Hi,
I've posted in a couple of other forums, but this is my first time here. My DD is 4.5 and is in PreK.
When DD's teacher gives her different, more challenging work, DD tends to get very distracted and is more interested in looking at what the other cihldren are working on, rather than comleting her own work. She has always been a people-watcher, and even as a small toddler, she was always the last child to finish any activity, for example a library craft, because she would spend so much time watching the other children doing their work, before starting her own. It was never a problem until now. She is super slow at doing things like eating, getting dressed, getting ready to go out, using the bathroom, etc., because she is always thinking and talking about other things, rather than focusing on the task at hand. When we don't have a schedule, this is not a problem, but it gets very frustrating for the whole family when we have to be somewhere on time.
I've wondered about ADD, and honestly I really don't know much about this. She's definitely not at all hyperactive, and she is well behaved. I suspect that my HG DH has undiagnosed ADD, but he managed to get through an Ivy and has a rewarding career, and I really don't know.
DD has a wonderful attention span at home for things that interest her, but she doesn't have any distractions here other than her baby sister. She reads for hours, plays Dreambox for hours, works diligently on her "projects" that she comes up with, etc. For example, last night, she wanted to know what 92+54 was. We were eating dinner, so I promised to help her later. All through her shower and getting ready for bed, she played a pretend scenario where she was talking to an imaginary friend who was sleeping over about their homework, etc. Then I worked through the problem with her and her "friend". Then, she wanted to do problems in pattern: 82+54, then 72+54... It got late so we had to stop. Then this morning before school, she got right back to it 62+54. I suspect she'll finally have a chance to finish this afternoon. So, this makes me think not ADD, right?
I feel it's really important for DD to learn to focus on her own work, because differentiation is going to be a huge tool for her learning. I don't know much about the average 4 year old. Is this a reasonable developmental expectation that she should be able to focus despite distractions? Will she grow out of it? I've asked her teacher to please keep giving her the more challenging work because I want her to learn to focus on work. Her teacher has tried putting her at her own table by herself. I was wondering if she needs to be even farther away from the other kids, over in the block area, which is kind of a little nook, for example. But DH wasn't keen on that idea. There are only 4 kids in her class, so the teacher is able to give a lot of 1-1 attention. Next year, there will be more, but probably no more than 15.
Any advice?
Thanks!
