Another vote for doodling to focus. I usually stick with abstracts so they're not too diverting, but if I don't have something to use up a bit of my attention, I get so bored I tune out. I wonder if perhaps it's because I find getting information orally so slow and painful compared to taking it in myself reading, that I find it astoundingly hard to stay focused on someone talking, even if they are quite interesting? It's just sooooooooo sloooooooow.
In my old age, at important meetings where I need to catch a lot of detail, I now tend to take almost verbatim notes, which similarly keeps me on track. Otherwise, I can miss huge chunks of what was said before I even realize my attention has wandered.
Greenlotus, do I recall correctly that your DD was a seriously visual-spatial type? If so, perhaps you could help her learn to take "visual notes", thus killing two birds with one stone (and assuaging the teacher, for a bonus)? For example, there's some basic ideas at
www.visualspatial.org/files/notes.pdf 
