Help needed - ideas to help focus and concentration

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Hi,

Now that we have our diagnosis for our seven year old James we want to start trying to help him. One of our biggest issues is James can get distracted and loose focus - both at home and at school (in particular if there is a matchbox car around). For example you ask him to get dressed for school - and he'll make it halfway into his bedroom - then sees a book on the floor and sits down to start reading it....I've drawn up a schedule and put that on his wall - plus we've purchased a watch for him so he can see if he's sticking to the schedule - but we'd love to help him focus a bit more.


Does anyone have any ideas or sugestions we can try


Thanks


Kay

is he on any medications?

If he's not on meds, he may need to be if he was dx with ADD or ADHD. Sounds like he has it with not being able to focus. Some parents are against medicating their child. I know we were but he was having so much problems in school that after he was put on them, it was the best thing for him. Consistancy is the best thing for the scheduling. With our son, even with the consistancy, with his AS, we still always have to remind him.

Hi james is only on Growth hormone for his undiagnosed growth issue . Definately not ADHD - but just looses focus........have the schedule happening and will keep reminding him - but any other suggestions would be great...eg ....I have heard of the video concept where the child plays a video in mind...does this work??


Thanks K

Kay, if you ever get a dx on his growth, I'd love to know. My son is 12 and weighs only 52 lbs and is the size of a 7yoa. He was only 16 lbs when he was a year old. I do know when he was on Adderall for ADHD taken with Strattera, he stopped growing for 4 years. The specialist said it was because of the Adderall. But it didn't explain him being so small before the meds. We opted not to do the growth hormones because of his other medical problems and we've never really focused on his size. He may be small but to him, he's the biggest guy out there!! !

As far as him not being ADHD, he still seems to show signs of ADD.

My daughter was a disaster in getting dressed up for school. After trying all sorts of tips & tricks I found out that one thing usually works: getting dressed together. While getting dressed together we did two games that worked. One is making a song of all the actions that you do. So when you are putting on your trousers, you sing that you put on your trousers untill putting on trousers is finished. The other game was who's ready first. I'd put down our clothes first and then do 'who's ready first'.

Her problems with getting dressed stopped when clothes became a strong interest of my daughter. Nowadays she's dressed quickly, but then she needs to look at herself and her clothes for ages in a mirror. And she also wants to change clothes when she doesn't like them, so we're not really faster

he may just need more supervision from you right now...i mean, isn't playing way more fun than doing what you're supposed to be doing ?
making things into a game worked quite well for our family~i remember being the evil stepmother and the boys being Cinderfella in order to get them to clean their room...

My son has always had problems with focus. We've tried meds, but haven't noticed big improvement. ADD meds keep him from sleeping. Correct me it I'm wrong, but isn't lack of focus and concentration on things that aren't their area of interest a sympton of AS. My son tends to loose focus because his mind drifts back to thinking about his obsessions, and worrying about things.

On the growth thing, my son is average height, but has always been very underweight. He doesn't have much appetite, and meds seem to make it worse. When he was 2 or 3 I would have to spoon feed him, if I wanted him to eat anything solid. If if was in liquid form he would drink about anything. He's still kind of that way. I give him Ensure everyday, cuz I worry he's not getting enough nutrients. Has anyone else had similar experience.

When he gets older and you can talk to him about it, I'm betting James will tell you he never had problems with attention or focus. The problem is, he isn't focusing on what YOU want him to. Kids with AS (and most kids frankly) will always lean to doing a preferred activity - reading, playing with favorite toys - rather than a non-preferred activity - usually anything on mom's list!

Not everything our kids do needs a dx or a pill. He just needs a little encouragement and redirection.

You mentioned the schedule on the wall - is it pictures or writing? Most kids with AS I've come across (esp younger ones) follow a schedule better if it's pictures. Is the schedule somewhere central, that he can see it all the time?

I think asking any 7 year old to be self directed enough to watch the time and get their jobs done (dressing, tooth brushing, etc) is probably a bit optimistic.

For school is there an IEP in place? Are his teachers aware and familiar with AS at all? A little oaktag folder with velcro and moveable pieces for his schedule was all my son needed to quell his anxiety about his school day and keep him focused on what's now, what's next.

My son will be 10 in a few months and he still sits in his underwear reading or playing when he's supposed to be getting dressed simply because there are so many better things to do up there.

Some of the things that have helped are to let him know if he can get dressed in 10 minutes, then he'll have time for something else (my boy is also challenged by the, "well, if you could get dressed in 10 minutes, but I doubt it" strategy to prove me wrong).

Another thing that has helped which is sort of awkward, but for day camp, we just kept his basket of clean clothes downstairs and handed his clothes to him as he went in to the bathroom to wash and brush teeth. We don't have anything in the bathroom to read or play with, so he'd wash, brush, get dressed and then relax until it was time to leave.