Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School DIfferentiation - distraction

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!

You are describing my DD4.5. She has always been an observer, and I have noticed as of late that this is causing her to be easily distractible. Our biggest problem is that it affects her socially. She is easily overwhelmed in large social settings by everything going on, and she is just not present. She is eavesdropping on the conversation over there, watching a boy be scolded over here, looking at how so-in-so is coloring a page, etc. Meanwhile, she has been repeatedly putting her arm in the wrong sleeve of her coat or ignoring a teacher's greeting.

I would say most four-year-olds are not being asked to focus for that long on work. I do not expect DD to focus when a lot of stuff is going on. I purposefully visit our art studio at slow times. If for whatever reason it is busy I quickly concede that we will spend the majority of our time there watching other kids. I think that is normal. I think it is too early to think attention issues. What you describe sounds above average for attention skills, and there should be a lot of development yet in that regard.

I think that 4-5 years old is still very young developmentally and most kids this age really aren't all that ready to sit down and focus on academic work. We had our kids in play-based preschools, and then sent them on to a project-oriented kindergarten, so I don't have enough experience with the kind of setting you describe to be able to speak as an early childhood expert but that's just what my feeling is based on watching my own children and children of friends and extended family go through those early years of school.

I also think that ADHD isn't diagnosed prior to around 7 years old (traditionally) for a reason - although I also think that the current feeling is moving diagnosis earlier. As a pp mentioned, you haven't given us enough info here to have any idea if this might or might not be ADHD - but I *can* tell you that there are other challenges that can look the same as what you described above (as well as typical 4 year old behavior). My ds13 has Developmental Coordination Disorder, and when he was 4-5-6 years old, he fit the above description exactly. In his case, the slowness in getting ready etc was a challenge with fine motor skills - but it only looked like he was purposely moving slow to us when he was little - it wasn't until he'd been in school for a few years and there were school issues with not starting work combined with the other that a neuropsych was able to put the pieces together. I'm *NOT* saying your dd has DCD - just pointing out that there are conditions other than ADHD that may look like ADHD in very young children, and most of us with 2e kids here really didn't have definitive ideas of what was up until a few years past where your dd is now.


Learning to focus is important for all children, gifted or not - but it's also not something I'd expect to develop quickly and at 4 years old. Like others have mentioned, I suspect she'll catch on a bit quicker to focusing on her own work once she's in a class with more children. And I wouldn't worry that lack of focus at 4 means she won't be able to keep up with differentiated work later on in her school career.

For now, I'd enjoy letting her be herself and let her have fun with school - she'll be ok

Best wishes,

polarbear