Attention span

[Hopalong]

This is really off topic, but I figure that someone on here has to have had experience in this.  My seven year old duaghter has a hard time focusing on the task that is set before her.  She has this problem in school and at home.  We do limit her as to how much tv she can watch and she really enjoys reading books.  The problems she is having is listening while her teacher is talking, and staying focused on the lesson at the time.  Part of the problem (I think anyways) is that she is smart and usually finishes before everyone else in her class.  She reads at a third grade level (she is in the first grade).  At home she has a hard time sitting still for meals, homework.  She plays the violin very well but does not like to practice.  She becomes "tired" when it is time to help clean the house, etc.  Anyone else have this problem?  Any ideas?  Thanks

[Chryco Psycho]

I have had this problem my whole life , I could ace school without ever studing , if I could be botherd to try , school teaches at the lowest rate so the slow learners do not get left behind which creates Boredom for anyone who learns fast . There are 3 ways to learn & school doesn`t take them into account - Audio , Visual , & kinetic , most schooling teaches only one way & you better hope it is the way you learn or you will fail , I learn kinetically so you can talk to me all day but I won`t figure it out until I do it so guess which classes I was strong in & which ones I failed in , I scraped through school barely graduating . So figure out how she learns & teach her that way or put her in a school that will teach her , possible she has some ADD as well , I know I do  , none of this may help but it is what I understand after decades of not fitting into society   

[4Cruizn]

I was going to suggest the ADD thing too.  There is medical help available for this problem.   

[Chryco Psycho]

yup riddilin will slow her  down if you likr treating problems with drugs

[Challenger6pak]

I know a low sugar diet and a strict schedule in sleeping habits will help. 

[Hopalong]

The sleeping habits are a problem we are dealing with.  Her reasoning is that mom and dad stay up late so why can't I?  We are trying to stay away from the whole drug thing, it just seem like a good idea to me.  It amazes me how she can get caught up in a book and read a couple of chapters at a time, but can't sit still long enough to do the 6 math problems she is sent home with for home work.  I agree with you guys about the way school is taught, but there is no way we can afford a private school where they could teach at the pace she is capable of learning at.  Most of all, I just wish she could learn some patience.  Slow down, take a minute.  Thanks guys!

[Super Blue 72]

Hmmm...not sure what to make of it but most obvious one would think about ADHD.  Any family history of it?

Here's some info on it:

http://www.add.org/articles/factsheet.html

[ChallengerGary]

ADD/ADHD  is one of the most over diagnosed childhood "afflictions."   I have  a son that is now 9 years old and although he was clearly bright he nearly failed kindergarten and was a serious problem in  1st grade.  My wife found out about something called sensory processing disorder.  Turns out, his brain had some sort of disconnect and he could not sit still because his brain was constantly seeking physical stimuli.  We took him to an Occcupational Therapist and by the end of 2nd grade he went from being one of the two lowest readers to one of the top readers in his class.  His teacher wanted to know what hapened and why everything finally "clicked."  Now in 3rd grade he is at the top of his class and his behavior at school has earned him nothing but praise thus far. I thank God that I have a wife who did not simply want to medicate our son and instead searched for answers.  I don't know about where you live, but in South Florida, if a child gets diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, the schools actually get more funding so there is no incentive to find the root cause. They just say it's ADD, put the kids on drugs and then get the extra $$ in their budgets.  And then when the kids are teenagers, they wonder why the kids start taking illicit drugs?!!?!

[Chryco Psycho]

Yeah I am a big fan of drugs for everything ... NOT
 think about it how many people do you know that are not on some long term medication , I virtually do not know anyone , & you wonder why society is f^*()ed up !!!
 it sounds like I may have a simialr problem as your Child Gary ,  I have to operate kinetically

[moparmaniac59]

I have a 13 year old daughter that bounces off the walls, can't stay focused or sit still for any length of time, yet she is extremely bright. It's hereditary and she gets it from me. I couldn't sit still in school, was always in trouble for talking and was generally scatter brained. In my day, there was no term for it or treatment. They just said I'm hyper & sent me to the principal. Generally the kids like me learned to cope and deal with the hyperness or self medicated with alcohol or drugs or did like me and simply dropped out of school. Call it what you want; ADD, ADHD, Hyper, sensory perception disconnect or whatever, but here's the deal. The condition is REAL. It's the treatment that comes into question and heated debate. We had our daughter taken to a clinical psychologist. I watched the evaluation process and there was no question in my mind that my daughter had a problem. She has been treated with Aderol and now with Stratera which is a non-stimulant. She is under the watchful eye of a wonderful & very gifted pediatrician. They very carefully monitor her dosage, health and overall condition. I don't like the idea of just dosing kids without any clinical evaluation or medical evaluation. I do know that my daughter went from flunking to being in a gifted program. You have to do the reserch and make the choices yourself, but I suggest finding a well educated pediatrician in this subject and also a child specialty clinical psychologist to do an overall evaluation. As for me, I still am scattered brained. I'll go out to the garage to get a screwdriver to fix the door knob and the next think I know, I'm fooling with a carburetor. I can set a wrench down and two seconds later I can't find it! With age I've learned ways to deal with it, but not without a cost and a lot of effort, I did go on to complete a 4 year apprenticeship. So please have your child professionally evaluated. It's the treatment you'll have to decide upon with careful counseling and research. Ignoring it isn't the answer. I have a neighbor that has a son with these symptons and they choose to ignore it and say, "Oh, he's just an active boy". This isn't the answer either as he is flunking school and may end up like I did....self medicating with booze and quitting school!! Just my two cents worth!!

[Andrew]

Id say make sure shes getting enough sleep.

[js27]

I agree with most DRUGS are not the answer. They just zone them out into submission. I do not have children of my own but I spent 20 years of my life 5 nights a weeks teaching thousands of children from 4 to adults. I taught Martial Arts. I could go on all night with examples of  the things I learned over the years but basically it comes down to NO two kids are alike. Most of the time my group classes were between 15 and 45 children.  Say out of 45 kids 30 will just blend in and have no problems--10 will be slower than the rest and have a harder time keeping up and 5 will be board out of their minds. The trick with groups is to work with them at different paces. When I saw the different groups in the whole group starting to have trouble I would break up into smaller groups and work them at their own pace. You have to keep them challenged at all times to keep them interested. If they are younger then make a game out of it. Unfortunately schools don't have that option. 30 kids one teacher. Kid get hard to control-- give them drugs. You may consider checking into a GOOD martial arts school. It will help them to discipline themselves and to have respect for the other people around in their lives.
I had many gifted students who's parents had a hard time keeping them interested in things and they love coming to my martial arts class. One mother told me that nothing has ever kept her son's interest so she thought she would try martial arts. He had an IQ of 130 at age 13 when he started training. Guess what it has been 11 years since he started and is still training.
Just my two cents
JS27

[Hopalong]

Thanks to everyone out there!  It's nice to know that I am not alone in this.  I guess thinking back, I had a bit of a problem with this sort of stuff.  But it was solved for me by the fear of dad.  Not that I remember my dad raising his hand against me, other than one or two spankings, just the idea of incurring his wrath was enough for me.  I get frustrated with my daughter, and have gone to disipline her, and her response seems to be, "Is that all you got?".  I do NOT want to medicate my child.  I agree that seeing a professional would be a good start.  I talked to her physision(?) about her inablity to focus, and she kind of blew it off as kids being kids.  Mabye a second opinion is in order.

[Challenger6pak]

After personally seeing how an Occupational Therapist helped ChallengerGary's son I would start there for a second opinion. 

[GoodysGotaCuda]

meh i never paid much attention in school either. i'd tune out, do homework at the last minute. always hated math, never interested in reading any books/english (just read spark notes for what part i needed), history wasnt interesting. book smarts was NOT my thing. probably because im hands-on with everything. i always got b's and c's, always aced auto (even the non-hands on part because i was actually interested in it). i can focus on something as long as im interested, start talking about something i could care less about and my attention span goes to crap..

..but i've turned out alright.