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Homeschooling: Fidgeting, Noises & DawdlingNOTICE: The following posts are taken from the Christian ADHD Homeschoolers List. The names, e-mail addresses and locations of all parties involved have been removed to protect their privacy. The posts have been used with permission, but are copyrighted by ADHD of the Christian Kind. I feel like I should be able to say, "this is your math assignment, you have 30 minutes to complete these 15 problems" and be able to walk away to work with my K and pre-K sons. He is sitting for HOURS doing nothing!!! It literally took him 5 hours yesterday to complete 15 problems because I did not sit right beside him and prompt him to "do the next problem" over and over.
I am convinced that the children who fidget and make constant noise are doing so to keep from falling asleep, at least to keep their brains from falling asleep. When an ADHD child is faced with overwhelming, boring, or mundane -- read this as non-stimulating -- tasks, their brains begin to get sleepy. They cannot think, they cannot function. The pencil tapping, etc. is used to stimulate themselves. I wiggle my foot during church to keep from falling asleep, at least mentally. Otherwise, I daydream. For us, the solution was sending my son to my dh's office, which is full of engineers who just sit at computers most of the day. There is very little going on that might distract my son. Although it does take him a very long time to complete his work, there is nothing else to do there, so he has nothing and no one to struggle with. There is also no one telling him he is taking too long to complete his work. He works at his own pace and does get his work finished, sometimes not before 3 p.m. sometimes later. I am not sure how to apply this solution to a home situation. When my son is home, he is exactly like your 14yo, Vicky. He is so disruptive that no one else can get anything done, and he is definitely not getting anything done. My son is also allowed to use coffee as needed to help keep his brain awake. He is unable to use stimulant meds, so we have to make do with caffeine. Is there a place in your home where your son could work in complete peace? The key in our situation is that there are no computers (other than the one he did use last year for research and typing out his answers to exercises) for games. No TV. No other children to distract him. He was getting so out of sorts with all the activity that kept distracting him -- he was getting overstimulated in the wrong way. It overwhelmed him in one way that kept his brain from being able to concentrate on his work. What my son knows now is that it is okay if it takes hours to complete an assignment. That is something he is allowed to do. He also has no other fun distractions to lure him from his school work. Finally, my son sees how these engineers work steadily at their projects day after day, hour after hour without prodding from the manager. And yes, some of them are ADD, my dh included. They have learned to function with their challenges. Just wanted you to understand that your son is not deliberately being disruptive when he makes noises and fidgets. He is desperately trying to keep his brain awake. We eliminated the pencil sharpener by using only mechanical pencils. Each child is given 2-5 pencils, a pack of extra leads, and that eliminates the trips to the pencil sharpener. LOL Oh, don't know how I forgot the pencil sharpener! I think Elijah is obsesseve about sharp pencils!!! We usually use mechanical pencils now, but then he just takes them apart...lol. You might want to find a timer where the minutes disapear so the child has a visual clue as to how long they have. We were going to get one but haven't gone there yet. Sorry I can't remember the name but it is on one of the sites that was given earlier for the colored strips. We use mechanical pencils too. For my older children this works well. BUT my 7 yr. old plays with the leads pushing them in and out of the pencil, clicking the top over and over, pressing too hard and breaking the led. So regular pencils are actually better for him right now....not too mention he looses about 5 of them a day and I can't afford that many mechanical pencils! Boy will I be glad when he "graduates" to mechanical ones though. I had never thought about it before your email. I have just used mechanical pencils ever since I was in college and now can't stand using a regular one. I didn't think of it as a ADD tool? Thanks. If you suspect that he has attention problems you will probably not be able to give him an assignment and walk away from him for some time (if ever). My 9yo adhd/odd is supposed to be in 4th grade but right now is doing 3rd grade work. I usually give him a lesson and then tell him what I want him to do. Then I remind him what I want him to do (by now he probably has his book in front of him). 10 min or so later I ask him how he is doing on the assignment. and so it goes till we are done. A year or two ago I would have to do each math problem with him, read each paragraph with him, etc and would literally have a sore throat at the end of the school day. >>The only thing I make her sit still for is reading<< My mother-in-law suggested this one for my ADDer--let them read in a rocking chair. They sit, hold the book, and rock. They are still moving, but they can concentrate better if they are moving. It worked with mine. He was having a hard time reading, until I put him in the small rocking chair. He still likes to read there, if he is tired. |
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