Attention span- help please?

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I have a real attention span problem. Its become so troublesome, its kind of making me depressed lately... so I wondered if anyone else had it like this too?

I am 17 and I was diagnosed with Sensory processing disorder a year ago, and I'm on the waiting list for therapy. Days range from not feeling a thing, to not being able to walk it hurts so much, to having odd behaviour like not wanting things near my feet to not being able to stand the sound of people eating so much it sends me into attacks. Long story short, its when your brain is wired up wrong and your senses don't get percieved right. Glad some people on here have heard of it.... most of the NHS haven't. Which is annoying, because they are taking their time to help me...

Anyhow, I am not sure if my attention span is linked to this or not. When I mean I have no attention span, I mean I have literally NO attention span. I can't ever sit still. My hands are always playing with things. I build things out of objects around me, I play with wires, my ipod, I draw things on any surface I can find, and I am constantly looking around for concentration. This can all happen within the space of a single class at college-- SPD already means that if a light is buzzing, I'll be on my seat, ready to flee from it, but this is kind of different. I HAVE to be doing something. Constantly. At home, if I am bored its almost painful, and I end up asleep. If I can't sleep, I make things, cook food I don't want to eat, I draw, I dance, I go looking for adventure outside, I seek out people to talk to and even if I am 17, I will still do things like make piles of things in my room to see if they will balance or not. Its really odd.

Now, college are getting really annoyed with me. In secondary school, I spent EVERY CLASS sitting alone. Not because I had no friends, I had tons-- its just, EVERY TEACHER I had MOVED me to a table alone. In the corner. This is 7 different lessons here by myself. And I got so 'hyper' by myself, I used to shuffle in my seat, throw things at other, try and chat to anyone I can, look for any excuse to move or draw. I drew so much, it was amazing. xD I had more pictures than work!

The problem is, I /CAN'T/ pay attention to class! Nothing grabs my attention for long enough... even when I do things like drawing, I can never draw for long-- I draw half the picture, get bored and irritated, go off, mess around with my cat, eat, sleep, wake up an hour later, make some kind of object out of clay, then I'll go draw the other half. In class I can't listen for long enough and I distract EVERYONE around me, for I am loud and friendly and I joke a LOT. And the teachers are getting angry about it, fml. My friends have banned me from being near highlighters, because I will draw all over my arms and books and sometimes the tables. I mean, I can't even sit in the same place for too long- I end up getting up, sitting down in a different position, and then doing that over and over again.

I can't ever fall asleep in class or anything. I always want to play with anything, and I'm easily amused so I end up laughing at everything. I distract teachers in my boredom and disrupt classes as well as waste time, and I can leave classes not having learned a single thing. Its an important year for me, and I DONT want to screw it up-- I mean, really, I LOVE learning, and I adore my subjects and I get good grades-- but in classes, I just dont have the attention span to focus... all my teachers have noticed it, like the secondary school ones have, and today one of my history teachers suggested sitting me on my own again. I go through that again.....

So does any one have any advice? To anyone who has / knows about SPD, do you think its related to it, or something else?

I feel like crying. This is really getting me down, I just want to be able to sit down like other kids and learn new things...

Thanks for reading.... Dani x

what were we talking about?



just kidding, i honestly really understand. never been DXed as ADD or ADHD but i had more than one boss who thought i was. i had great difficulty being 'taught' stuff by teachers, as my auditory processing is slow and distractible.

chemically, when i was in university coffee helped me, as did anti-depressants. both served to focus my attention. i also took to snacking excessively as a way to keep my body busy. i learn best by reading and sorting the material out in my own head. i did best in really big classes (100 to 300 students) where i could come and go, and do my thing, and just memorize material for the exams.

at my current job, i had 7 weeks of in-class training prior to starting work. i spent 7 weeks creating and colouring paper mandalas while pretending to listen.

sometimes i try to challenge myself to stay as still as possible, but my mind is always racing.

TrebleKitty posted (in part): Post subject: Attention span - help please? I have a real attention span problem. Its become so troublesome, its kind of making me depressed lately... so I wondered if anyone else had it like this too?
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Possible insights:

ADHD Inattentive
CAPD/APD

Misunderstood Minds/attention (PBS)

Other

Coffee (Short-term memory - not a cure)
Coffee (Mental alertness - not a cure)

Other

Sensory processing, in some cases, may be viewed as an aspect of dyspraxia.

Other

My attention span is bad enough that I cannot read your post.

my attention span was nearly normal when i was on concerta/strattera, but since i can no longer afford those drugs, i have found that a stopgap solution to lousy attention span is to keep the brain well-fed and stimulated by a low-glycemic-index diet eaten every 3 hours as well as lots of caffeine, either by coffee or by nodoz tablets.

I didn't read your post , sorry.