Need Advice for Attention

[charlotteb]

My son is 11 years old, just starting 6th grade. I've always known that he is the typical boy. He's easily distracted and has trouble noticing details at times. It is starting to cause more and more problems since his school work is growing in difficulty. Our biggest challenge is math. Of course, it is taking longer now to complete his assignments and they take more steps. We have been using Saxon for 3 years (except for a brief stint with Rod and Staff) and we just started 7/6. He is increasingly making so many careless mistakes. He won't read a problem completely and miss part of the equation or he'll copy a problem wrong. He had 25 problems today and missed 10 of them- this gave him a 60%. If he slows down and pays attention, he can do the problems. I can see where his mistakes are just not paying attention. I'm getting so frustrated. At times, we've tried to talk to him about this but it always sounds like nagging and I dont' like that. Any advice? I'm sure if he were in public school, he'd be labled ADD and medicated but that is definately not an option for us.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

[charlotteb]

bump

[Cami in UT]

I don't have any answers but would love to hear some. My ds8 is like this too, and I struggle with it so much.

 

So ladies & gentleman, any enlightenment?

[Chris in VA]

Even tho you don't want to medicate, would you consider some natural remedies? I'll bet someone can help over at the general board.

Until then, maybe you could copy half the problems for him and gradually add more? Limit distractions? (Check his environment)

[charlotteb]

Even tho you don't want to medicate, would you consider some natural remedies? I'll bet someone can help over at the general board.

Until then, maybe you could copy half the problems for him and gradually add more? Limit distractions? (Check his environment)

 

I have started using Omega-3 supplements recently. No big change yet though :(

 

What else could work?

[Erica in PA]

Some people from the old board might remember my posts about my ds (who's now in 6th grade) on this very subject!!! When ds was in 5th grade, this was a major problem for him. Like your son, he would consistently fail every math test due to careless work. Every day he would get close to half of his math work wrong. I knew that he knew how to do the work, he was just plain careless. I was at my wits' end!!!

 

I tried a couple of things to try to help him.. one was only allowing him to do about 4-5 problems on his own, before coming to me to check them. That way, he didn't end up with a page of 15 problems wrong to fix all at once, and it also seemed to help him concentrate more on the problems at hand, when he was dealing with them in smaller groups. Another thing I tried was assigning extra work for each careless error-- that did NOT work for my ds. I think that only works if the dc is actually capable of doing the work correctly, and my ds, at that time, was not capable of it, even though I thought he should have been. That resulted in a lot of stress for both of us, when the workload increased, and the quality of his work actually went even lower. I'm glad I realized pretty quickly that it wasn't working, and we ditched that approach right away.

 

In the end, though, I think he really just needed to grow and mature a bit. Fifth grade was awful. We took all summer off, came back in the fall, and he was like a brand new child. Suddenly, without anything done on my part, he was only missing a small fraction of his math problems. Something just clicked in his brain over the summer, and he came back much more able to work without careless errors!

 

He did well all this year. He was routinely doing 25 problems per day, and only missing maybe 3 or less most days. Quite a few times he got them all correct! I was so excited!!

 

So, my advice is try what you will to improve things now, but don't be too discouraged if your efforts fail for now. It's very likely that with time, he will grow to be more careful.

 

Erica

[momto4kings]

We follow the suggestions of the NACD and work on improving processing. You can learn more about that at www.nacd.org I think there are some new video clips on the website that are good. Send me a pm if you have any questions.

[kalanamak]

I'm working with a younger child, but the only thing that has dented this effectively has been calmly pointing out 1) what we would be doing know if he'd have focused from the get go and 2) how much more work there was and how little time (a concrete number) it will take to get through it if he focuses.

I certainly allow a lot of (actual) wiggle for kiddo, but if he seems to be sailing out to sea, mentally, this brings him back on course. I do have the bribe "and then we'll go to the park" at this age.

 

I'd try short runs of real concentration. Pick his "best time of day". Build on successes. Math gets more complex around then and I remember getting really down in the dumps about it. I finally did, but not actually until I was much older. I'm so happy it didn't become a bone of contention with my folks.

HTH

[skissugar]

can i suggest carol branier's book.. how to get your child off the refridgerator and onto learning? ... it states its will help the add or adhd child but really it has some great practical solutions for any child who is distractable and it is really funny to read :)

[charlotteb]

Thanks so much for the advice! I'll check out the book and website recommended. I may try to break his work into smaller intervals and possibly change the time of day for math. I give an update after a few weeks or so.

[karensk]

I tried a couple of things to try to help him.. one was only allowing him to do about 4-5 problems on his own, before coming to me to check them. That way, he didn't end up with a page of 15 problems wrong to fix all at once, and it also seemed to help him concentrate more on the problems at hand, when he was dealing with them in smaller groups. Another thing I tried was assigning extra work for each careless error-- that did NOT work for my ds. I think that only works if the dc is actually capable of doing the work correctly, and my ds, at that time, was not capable of it, even though I thought he should have been. That resulted in a lot of stress for both of us, when the workload increased, and the quality of his work actually went even lower. I'm glad I realized pretty quickly that it wasn't working, and we ditched that approach right away.

 

 

We were having trouble with careless errors, too. A lot of the difficulty had to do with the lack of neatness, not only mathematical errors.

 

I reduced the amount of independent work and increased the time ds11 & I spent working through problems together. So, we'd sit together with the materials and I'd talk him through the problem while writing down all the steps. I would also dialogue with him, asking him things like, "what do we need to do next?" and "where do I put the 9?" and still doing the writing for him. I started with asking him just a few of these types of questions per problem (and mostly telling him what we'd do next) and gradually shifted to asking these questions for every single step until he knew them all.

 

If he didn't know what to do next or missed a step, I'd let him know and then write down only the correct part. After he seemed to know all the steps and the format for setting up the problems, I'd hand over the paper & pencil to him and have him write, but continue to sit by him and dialogue in the same manner, having him tell me the next step before he wrote anything down. I made sure no steps or details were missed at all. So if he skipped a step, I'd remind him immediately.

 

Once he was good at this, then I'd let him go do one problem completely independently. He'd bring it to me to check, and if it was correct (the neatness, format and final answer), then I'd let him do a few more on his own. I'd gradually increase that over the days, according to his ability.

 

If he was still skipping steps or writing sloppily, then the next day's lesson would be the same -- we'd sit and work through problems together for ~30 minutes. If he showed improvement, then the next day's lesson would have less time working through problems together, maybe ~5-15 min., and more independent work.

 

HTH!

[Penny]

If he slows down and pays attention, he can do the problems.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

I'm wondering if you have a problem at all. If he can do it, he will do it when it has meaning for him! Work on making sure he can do the problems and building confidence. Reduce the number of problems he has to do if he knows how to do them. Relax! As long as he is learning, he is fine! If you had said "My son just can't get math," you would have more to worry about. Think about it, what son really wants to concentrate on math for an hour a day, especially when he already knows it?

 

Blessings,

 

Penny

[charlotteb]

I'm wondering if you have a problem at all. If he can do it, he will do it when it has meaning for him! Work on making sure he can do the problems and building confidence. Reduce the number of problems he has to do if he knows how to do them. Relax! As long as he is learning, he is fine! If you had said "My son just can't get math," you would have more to worry about. Think about it, what son really wants to concentrate on math for an hour a day, especially when he already knows it?

 

Blessings,

 

Penny

 

What you've said is probably so true! I find myself getting caught up in the Saxon method of "You must do all problems in the book" as stated in their introductions. It does take my son about an hour (sometimes more) a day to do his math. And I think you also hit the nail on the head reagarding confidence. When he makes his mistakes, I'll often notice that they're more towards the end of his work so that could point to overload. Then I get frustrated and get on him about it. And I can see that affects him. Thanks for the honesty and advice!

[Adrianne]

I'm wondering if you have a problem at all. If he can do it, he will do it when it has meaning for him! Work on making sure he can do the problems and building confidence. Reduce the number of problems he has to do if he knows how to do them. Relax! As long as he is learning, he is fine! If you had said "My son just can't get math," you would have more to worry about. Think about it, what son really wants to concentrate on math for an hour a day, especially when he already knows it?

 

Blessings,

 

Penny

 

:iagree:

 

My ds9, soon to be 10, is the same way. We use Saxon also. We reduced the number of problems he has to do. This has helped with the mistakes, but he still makes them. But his confidence is much better. We went from him panicking with even adding the price of candy at the store in his head, to him being willing and wanting to do math in his head.

 

My ds9 is good in many other things. I had to be willing to accept that math was not one of them. We do not focus in what he gets wrong, we correct it and go on.

 

I honestly feel it does not help to focus on what the child can't do or doesn't do well. I try to focus on what they do right and just get through the wrong stuff.

[Pensguys]

He is increasingly making so many careless mistakes. He won't read a problem completely and miss part of the equation or he'll copy a problem wrong. He had 25 problems today and missed 10 of them- this gave him a 60%. If he slows down and pays attention, he can do the problems. I can see where his mistakes are just not paying attention. Any advice? I'm sure if he were in public school, he'd be labled ADD and medicated but that is definately not an option for us.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

Our OccTherapist says that she saw a GREAT increase in speed with her children in getting their homework completed in a shorter period of time by using a sour candy spray....it is REALLY sour; OR she said frozen lemonade/limeade (just a teaspoon or so). She said it is a sensory thing that sort of wakes up their brain a bit by using the sour/cold combo. It is worth a shot. I didn't see it have an impact with my ds but I'm going to try it again this fall and see if it works better.

[manylilblessings]

Charlotte, I think you've gotten some good advice. My 10yo son is also likely ADD, and not medicated. We used Saxon, and while I think it's a good program, the repetition/spiraling made him restless. He tends to get things and want to move on. I also think that at 11 years old 1 hour is too long for math. Once we switched to Singapore he was much happier, math took less time, and he understood all the concepts much better because of the approach. He still makes some careless mistakes, but IMO that means I shouldn't have left him to do it by himself. The more I sit with him, and let him talk it through out loud, the better he does. I don't have to do anything, but listen to his train of thought, and then point back to the book so that the other thoughts in his head don't come out too! He's a boy of many thoughts, and the ones about Math aren't his favorites! He works about 30 minutes a day on Math, and is finishing up 4B (which is supposedly 5th grade, 1st semester). So, all in all, I'm really pleased with Singapore.

 

Hang in there... he's lucky to have a mom who understands him as well as you do!

 

BTW... careless mistakes are really common. When I taught 4th and 5th graders everyone made them, except the girls, who were meticulous, perfectionist, and practically perfect in every way! Don't sweat those mistakes too much. Lack of understanding is a much bigger deal. Heck... I find mistakes in my checkbook each month, and I'm almost 40!

[suzanne44]

It's not only a boy thing. My daughter struggles with this in math, as well -- it's not her favorite subject. She can excel when she is careful, but when she's not... well...

 

Three things I have found that help. First, when grading her Saxon math tests, she has to evaluate all missed problems. Did she not know the concept (unlikely in Saxon), not read the problem correctly, or miscopy the problem.

 

Second, we began grading her work together. We sit down together and she gives me her answer for each problem. If she misses one, she must correct it then and there (I can help her if needed, but I usually send her back to the lesson first so she'll learn to do that on her own).

 

Third, she must write out all steps for her work, as well as check each answer when possible.

 

This has helped some. Oh, and moving her math to the first subject of the day was good for her as well. I let her work wherever she is comfortable. Some days it's on her bed, sometimes at the dining room table, sometimes on the floor. As long as it's neat and I can tell she is truly working, I'm good with it.

 

Sometimes it's a challenge to minimize distractions but also keep tabs on how our kids are doing. That's something to strive for.

 

Hope something in there helps someone!

[Willow]

Sounds like my ds too (also 11). Its not just saxon as well, we got the same thing with TT.

 

We switched to MUS, and went back to multiplication and division, so these skills became automatic. It worked for us, as he now enjoys maths and is doing much better.

 

Also a word about curriculum that says you MUST do something with it (like do every question, or do it in THIS order etc).

1. The author has never met your child

2. it is YOUR curriculum, you paid for it and you may do what you like with it ;) (yes, anything! Miss out half the questions, only do odd questions, skip half the lessons because he knows this stuff, hang around in one lesson for 3 weeks or more to make sure he truly understands the material, or toss the whole lot in the trash and go to the park instead. :lol: )

.

[Kathie in VA]

My ds (well all my kids) have the same problem. I think part of it is that they get bored doing math problem after math problem. When I sit with my ds I can see that he knows his math. He can do more of it in his head then I can! But he'll still get enough wrong to get anywhere from a C to an F when he does know the material!

 

 

• We are still working on this but some things that sometimes work:
  
• Checking his own work and correcting it as he goes.
  
• Placing my hand on his back when he spaces does bring him back from Pluto without my harsh words.
  
• Sucking on a candy or chewing gum. Yep strange but it does help.
  
• Calling out 'done' after each problem so I can hear that he is focused.
  
• Sometimes we'll break up math and just do a few problems. Then do some spelling. Then a few more math problems. Then something else. We'd just keep swapping subjects till math is done.
  
• Oh and working on basic math facts orally. Math just goes faster when these are really memorized.
  

 

 

hth

[abreakfromlife]

I'd suggest eliminating high-fructose corn syrup from his diet. We've noticed a HUGE difference in my ds after doing it. We eliminated it from our entire diet, just b/c of general health and nutrition. There was a weekend where ds just happened to have a ton of junk food and he was bouncing off the walls for a couple of days, not paying attention, etc.......I was ready to give him ritalin :lol::lol: after it ran out of his system, he was fine again. Still energetic :D but a controlled energy, more of an attention span, etc............a couple months after that, the same thing happened on a weekend with grandma :glare: and the difference was night and day.