How to teach an easily distracted child

[MamaPajama]

My DS is very easily distracted, and if I'm not careful school can drag on and on. I have picked up some tips here and there, but I thought I'd see if you ladies had any new advice for me. We do math and phonics first thing to get them out of the way as I think those are most important. With math I usually time his lessons, and I do drills with him where we try to beat his last time. There's something about being under pressure that gets him to focus. (I suppose I'm the same way.) With phonics we cover up the words/sentences he's not working on so he can focus on the line he's on, or I'll put individual words on the chalkboard or what have you. If he's really struggling I have a tri-folded cardboard display board...thingy that we use to block his view of whatever is distracting him. I have already learned that I cannot teach him well if his sisters are watching TV also, because he'll stop and strain to listen to what they're watching. He has a few symptoms here and there of Aspergers, OCD and ADHD, but not enough to diagnose him with anything specific. A diagnosis doesn't really matter to me anyway, but I thought that maybe some of the moms of special needs kids might have some tips that they've used to help.

I guess that brings me to another question. I feel terrible when I banish the girls from our school room so he can focus, but they are not quiet and DD2 especially makes all sorts of lovely messes. Is it more appropriate for me to spend that one-on-one time with him, or to train him to do school with distractions? A friend once told me that one of her teachers used to play various types of music while they would take tests and things to train the students to work in all sorts of conditions. I thought this probably works with the average child, but I wasn't sure if it would work with a child like mine. Then again, someday he'll be in college and/or have a job of some sort, so I suppose at some point he's going to have to learn to work without needing complete silence and lack of visual stimuli.

Thoughts?

[proud2bmykswife]

Khara,
I'm not sure I have any advice. Some of my girls need it quiet (as in no talking, no banging toys) to concentrate on math, but yet they can listen to music and it helps them focus. For one daughter it's classical music, for another it's more bluegrass type music. So I guess my suggestion would be to try different types of music and see if one helps him concentrate even with the noise.

Another thought would be training the girls to do quiet activites at the table or on the floor (much easier said than done, I know!). Some moms suggest having a training time like on the weekend where you would set up things for school, tell the girls what you would like them to do and have your son pretend he is doing school. Sometimes the pretending makes it like a game and it does help train them. Have something for a reward afterwards.

Some things I have for the little ones to do are foam type puzzles, wooden peg puzzles, Color Wonder markers, magnetic letters or magnetic playsets (we painted one wall in our dining room with magnetic paint then painted over it with the wall color), felt letters, numbers, and animals on a felt board, some type of pegboard with large plastic pegs and pictures to match with the pegs (can't find the name of the thing, but I can tell you where I bought it), foam pegboard and pegs, foam shape sorter, pattern blocks, attribute blocks, large snap cubes.

If you want more information you can contact me privately, since I don't think we're supposed to share links to other suppliers on the board.

Hope this helps!
Laurie

[GinainMD]

Hi everyone. For my highly distractable child, dd1, we do outdoor play first. Also I make sure she has had a proper breakfast. I would love to be able to get straight down to school work first thing in the morning but it does not work for dd1. During read aloud time they play with thinking putty or bounce on exercise balls etc. Also, and this one was really hard for me, we sometimes do the work that takes the most concentration in the evening. My dd1 is a bit of a night owl so this allowed her the quiet she needs to focus. Praying that you find what works best for your ds.

[my3sons]

For my easily distracted ds, we had him play outside first, do the left side of the plans, play 45 minutes, and do the right side of the plans. He needed to be working at a different table than his older brother, in a different room from him. We can't have the tv or music on during school, or everyone gets distracted. We did put a TV/VCR/DVD in our large entryway and childproof it for toddler to watch a video in a safe place that was not distracting to the rest of the the dc. My toddler loves it - we got him a tiny leather chair and put shelves of his toys in there too. We put a gate up and leave the door slightly open.

I do not think it's important to train dc to have lots of noise as they work. I think that if that is the way they get work done (in a quiet environment), they might naturally choose jobs someday that allow this to happen on a more regular basis, but even it they don't, I also think they will adapt more to distractions as they get older. For my highly distractible ds, he gets a lot of quality work done when it's quiet, and he's working in a semi-secluded work place. Transitions are hard on him. So, he works at the kitchen table for seatwork. All of his supplies are right there (he used to make a project out of getting supplies otherwise - it could take 15 minutes to get the blue crayon ). We do reading times together on the living room couch. This seems to work well.

When he is doing project type things, like illustrating, coloring, etc., he likes music on in the background and does fairly well working this way (now that he is 7 1/2 yo; he couldn't have handled the music earlier). He likes to sing and whistle (and tap his pencil) while he works when music is on, so it works best for the concentration of everyone if he doesn't have music on until the end of the school day when he's finishing out artsy/project type things that if he takes longer to finish, I am not bothered, as my teaching part is done. I do ask everyone if they would like music on at the end of our school day when they're finishing out things like this that I am not teaching. Sometimes they say "yes", and sometimes they say "no". I think they are figuring out how they work best on their own.

I have always been too distracted by noise, especially media (music, tv, etc.) to work on things that require careful concentration. In college, I had to have it quiet to study, and sought out a church classroom to study in as it was the only quiet place I could find. When I was older and got my master's degree, I still needed it totally quiet to study. This allowed me to concentrate and do better on my studies. Yet, when I taught in a ps setting, I was able to do just fine with all of the noise that 30 children in one room can create. So, I think the learning we are asking our dc to do that is academically focused may require more quiet and less distractions for dc to produce their best work. That doesn't mean that they will need it totally quiet to do everything in life forever. It makes me sad to think of little ones that can't take noise while they work having to constantly try to battle that noise to concentrate - I'm getting a headache just thinking of it in fact (which is what happens when I have to work under those conditions and try to be doing something academically inclined). So, whatever you can do to minimize the noise and distractions for your ds, I would do. I'd keep up your great ideas of doing phonics/math first, and the other things you shared. For that amount of time he is doing school that require more focus, it will not hurt your other little ones to be away from him doing something less noisy. When he is doing noisy things for school (i.e. music, rhymes/fingerplays, science experiments, etc.), that is when I'd have the younger siblings out and about near him. That's just my 2 cents though, you'll continue to see by trial and error what works well for your ds - and he's blessed to have a mom who cares enough to do so.

In Christ,
Julie

[spidermansmum]

Hi.My 7 yo has aspergers and ADHD traits.Its not true adhd-more a part of his Autistic Spectrum Condition[ASC]-its hard for him to have his attention directed-if he is intrested-say in building a lego model-he will spend hours absorbed in that activity.But part of his ASC is that his senses can get overlaoded and he can struggle to focus his attention .We do several things.
We homeschool in PJ's because they are the least distracting.We do not have TV or music and we try to keep it quiet.We arrange for him to bounce off some of his energy .
The day starts with chores[physicalactivity]then his brothers[LHTH] 's activities[gentle transition]
Because he struggles to concentrate we gradually build up to the most [for him] challenging parts of the curriculum.We used to do reading/math first but we have greater success with letting him chose the order of his lessons.Not that he gets to chose NOT to do something.I let him select the next activity from the Guide book,as each activity is done-he covers it with a small post-it note.[=Visual timetable]
The little one has to be quiet when we do things like reading.This is not something that would be needed for all families-but because of the 7yo needs-we do it this way.So I have a few preschool activities set up.Sometimes we have to pause to re-inspire the 3 yo.
We do Bible study about half way through-its a good bit of physical energy expelled.
Visual timers can help children to focus through on something.Knowing exactly howlong they will need to keep a high level of directed attention.Kind of like knowing how long you will have to maintain a difficult level of activity in exersizing or training.Knowing its just for a short timehelps you keep that level of exertion for the time needed.
Some children are actually more able to focus if they fiddle.Blu-tac can be really helpful.DS often has a lego model of the read alouds that he uses as I read,and acolouring book.Currently we are using a Dover Medieval colouring book-as we read Sword in the tree.He has lego castle and lego knight.He had alego Sqanto and alego boat he used in Squanto and the history stories.

[psreit]

My dd also gets distracted easily. I'm just figuring out how to deal with this when doing school work. We started school last week and dd did pretty well getting work done. I started out on day one moving to different places to do work. I know that was mentioned, but I just wanted to say that I think it helps with my dd. When I am reading, especially during storytime. I may try just giving her a squishy ball or something to keep her hands busy. If she is doodling, sometimes that distracts her attention from the story. Sometimes big sister will enter the room and we need to stop what we are doing until she leaves the room. With dd, definitely no TV on. Short lessons with HOD helps, too. I know they will increase as the years go on, but for now, it helps.

[jenntracy]

I don't have much advice. But... don't feel bad about banishing the girls from school room. I actually have to take each kid in their room for much of the reading stuff of HOD. I get distracted and whichever kid i have is distracted. I have a 2.5 yr old and even without her (i have 3 kids) the other child is somehow distracting to the other one. It works way better and we are done faster. they each have an activity tray that they can use to write on if they need it and to set their book when reading to me. We just load up what we need and take it to the room.
If they were in a "school" everyone would be expected to listen to the teacher and not be fooling around. If it helps your child to not be distracted to be able to do his school work then i say banish them. He will be done quicker and they won't be banished for that long.
Praying you find something that works.

JEnn d.