My daughter used to be so good at math and reading and although most of the time she “gets it” it is when she is bored or tired that she slacks off. Her teachers tell me she is highly intelligent but she can’t and won’t apply herself. She gets bored easily I think and that effects her work. They have even suggsted ADD as the problem. I couldn’t understand this at first because she isn’t hyperactive in ANY possible way but I’ve come to learn that ADD and ADHD are two different things all together. They would like me to put her on ritalin just to see if it would work for her. She daydreams,pays way to much attention to what her classmates are doing and saying,forgets her homework,forgets to bring back her homework or folders or bookbag or whatever. She just forgets EVERYTHING all the time. I’ve got so fed up and frustrated I have even resorted to trying caffiene to wake her up but I’m thinking I was wrong to do that. My child is a VERY intelligent little girl. But what can I do to help her apply herself?
Re: 3rd Grade problems
There are therapies that train those attention skills which are trainable. Interactive Metronome (http://www.interactivemetronome.com) is one. PACE (http://www.learninginfo.com) works on many areas in addition to attention, and you might want to look at that one too. Audiblox (http://www.audiblox2000.com) is a home-based cognitive training program that is a good alternative to PACE, and which often helps with attention also.
I would try any or all of the above programs before trying Ritalin. There are some forms of ADD that respond best to medication, but medication — in my opinion, anyway — should be a last resort rather than a first resort.
Also, part of the problem may be the learning environment. I would take a close look at how well it meets your child’s needs.
Mary
Re: 3rd Grade problems
I f she truly has ADD, self-help strategies can take a while before making an impact. The phrase “apply herself” might not be what you’re looking for and I would gently discourage its use with teachers as well. ‘Apply herself ’ has connotations of choosing not to do her work. If she has ADD, she struggles to stay on task and is programmed to be easily distractible.
Your daughter will need help and support from others to stay on task in the beginning. Some teachers and parents like to use an egg timer and set it to go off every few minutes to “wake” up the distractible student. Or have the student race the egg timer to finish the task in a proscribed time.
Unless you would give her a trial on medication, I ‘d go through her book bag with her every night and help her to get organized and monitor her homework. I’d give her a separate homework binder that would go to every class and all assignments would go in that binder and all completed work that night would go in there too. I’d make sure her desk at home was cleared of materials before she went to bed.
I’d consider asking teachers to e-mail her assignments home also for a while as well so you and they are on the same page.
Good luck.
Thankyou everyone
I got alot of help and you’ll never know how much it is appriciated! Alot!!! Your all so sweet and kind to help me out like this! thankyou :)
Well, I’d sure try caffeine before Ritalin — think of all the kids out there chugging sodas already (but I’d stick to unsweetened tea, which has less of the stuff and won’t rot the teeth… or just enough sweet to make it taste good…)
You might want to check out http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/add_adhd/eric522.html (if cutting and pasting the link doesn’t work, click “LD in Depth” at teh top of this page, then “Gifted/LD,” then scroll down ‘til you see the article on ADD and giftedness). It’s got a good perspective on trying to figure out when boredom makes a kid look ADD.
Also check out “The disorganized student’ article for some good ideas. The main idea is to start small and teach in little steps instead of having a “you have to be responsible so just do it” attitude towards remembering things.
ADD/GIfted