Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Off-Task Observations

So the school observed DS to document when he is off-task. I got a copy of the observations today and we will discuss them and potential strategies at meeting.

So, at his worst time he was off task about 40% and that was during math class . But mostly he was off-task an average of 20%-30% out of 100%. He is always missing directions... he is either finishing up a previous task when he us suppose to be moving on so misses the directions and is lost or just zoning out when directions are given. I kept seeing things like "19 directions were given, DS independently followed 3 of them." And yes I do see this at home... it's not oppositional he just asks me to repeat directions a lot or seems lost. I definitely got that impression from the observations - he seems lost a lot... Not out of control or bothering people.... seems like like more of an absentminded lostness. And he is apparently talks to himself.

It seems like a good picture to give the ADHD clinic. It seems accurate.

So any thoughts on what could help this behavior? The school is suppose to be coming up with strategies (b/c I just have no clue how to help this) but just wondering if any one here has a similar kid and has some ideas that work? Is this your typical adhd-I profile?

Could it be auditory processing disorder? That's the only other thing I can think of.
My Dh's brother has ADHD but MIL says also auditory processing disorder and he actually does better with one ear than the other (I haven't researched it enough to know if that is even possible, though). He was evaluated thoroughly by the school system back in middle school.
Does he lose focus when actually in the middle of work (as in being in the middle of a worksheet and then stopping and looking around or getting off task), or just during transitions or when trying to listen to directions?

What is normal? I would have thought most kids would be off task 10 to 20% of the time. When he talks to himself is he just making snide comments or is he repeating instructions or using it to focus on what he is doing? If the latter is the classroom noisy or disorganised?

Well every in observation they compared him " two random peers at the same time" and they were on task 100% ... I had to snicker . I guess they're all on some really good drugs ? Lol . Only in one observation was "random peer 2" off task %20 of the time. I guess they never used him again!

In all seriousness I personally think it's two things - he has trouble processing directions(sequencing issue) and the rest of it is that he is in his own world which is far more interesting. So I think that's probably ADHD inattentive.

I think sometimes when he is talking to himself, he is in his stories...other times he is talking himself through the directions.

FWIW, my ds was off-task quite a bit when he wasn't getting appropriate instruction in writing (his big challenge). When he was older he was able to explain to me that what was happening was - he was completely lost and had no idea what to do on writing assignments, so he just eventually zoned out and started thinking about other things so he'd have *something* to do. It looked like inattentiveness due to ADHD but it was inattentiveness due to being completely lost and not understanding his assignment he was supposed to be working on. I wonder if part (or all) of what looks ADHD-ish with your ds might be that he's slipping off into his own world simply because it's more comfortable than sitting in his class not understanding directions. JMO, but I'd want to know more about the potential sequencing issues before I concluded it was ADHD.

polarbear

ps - when my dd was observed, his peers were also 100% on task. Except for the one bizarre writing exercise where my ds was said to be completely on-task. In that instance his classroom peers were apparently bouncing off the walls. Having spent a lot of time in his classroom, I can assure you his peers were indeed, bouncing off the walls most of the time And the writing assignment ds was able to focus on.... happened after he'd spent an hour 1 on 1 with the school psych engaging in a guided pre-writing exercise.

It seems to me it's mostly when they transitioning and when directions are given. Usually, during the actual task he is on-task - except for the occassional dropped pencil (I have this at home - I swear I have never seen a kid drop his pencil so much. I know he has fine motor issues so I try not to let it annoy me (but, jeeze, DS if you could hold on to yoru pensil even 40% more often you'd be in good shape lol). I'd say it is pretty overwhelming when he is being given directions and the motor planning of transitions (not sure of that is the right word/phrase but it looks to me like he has trouble planning the movements that get him through the transitions - e.g., "it's reading time so I need to put away my math stuff, go to my cubby get my reading bag, return to my seat, open my book to th page we are on..." he can't seem to accomplish that in a timely fashion without help. And any time he is out of his seat getting something he talks a walk around the perimeter of the classroom before sitting down. I know why he does this - he is taking advantage of the transition to get movement/exercise in.

The worst report was math - during the lesson he looked like from the report he was completely zoned out. He was suppose to be doing problems on paper. Incidently, he is high in math (92nd percentile broad math score and does well on all of his tests). I think this could be boredom and a reluctance to do the writing involved - even though it is not necessarily much writing to us or a neurotypical kid, this kid has to think about each number as he writes it. Hence, my interest in seeing if a math app such as Panther Math Paper would help with this.

I too had a pencil dropper....hypotonia so he gripped his pencil tight...then the muscles would fatigue and he would loosen his grip and the pencil fell. We solved this problem by having a cup full of pencils (he had an oversized desk) on his desk and if it dropped he left it and pulled out a new one from the cup. At lunch time he collected the 15 or so pencils from the floor and started over.

We were also homeschooling when this was an issue at seven years old so I didn't care if the floor was littered with pencils... But I do know how exasperating it is every time a pencil drops...he is almost 14 now and he drops his pencil once in a while not constantly. OT and sports (gymnastics and swimming) really helped.