gets in the way of that... well, he throws a tantrum. He does his school work easily, but he doesn't want to, so it's a battle every day. He's quite athletic, or could be if he actually applied himself, and listened to his coach. I am just at my wits end!

[ClassicalTwins]

After all these responses...it seems this it typical 7 yr old behavior....I think I get overwhelmed because I get hit with 2 wiggle worms...alas the joys of twins

[Haiku]

I think I get overwhelmed because I get hit with 2 wiggle worms...alas the joys of twins

 

My kids aren't twins but they are less than a year apart. I call them "the puppies" because as soon as I turn my back they are on the floor wrestling like, well, puppies!

 

Tara

[Momof1plustwins]

After all these responses...it seems this it typical 7 yr old behavior....I think I get overwhelmed because I get hit with 2 wiggle worms...alas the joys of twins

 

Great....my twins will be 7 in November. CALGON TAKE ME AWAY before they turn 7!

[ClassicalTwins]

Great....my twins will be 7 in November. CALGON TAKE ME AWAY before they turn 7!

 

I keep saying it will be better...it just becomes different, some ways better...some things never change. I love my boys!!:grouphug:

[Ester Maria]

Our younger one sometimes has attention issues, nothing as huge as you described, but what helps us every time:

- A detoxification of the body (no sugar in any way, shape or form; no caffeinated tea; low carbs; nothing "artificial", etc.; and a diet mostly based on fruits, veggies and lots of water)

- A detoxification of the mind (no or very limited active electronics, no passive exposure to electronics, especially TV, no big amounts of music; "low information diet" when it comes to news or even schoolwork - no excessive amounts of information, especially new)

- Focus on small CONCRETE goals throughout the day, checking them off helps too

- All the school materials should be, as I repeatedly bring up on these boards :D, PLAIN, WITHOUT COLORFUL DISTRACTIONS, because it DOES matter and it DOES change how you learn -> switch to PLAIN TEXT as much as you can

- Quiet place where you study, physically separate the kids if possible, give them each their own time and space to complete a task (a small and a concrete one)

- Increase the amount of the daily physical activity, and try making it more exhausting (not just that they move, but that it exhausts them physically); try physically exhausting them BEFORE schoolwork

 

I don't subscribe to the "it's normal" school of thought. I don't have boys, but from what I see with my family members who do, it's NOT normal; and I personally know at least 3-4 of them that would slapped with an ADHD label in America and possibly even put on drugs, but their parents took the above steps and the kids are normal and as focused as children can be. True, they don't watch films which bring about physical tension (those full of action, etc.), they don't play games or eat sweets, since those kinds of things influence their mind the way that they become hyperactive and cannot concentrate - but their schoolwork is done, and they're healthy and happy kids. :)

 

We don't need to go to such extremes as our child is only slightly vulnerable on those, but for kids who are vulnerable a lot (a brain wired that way, nothing "abnormal" about it), a complete lifestyle change helps a lot, with a lot of parental control when they're small which with time turns into self-control and knowing how much can you take. And every time we put our daughter through a few days of such a regime, she's back to normal.

 

I cannot guarantee it will work for you too, but for us and our extended family it does. :)

[cseitter]

Have you tried workboxes? And Centers? My oldest is ADD and workboxes is a great idea for inattentive kids. Tanner is on meds (a MUCH lower dose than he was in ps) and he is older so he has learned to chill out and stay on task.