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Not Sure If My Girl Has ADD Symptoms... Help!
Hi All!
I just signed up on this forum as I was doing a little research on ADD in girls/kids/gifted. I had not seriously thought of why my 7 yr old would sometimes not finish morning work, or take a long while to do homework until just recently. She is similar to Krista's son who just posted the other day, in that she does not like school and doing any written work. I spoke to her 1st grade teacher yesterday who said she doesn't necessarily see her having ADD, but confirmed that she does sometimes take longer than necessary doing individual classwork, but eventually gets it done. This is a child who does well academically and behaves so it may be hard to detect.
I just thought it is possible because I see her exhibit similar characteristics that I struggled with, drifting/daydreaming when doing individual work. With time limits she can focus in class, which I would have suspected, but when it comes to doing any written work that she does not really like doing it just makes her take even longer.
At home I see her doing this. With homework sometimes it seems to take forever, when it shouldn't. An assignment that should take maybe 10 minutes will take her 20/30 minutes. Plus, as in Krista's case, she will want me to stand there with her while she does her work, as if to maintain her focus. I could be in the same room but she will still want me to stand right next to her without saying anything. If I am not right there she may stop working and play with something or daydream while singing or talking to herself quietly. After a few seconds or up to a minute, she will regain her focus on her own often, but will drift again at some point in the assignment. Her teacher said in class she is not so untypical of other 1st graders.
I remember when I had a paper to do in high school or college I would easily become distracted with my mind daydreaming or drifting and it would take me forever. I'm not sure if she inherited this but it looks possible.
I dare say she is fairly bright, as she was accepted into the gifted program, so her teacher thought that may have some influence as well. That her intelligence and imagination causes her to think of other ideas. I had also read that ADD and Gifted behaviors are similar.
It sounds self degrading but I know I was not born with a high IQ, just average. So I suspect her distraction is not because she is bright but more because she is not interested in her work and doesn't want to do it. Her handwriting is not terrible, just average. It seems her class participation, happy personality, good behavior, and academic intelligence mask this problem.
My main concern is that this will become a larger issue in junior high and high school as I have read. I don't want it to blow up on her then and have school difficulties as I did in regards to finishing tasks in a timely manner. As any parent the sooner I can figure it out the better. I consider what her teachers say as well and as I said, hers doesn't seem to see an issue in the class. I thought, maybe its just in the home environment. But her teacher does acknowledge she takes time to do her work in class too. I don't think she necessarily wants to either. Sometimes she misses recess because she has to finish morning work, and of course she loves recess time. Even with the incentive of, you can't play until you finish, doesn't change things.
And I do think part of the reason she doesn't like to do the work is because of the length of time and mental labor to maintain focus. With math problems I see a typical 1st grader can solve like 4 + 7 within 10 seconds or so max, she may take twice as long which is ridiculous for her because I know what she can do. They've been doing math facts for most of the year now so they have become pretty fast at solving those problems. I know some kids may take longer than 10 seconds but with her intelligence she shouldn't.
The only ADD consideration she has as described is her ability to concentrate on individual school work. Plus she hates school basically because she doesn't like to do the work. Everything else is fine but work. I asked her if she doesn't like to do work because its boring (thinking maybe its too redundant with her intelligence), but she said if she has a math problem like 2+2 she is happy because she doesn't have to think about it and gets the work done faster. So then I know the drifting isn't due to intelligence. She just doesn't want to take the time to think it through, and so then drifts. Its not just with Math though either.
I will continue to watch her behaviors but like feedback in the meantime. What does everyone think? I know a true diagnosis will be from a professional which I may do in the future if I see it necessary.
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16 Apr 2008 @ 10:29 AM
16 Apr 2008 @ 10:52 AM