Help me with attention to detail

[busymomof3]

I have a 14 year old son that constantly misspeaks, using wrong words.  An example from yesterday, he kept saying gastric acid when he meant lactic acid.  Now I know how easy it is to misspeak, but it is so much more often with him than anyone else in the family, including his fraternal twin, that I am concerned that he is beyond what is normal, and I want to do something to help him out.  His writing also has a lack of attention to detail.  He understands what he is supposed to do, but when I ask him to review his work for mistakes, he has a very hard time finding them.  Math, it is a similar story.  He generally understands the concepts, but his mistakes are most frequently from not focusing and and really paying attention.  

Do you all have any suggestions for some fun activities that we could do during summer break that would help my son learn better focus and attention to detail?  Or any other suggestions for that matter.  Thank you in advance.  

[PeterPan]

You'd hate to assume it's a character flaw and something he just needs to work harder at if he actually has a disability. When I got my dd eval'd at 12, she turned out to have very low processing speed relative to IQ and word retrieval issues. Your ds' errors in speech there follow patterns of word finding errors. Here's a book to get you started. It's on the Tip of My Tongue: Word-Finding Strategies to Remember Names and Words You Often Forget

If you have the funding, you might like to consider getting evals with a psych or SLP or both. There are some new tests for EF (executive function) that some SLPs will have. Many people who have issues with attention and processing speed will have EF deficits. Once you have the right word like that, then you can get materials and strategies for people with Executive Function deficits.

http://www.linguisystems.com/products/product/search

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=executive+function+&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aexecutive+function+

Also, just for good measure, you could take him to a developmental optometrist, just to get a basic annual exam and a screening. Just say hey, is there any reason to think *vision* is part of the explanation for this math and editing stuff. Sometimes difficulties are a collection of several problems. Like maybe he has low working memory and processing speed, so he's working REALLY REALLY HARD to hold his thoughts and do that wicked hard math. Then maybe his eyes have a *little* bit of an issue and they lose their spot on the page or jump or aren't converging right. And maybe that gives him a bit of visual memory problems so he doesn't remember common spellings or visual patterns like math facts. So you could be asking for a solution for something that had several contributing factors. 

The great thing is that a lot of the common stuff is really easy to identify and work on! Like if someone has working memory issues, you can bump those by targeting working memory. Some EF and attention issues will improve with metronome work, which we explain how to do over on LC. You can do that for free. Sometimes you'll do tests for retained reflexes and find those were holding him back. They're small things, but each piece, if built up stronger, gives him more room.

I had to hit a point where I realized my dd WAS trying and that she needed some TOOLS, that something was wrong. Obviously I don't know your 14 yo boy, but it's stuff to look at. For instance, you're wanting attention to detail, and the visual tracking exercises they do in VT (vision therapy) ARE for that. So it's really, really not a leap to say hey get his vision checked by a developmental optometrist. You could do that and find stuff, legit stuff, that was making it hard for him. And then try harder wouldn't be as effective an approach is solving the problem and getting the right intervention. So you just peel away and try things. I don't think any 14 yo boy wants to make those kinds of errors. I think if he is, there's stuff going on.