Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Issues?
 

I wonder if anyone has any experience with kids with attention issues.
My second daughter Alanna is doing poorly in school & we are trying to
find some answers.

Anybody have this issue that they have dealt with?

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Yes

Me

Seriously

Actually, I was a prime candidate for drugs growing up, but never took them. At some point during my late teen years (18 or 19) I got to a point where my maturity overrode my desire to run the isles of the grocery store.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

She doesn't have it severely & I hate like the dickens to get prescription drugs to medicate her.
We are trying to motivate her by linking her Computer, Nintendo, & Video game privileges to her completion of schoolwork.

I won a guy to the Lord 23 years ago who was diagnosed with this as a child.
He was given Ritalin which he did not tolerate well.
He finished school & is a successful Minister & business owner.

He wishes he didn't take the drugs.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Maybe she is bored. How old is she?

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Just turned 9.
It is affecting her school work.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

School problems aren't always caused by attention deficits.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

No, but she has been diagnosed with a very mild case of it.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Oh, okay. She is diagnosed. And they didn't give recommendations for her? I would use medication as a last resort BTW.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

[QUOTE=Cindy;686047]Oh, okay. She is diagnosed. And they didn't give recommendations for her? I would use medication as a last resort BTW.[/QUOTE]

Amen! I agree.

As a parent I am left to ask questions, decide, & do a whole lot of praying!:(

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

[QUOTE=Ron;686051]Are there degrees of Attention deficit disorders? And since they said mild, does that mean it can get better or worse as she gets older? There are a lot of questions I guess.

There may be support groups in your area, I would really look online and see if you can find some.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

[QUOTE=Cindy;686058]Basically as I understand it, she should get better as she matures.
Complicating the issue is her personality which is fun & playful, hard to do when you need to be focused on subjects like math that you don't like.

She also has a strong inner will.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Brother Ron... do some research into food coloring and their affect on children.

Food colorings found in all the brightly colored cereals etc have been found to cause attention deficit issues in children.

There have been children with severe attention deficit issues who saw drastic improvements by removing food colorings & artificial sweeteners etc from their diet.

I am pretty sure that the documentary called Sweet Poison deals with this but I am not positive. It would be worth the view.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Thanks D4T, I will check into it.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

I'd recommend this book--

The A.D.D. Nutrition Solution by Marcia Zimmerman, C.N.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

I have an ADHD assessment. Send me a PM with symptoms. I deal with this quite a bit:)

Blessings, Rhoni

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Ron, Keith, our 15 year old has ADD (NOT ADHD. He has no hyperactivity). He's been on Adderall since he was about 5 years old for it. We've tried several times to wean him off of it. Every single time he has come back to us asking to please have it back. His comment has been that without the medication, his thoughts are all out there floating around him but he can't grab them and keep them all straight in his head. With the medicine he says he can at least keep them straighter. So medication is not always a bad thing. You are the parent tho. You know your child better than anyone. So it would be up to you to keep a close eye on her if she goes on something.

And don't be upset if the first thing you try doesn't work as well as you hoped. And if they have to try several things before they find what works for her, that's not abdormal. Most people go thru that.

A really good website for you to check out is ADDinschool.com

I think that's the right one. If it's not, let me know and I will go back and check again.

Good luck with this. I know it's a struggle. Been there. Done that. Still doing that.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

First and foremost I would try everything before I went to drugs. My little brother was taking that at age 11. It was like being around a zombie, litterally.

I would also check into getting her tested academically (sp). Sometimes the kid is smarter than the grade they are in. If the work is easy to them they get bored with it and thus loose interest.

Another alternative, find a special school. We have a couple of schools here that take students like her without the use of drugs. It is formatted to hold their attention by breaking the class up into 20 min segments with 10 min breaks. The shorter learning segments is just enough time to learn something without too much time to get bored of it. Keeps their mind moving.

Here is a link to the most popular program out there. My friend put his daughter in it and it was a world of difference. They have learning centers in the US and Canada, but there are other learning programs like it.

http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com/

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

My sister was having problems with her 12- year-old son. Seems he could concentrate all day long on his video games, but couldn't keep his mind on school stuff.

Quite accidentally she discovered an article about kids (boys in particular) and the effects video gaming had on some kids' brains (particularly seemed to affect attention spans). So my sister cut WAY back on the amount of time her son was allowed on the video games, and interestingly enough his attention span GREATLY improved.

Coincidence? I dunno. I also dunno the article she "happened" upon... but if there is something to this, I pray it be revealed to you as well. You may try googling "attention deficit and video games".

Good luck!

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

My sister. My sister's younger son.

My sister took Ritalin, and she was convinced that Ritalin stunted her growth. My mother gets very angry about the whole subject, because my sister didn't take it after school or on weekends or over breaks or summer vacation. My mom had to put up with my sister basically running crazy because that's what they did back in the late 60s. Mothers were supposed to Just Take It. My sister was so bitter about the experience (she told me she could tell when she was being drugged up) that she refused to acknowledge that her younger son had a similar issue, until it became a serious problem. He had medication too, but I think it was too late and he's still got issues that he's not confronted.

I'm going to be bluntly honest here: I know a lot of people think you can just cure diseases of the brain through prayer or eating a special diet or whatever, but no drugs. It's like telling a diabetic that they don't need medication (or in more serious cases, insulin.) I would LOVE it if the Lord came in and cured me. But I have LEARNED, the very HARD WAY, that I HAVE to take my medications. Otherwise, I become suicidal after a few weeks without them. I spent time in a very nice hospital after I threatened to open my veins with my very sharp embroidery scissors. (Thank God for my best friend, who took it seriously.) It will be ten years in October. On a couple of occasions after that, I went off my meds, with disastrous results (but not to the hospital). I don't do that now. I take my meds religiously every morning. My elderly parents depend on me, I have a good job and I have to be responsible.

Sorry for the rant, but as you can tell, I have real strong feelings about this.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

I've heard the same thing. Kids do much better if removed from ALL TV and video games.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Seems to me it had something to do with the overstimulation of a certain area of the brain (caused by the video screen colors and movements) ... and teenage boys were particularly susceptible.

I probably should hesh up... cuz I'm just remembering enough to be dangerous. But I do believe it was along those lines.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Ron there is a diet that I have seen really help ADD students- It is a strict diet that is difficult to follow,but it can be done and it is effective. It is called the Feingold diet. I would try this before I tried medication. Medication can be used , but I do think it is vastly overused for behavior problems.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

There is a lot of info on this thread in the responses, & I will check in to all of it.
I hate meds & will only do it as a last option.

She just has problems staying focused at school.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

One of the things that Keith's psychiatrist told us early on was that studies have shown that a good percentage of people who have drug and alcohol problems in their later teens and early 20's are people who actually had ADD or ADHD as they were growing up that went either undiagnosed or untreated. What they're doing now is self-medicating. They know there is something different about themselves, but don't really know what to call it. So in an effort to make themselves "fit in", they self-medicate.

I don't think that medication is ALWAYS the answer. But I definately don't think it should be discarded as never the answer either. For some, it IS the answer.

Consider this carefully. Then do what is best for YOUR child. Sometimes it hard to know what is best. I'll be in prayer for you and for her and for your family as you work your way thru this, Ron. Be open. Keep an open mind.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

I will. Thank you Margie!

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

My oldest son was told by his high school counsellor that he should drop out of high school - half way through his senior year! Seriously. So he did. He's one of the top math students in the state on the standardized tests but was barely pulling a C average.

School is for dummies. I say give your daughter an award for figuring that out early. Then pray and work frantically to keep the system from burning her out before she's even 18.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Good post.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

I agree with this post, also check into diet, many times the food/s we allow our children to eat does them much harm.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

There it is...

I kept trying to remember the name of that diet... The Feingold diet is what I was wanting to remember when I made my original post.

Here are a few videos discussing the impact of some chemicals etc on children.

The Feingold diet is one that all children could benefit from because we are all affected by the chemicals that we ingest these days.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

I was thinking the same thing - I have seen kids be put on meds and only because they are very smart and they are really bored in the class - she may be gifted.

Re: Anybody Have Any Experience With Attention Iss
 

Just a quick update & thanks for prayers given on Alanna's behalf!
A few weeks before the end of the school year I received a phone call from a Psychologist for the Vancouver School Board who said she saw my daughter & would like to meet with me.
I asked her, "who gave you permission to examine my daugher?"
She said, "you did, in early '08, sorry we short on resources, that is why it took so long."

I said, "oh, I thought this was done last year!":nah

So we met just before the school year was over.
I told her that she was examined at Sunny Hill Hospital for disabled children & was diagnosed with a slight AHD Disorder.

She said, "I don't see it!":shocked:
"In fact, while she is just on the borderline of average in math & English, she spells at the level of a 14 year old!!!!!":woohoo

We have her going to a Tutor three times a week & she is already showing improvement!:shockamoo

No ATTENTION ISSUES!!!!!

God is so good!:bliss

Thanks for your prayers!:dancing


I still have to buy a shotgun for any potential guys in her future!:foottap