ADD- Inattentive

This child (or adult) is likely to be seen as a “space cadet” and quite possibly female. The student may not be given the attention she or he needs because, after all, she’s only a problem to herself, rather than the teacher. (Check out www.chadd.org as well as other parts of this website.) Keeping her up near the front of the room and away from the window is essential, since she’s easily caught up in her own day dreams. She’s tuning in and tuning out repeatedly during class, so she probably has some significant “gaps” in her academic knowledge. Throw in an LD of some sort, and you have a very needy child whose difficulties are easily underestimated. Glad you’re looking for answers. JJ: I’m well aware of what ADHD looks like- having lived for 7 years with
: my wild and wooly 10 year old. But, I need some help with the
: ADD-Inattentive type. What does that look with, any indicators
: from IQ scores? Grades? attitudes? What might be the treatment.
: (The kid I have in mind won’t buy into medication, so I have to
: deal with it another way) Any websites I can visit?

: there are lots of websites about ADD. Do a search and you’ll find plenty.As I observe students in my class, the ADD Inattentive diagnosed children have no trouble at all sitting still. No trouble with impulsivity. They never call out of turn, get restless in the chair or turn in their homework. They’re simply not there. They’re dreamy and off somewhere sometimes even when they’re looking right at you. They look around the room a lot or doodle a lot. They casually lean over and pick up a book and start reading it in class. When you speak to them, they don’t hear you. When you speak louder, they give a jump and look around the room because they’re not quite sure what’s happening. They have no idea what I said or what’s been going on. The fire alarm goes off and they’re still doodling. The rest of the room piles out and they’re still dreamily doodling. I have to tap my ADD Inattentive student on the shoulder and wait for him to hear the fire alarm. He gives me a sheepish grin and starts to walk toward the door…slowly sort of looking around the room at the posters like he’s never seen them before as the fire alarm is still clanging.ADD Inattentive kids can really get passed over because unlike ADHD, they don’t get noticed. IQ socres wouldn’t tell you anything about whether a child has ADD or not. Grades might be poor in an ADD Inattentive type. They’re not attentive when the teacher assigns work or when she asks for the work to be handed in or for the directions on a test.Treatment is the same as ADHD, I think. You can medicate or not.I often walk over to the desks of my ADD Inattentive and lightly touch their shoulders or brush their desk. It helps them to get refocused. I call on them gently and always repeat my question after I know I have their attention. Those kind of things can help.I’m well aware of what ADHD looks like- having lived for 7 years with
: my wild and wooly 10 year old. But, I need some help with the
: ADD-Inattentive type. What does that look with, any indicators
: from IQ scores? Grades? attitudes? What might be the treatment.
: (The kid I have in mind won’t buy into medication, so I have to
: deal with it another way) Any websites I can visit?

PASSWORD>aaphVdPk791FwNema,My daughter was just diagnosed ADD (mild) last Sept. as went into 6th grade. We started the testing through the school because she had always struggled to keep up, couldn’t seem to organize her thoughts or write, knew the material (sometimes) but couldn’t show it on tests. She was starting to call herself stupid and stopped trying. The school said she was average IQ and average performance, so she didn’t qualify for services. Homework became increasingly a battleground. So I enrolled her is Sylvan after their diagnostics showed major gaps all the way back to early primary school. She was very successful at Sylvan and showed some improvement at school. I continued testing privately and finally got the diagnosis of ADD with resulting dysgraphia (her inability to write). One of the things the Dr. said was a trademark of ADD was her spelling. She is an atrocious speller, not very good at phonics and sometimes can’t read what she has written earlier because she can’t fugure out what she was trying to spell. What was so “characteristic” of ADD was that she would mispell the same word differently every time she spelled it, even twice in the same sentence. She also had a computer test as part of the diagnosic. She was told it would be the most boring test in the world. Letters would come at different intervals on the screen. When she saw the letter, she was to press the space bar, unless it was an X, then she wasn’t supposed to press it. Most people do better when the letters come slowly because they have time to think about it. But people with ADD lose attention and miss the slow letters. Another Dr. here uses that test too and likes it especially to diagnose borderline cases. She is on 10mg. ritalin (a relatively low dose), with 5 mg more when she gets home to help with homework. She went from a b/c student to straight a’s this year. Confidence is up and abilities to read/write/spell and test what she knows have all improved markedly. The thing about ADD is that the brain processes things more slowly, so an IQ test with limited time for answering will result in an IQ score that doesn’t reflect a kid’s potential. The meds speed up the brain and reduce distractability. Sorry this is so long! sharon: I’m well aware of what ADHD looks like- having lived for 7 years with
: my wild and wooly 10 year old. But, I need some help with the
: ADD-Inattentive type. What does that look with, any indicators
: from IQ scores? Grades? attitudes? What might be the treatment.
: (The kid I have in mind won’t buy into medication, so I have to
: deal with it another way) Any websites I can visit?

: Nema,: My daughter was just diagnosed ADD (mild) last Sept. as went into 6th
: grade. We started the testing through the school because she had
: always struggled to keep up, couldn’t seem to organize her
: thoughts or write, knew the material (sometimes) but couldn’t show
: it on tests. She was starting to call herself stupid and stopped
: trying. The school said she was average IQ and average
: performance, so she didn’t qualify for services. Homework became
: increasingly a battleground. So I enrolled her is Sylvan after
: their diagnostics showed major gaps all the way back to early
: primary school. She was very successful at Sylvan and showed some
: improvement at school. I continued testing privately and finally
: got the diagnosis of ADD with resulting dysgraphia (her inability
: to write). One of the things the Dr. said was a trademark of ADD
: was her spelling. She is an atrocious speller, not very good at
: phonics and sometimes can’t read what she has written earlier
: because she can’t fugure out what she was trying to spell. What
: was so “characteristic” of ADD was that she would
: mispell the same word differently every time she spelled it, even
: twice in the same sentence. She also had a computer test as part
: of the diagnosic. She was told it would be the most boring test in
: the world. Letters would come at different intervals on the
: screen. When she saw the letter, she was to press the space bar,
: unless it was an X, then she wasn’t supposed to press it. Most
: people do better when the letters come slowly because they have
: time to think about it. But people with ADD lose attention and
: miss the slow letters. Another Dr. here uses that test too and
: likes it especially to diagnose borderline cases. She is on 10mg.
: ritalin (a relatively low dose), with 5 mg more when she gets home
: to help with homework. She went from a b/c student to straight a’s
: this year. Confidence is up and abilities to read/write/spell and
: test what she knows have all improved markedly. The thing about
: ADD is that the brain processes things more slowly, so an IQ test
: with limited time for answering will result in an IQ score that
: doesn’t reflect a kid’s potential. The meds speed up the brain and
: reduce distractability. Sorry this is so long! sharonthank you for your insights..

EMAILNOTICES>noRecall reading an ADHD autobiography (Inattentive type) where Anita Uhl Brothers, M.D., of Berkeley, California, reported that several FDA approved medicines (alerting agents/stimulants - special caffeine compounds) temporarily reduced distractibility and increased attention span in a well documented case of mild adult ADHD - Inattentive type - working noticeably better than Ritalin and Dexedrine.The book had a most unusual title, How to Cure Hyperactivity, and was available through the non-profit Learning Disabilities Association of America. The book tended to view ADHD meds as temporary cures for ADHD as the medicines only worked for a certain number of hours at a time and then the benefits tended to fade away. In the year 2001 a temporary cure or temporary relief is the way medicines tend to work.That’s my view.