He has not been diagnosed as ADD, but shows many of the symptoms. I’m ADD (inattentive) myself, and I see a lot of myself in him. :roll: He has been in speech therapy since age 2. He has made progress, but still has phonological problems. He has fine motor problems, and tires quickly when handwriting. His teacher is concerned because he does not seem to be learning as quickly as he should. I’ve been trying to work at home with him on letter recognition, letter sounds, and numbers. But he gets frustrated and “turns off” quickly if he doesn’t know the answer immediately. (When this happens, he gets very stubborn and just refuses to try anymore. This has even been happening with the card and computer games I thought he’d enjoy.) I’ve been trying to offer information in small chunks, but I am getting frustrated too. I absolutely don’t want to pressure him … I know that the minute I do that, he’ll shut down!
So, do you have any good motivational ideas out there for a short-attention-span boy with a short-attention-span Mom? I’d be forever grateful!
Re: Any suggestions for working with my Kindergartener?
Thanks for your reply! Since I posted that question, we have discovered that he has vision issues, too. He’s now wearing glasses, and will start vision therapy soon for his tracking problems. He still has a short attention span, but I hope that addressing the vision problems will help with that.
I’m not sure that his public K class is right for him. He needs more one-on-one instruction. If we do wind up repeating K, we’ll probably do it in a private school setting.
For now, I’m still working with him at home, in short blocks of time, and trying to make my approaches interesting and varied. We’re also going to have him evaluated for the attention issues.
He sounds like my son at that age.
Hi,
I can identify with you about your son’s frustration — and yours too. My son (now 6th grade) had those very same problems frantically come to surface in the 1st grade, and he had a time with handwritting. He was behind in 1st grade with handwriting, partly because the newer school had more advanced teaching than the old school, BUT I later discovered my son had a learning disability (ADHD), which caused him to not be able to sit still in a chair long enough to write anything, keep out of trouble, and accomplish tasks. By the middle of 1st grade, he could barely write 6 sentences from memory. He would get so frustrated in class that he would throw his books in the floor, kick the desk in front of him and cry. All the kids liked to see him get mad, and would taunt him even further to see the ‘show’. I think it really did the teacher in the day she had my child call me and tell me he was in trouble. He was put out in the hall to complete writing 6 sentences. When the teacher went to check on him, he said he had finished the assignment. Well…in his opinion - he had! It turns out that he wrote one sentence, and put 6 periods on it!!!!
Oh well…I suspected he had a LD because of handwriting problems and asked the school counselor about it. She screened my son for ADHD, and he scored as a very high candidate for having this. I had him tested further privately at a Child Study Center - and yes, he was ADHD, and he had a writing disability.
We decided to pursue a medical approach to help him overcome his frustration, and ours too. Its always a hard thing to decide to do when you consider putting a kid on medication - but we did, and after @ 20 minutes from taking his first pill, the results were amazing. He could sit still, he could listen, he could complete his tasks. He was no longer in trouble at school, and his self esteem was immediately boosted. The medical assistance has definately made his quality of life better. It gave our family some peace also. We were forever punishing our child for something he had no control over. :wink: :wink:
A good book you might want to look at is called ADHD, the Great Misdiagnoses by Julian Stuart Haber. This presents the who, what, when, and why of ADHD and related symptoms, and the importance of having these carefully diagnosed.
Dr. Haber is my son’s ADHD specialist. He has certainly heped us.
Consider having your son screened for dyslexia also.
Best Wishes!
Special Schools?
My son is 6 and in his second year of kindergarten. He is experiencing much of what has been mentioned prior. He is on medication and has his good and bad periods. What I am curious about is whether there are schools in the US designed specifically for children with LD/ADHD? Or instructional design to cater to the special needs. If anyone knows, please let me know.
Thanks,
My own son was just the same way at that age. Your son would benefit from small class with a very understanding and very positive teacher. He needs to have his confidence boosted and supported so he’ll become more willing to stick with new things until he’s mastered them.
I’d heap him with praise and try to find things he’s naturally good at so he develops a positive sense of himself. Consider getting him some OT for his fine motor skills. Does he like to finger paint? Any kind of hand work would be good for his fine motor skills. Playing with playdough is also good and most children his age enjoy that.
Perhaps an extra year of kindergarten would help him too but you can better judge that as the year goes on. Some parents are also willing to consider medication to help with short attention spans and some teachers are willing to suggest it but I’d say such things are very private and very personal and very difficult decisions to make.
Good luck.