Does anyone have any experience with a child that is totally disorganized, constantly losing things, forgetting things, skipping problems because she “didn’t see them”, walking out to the bus in pajamas, just generally acting spacy? Any ideas what causes this? I thought she had a bad memory, but no. All the tests show her memory is in the highest range. Maybe the strong memory is compensating for some other deficit. Anybody have any ideas. I’m at the end of my rope. Help!
Re: I've got a family of them..:-)
I’ve had her tested for ADD and that was not it. Surprisingly, her ability to concentrate and her short term memory were both well above average. I thought maybe these skills had become enhanced to compensate for a deficit in some other area, because she sure doesn’t seem to have a good memory or good ability to concentrate. I wish I knew what the deficit was though.
I forgot to mention something else. In order to concentrate, she needs to have something in her hand to squeeze or manipulate. Does onyone know what this is?
Anyway, you’r right about the structure and thanks for the tip on Skills for schools. I’ll look into it.
did you have her assessed for inattention?
Inattention is a different subtype of ADD…and it is not ADHD. My daughter is very organized and punctual but she is very careless in regards to her schoolwork, she is ADD-inattentive even though she can hyperfocus on things she is interested in. Kids with ADD love to fidget with things in their hands too, chew on pencils, pens, etc..
Here are the things to look for…
Poor attention to detail or careless mistakes
Difficulty sustaining attention in tasks
Does not seem to listen when spoken to
Does not follow through on instructions/tasks
Difficulty with sustained mental effort
Loses things necessary for tasks
Often distracted by extraneous stimuli
Often forgetful in daily activities
Re: did you have her assessed for inattention?
Yeah I did. I even took her to and ADD/ADHD specialist. Your description is right on except that she has no trouble with sustained attention or mental effort. Just the opposite. She can stick with most things for hours. Apparently without that - it’s not ADD or ADHD. She’s just very disorganized and very careless
……spacey. What’s the executive/frontal lobe thing you mentioned? Thanks.
Executive function
There’s a really good article describing executive function/dysfunction at:
http://www.tourettesyndrome.net/ef.htm
Here’s a quote from this site:
“How many of us have wanted to pull our hair out over the child who never brings home their assignments and materials despite supervision from the teacher, who never starts their homework without a knockdown-dragout fight, and who when they do finally do their homework, seem to lose it before it gets handed in to the teacher?”
Re: Anyone else have a "space cadet"?
Did you look at a form of attention deficit? How did your child perform in the non-visual intelligence subtests (the WISC performance)?
Have you looked into nonverbal learning disorders? There are several possibilities to investigate. I also respect the work of Dr. Daniel Amen on the 6 subtypes of ADHD. His site is www.amenclinic.com
It just isn't adding up to me...
because what you are describing smacks of ADD and executive functioning problems are part of ADD. She doesn’t have to have all the symptoms I mentioned only a larger percentage…I respect your opinions so if she has the abilty to stick-to-it then you need to provide the structure and train her to be organized…
Anitya, brough up NLD and that could be an issue. I know of one kid who is brilliant in regards to academia but yesterday he came to school with his clothes smelling like a skunk….I am not kidding….he said his dog got skunked and then rolled around on his clothes…LOL…. Talk about inattentive…boy did this kid get ribbed……
and quite often this problem runs in families, I can see many of my relatives, my children and I also suffer from the same “space cadet” syndrome….This malady, that results in space cadets actually has a name…it’s called Attention Deficit Disorder-Inattentive…the good news is that there is help out there to treat the inattentive behaviors…through medication, assistive technology, behavior modification and an ADD coach which is someone to teach them how to be organized.
I would talk to your pediatrician and ask for an assessment and get some help before you start seeing her self-esteem crumble because she can’t keep it together no matter how hard she tries. Your daughter is smart and has a good memory but she may be having trouble with the exective functioning area or frontal lobe of her brain.
One of the best things you can do to help her is to be organized yourself and strive to have a lot of structure in your home and schedule. There is a good program by Anita Archer called Skills for School Success that you may look into to teach her organizational skills that she needs to be successful.
Also have a frank talk with your daughter and ask her what she does in class at school when the teacher is talking. You may find that she is zoning at school during instruction. It never ceases to amaze me when I am working with kids and see them zone, and when I ask them where they are they say, “Oh, I was down the street at school playing hockey with my friends..and then they say, “I don’t know how to stop it, it just happens when I am reading, writing, etc..that is why it takes me so long to finish things… It is pretty amazing stuff, the ability to create places in your mind and forget about what is happening around you…
Good luck with grounding your creative space cadet….if I can help you anymore let me know.