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Special Needs
butterflygrooves
member
Need ideas re: lack of focus
butterflygrooves
member
I need some ideas to help calm/keep Owl focused when her EI teacher is here. Her teacher works on cognition and speech and for the first 6 weeks Owl had good focus but over the last month Owl seems really distracted and uninterested.
They usually sit on the floor in the living room, occasionally sitting at the table for art activities or when Owl refuses to stay still. She used to respond well to the teacher telling her to sit cross cross but she ignores that now. The teacher brings a wide variety of toys and activities but she doesn't seem interested in anything.
On Monday the teacher was so frustrated because Owl wasn't listening or paying attention, she begged me to give her ideas to make the sessions more productive. I spoke with our therapist and she said to have Owl do a couple minutes of an activity and then let her do whatever she wants for 5 minutes, I don't feel like this is a good solution, she is used to childled activities in therapy and it seems like that's what she wants to do with the teacher.
I put her at the table with puzzles and lacing stuff before her teacher got here and she was focused and worked without complaint. We decided to keep Owl at the table for the whole session today, she can't run away but she keeps asking for water her usual way of getting out of whatever she's doing and asking to eat goldfish, part of a counting activity the teacher brought. In order to get Owl to focus, the teacher keeps having to tell Owl that she can have a goldfish after she does xxx task one step directives, I don't mind her being rewarded but know that she has the attention span to do that whole short activity before being rewarded.
They usually sit on the floor in the living room, occasionally sitting at the table for art activities or when Owl refuses to stay still. She used to respond well to the teacher telling her to sit cross cross but she ignores that now. The teacher brings a wide variety of toys and activities but she doesn't seem interested in anything.
On Monday the teacher was so frustrated because Owl wasn't listening or paying attention, she begged me to give her ideas to make the sessions more productive. I spoke with our therapist and she said to have Owl do a couple minutes of an activity and then let her do whatever she wants for 5 minutes, I don't feel like this is a good solution, she is used to childled activities in therapy and it seems like that's what she wants to do with the teacher.
I put her at the table with puzzles and lacing stuff before her teacher got here and she was focused and worked without complaint. We decided to keep Owl at the table for the whole session today, she can't run away but she keeps asking for water her usual way of getting out of whatever she's doing and asking to eat goldfish, part of a counting activity the teacher brought. In order to get Owl to focus, the teacher keeps having to tell Owl that she can have a goldfish after she does xxx task one step directives, I don't mind her being rewarded but know that she has the attention span to do that whole short activity before being rewarded.
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Re: Need ideas re: lack of focus
That's a hard one. Is the teacher good at picking up what she is interested in and using it to her advantage? The goldfish thing reminded me when my DD just wanted to keep asking for cheerios (which was a goal lol - to ask for something). After we reached that is all she wanted to do so her aide started stringing cheerios on yarn (beading) and using them in art. Just run with anything.
And I agree with auntie, rewards are the way to go! No delayed gratification here, just immediate rewards lol! Could the reward be for an activity she likes?
Olivia Kate is almost 4!
Diagnosed with autism this year and doing great!
both of my kids struggled with attention during ei-- especially my youngest who still struggles. like your dd she does great one on one with me for attention while not so good with therapists. i recently got this question from my dd's group therapist to which i answered to get on her level. you have to make things fun for her or she couldn't care less. i put silly things on my head pretending they're a hat. i dramatically say 'ah-choo' and the object flies off my head--that game makes my kids laugh a ton. at those times she'll mimic the word hat and a-choo wonderfully but if the therapist just sat there and tried to make her mimic those words/sounds she wouldn't. we do lots of songs--especially with hand gestures. if her receptive language is in tact, first..then might be helpful. if she wanted to move on, i'd say first we finish this, then we do insert some desirable activity here. if the child doesn't want to comply i do hand over hand to make them finish the puzzle/whatever toy they're playing with then offer reward for completing the task. if she's only 6 weeks into therapy, that's early. start small and work your way up.
if there's any sensory concerns with her you may want to inquire about an ot eval. when we got that service in place speech sessions became a lot more productive.
another thing that might help is to find a few books she's interested in at the library. let her choose. at this age pop up books or tabs the child can explore can be really fun. let her access that book only when the therapist is there so she's motivated to see it.
Lack of attention, or attention to one over others shouldn't be a cause for much concern until ages 5-6. I read somewhere that they need to be focusing for 3-5min. per year of their age - if this helps ease your mind a bit.
Do you find her focusing at home, with an activity that she wants/enjoys rather than an exercise that she doesn't find an interest in?
I'll be honest, from my experiences, there seems to be very high expectations for very young children (2.5-5yo) to be students in a classroom, rather than learning from play/exploring.
Frankly from 0-3yrs DS wasn't really interested in circle time, songs, etc. but we found activities which allow him to have fun while learning in a way he enjoyed, and now he is thriving. His focus & listening skills have dramatically improved over the past few months, and I think its because of the wonderful teachers we have found in his social interations.
There seems to be a tremendous push for children to not be children, but to be educated & mature students - even at very young ages. There are high expectations for these children to be a certain way, so when a smart independent child, who tends to be a leader not a follower, enters their classroom many (large preschools) teachers will tend to have a difficult time accepting the child for who they are - and will try to force them to become one of the "sheep." When, in my opinion, forcing them to be one of the flock will only make the child fight back. Also I found that schools/teachers who don't have experience with educating a child who may have underlying SN, will either scoff at ideas which help children who need a bit more guidance than others, or the child will be forced to be pushed out of the program. They will stress to the parents how the child isn't acting appropriately and will bring undo stress where there shouldn't be.
Sometimes there may be underlying issues which could cause difficulty, but pedi's won't push for evaluations unless a disability is visually apparent or with hidden disabilities - there is a common concern among the preschools which the child will try to attend.
GL & HTH