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6 year old son attention/focus problems

My 6 year old son is having a difficult time paying attention, following directions and focusing in school. Just has parent teacher conference today and the teacher showed us an assignment where she instructed the student to color only the top of the cup cake and not the bottom. My son was the only one not to follow the instructions, she colored the bottom of 6 cup cakes. Also the teacher said that she asked my son to count to 100 by 2's and he only went up to 18. When he was brought in I asked why didn't he do this and he said he didn't know, so I asked him to count and he did it up to 100. Also he incorrectly complete another assignment but when given the same assignment with me there he did it correctly. So he can do it but according to the teacher he does not listen and appears would just like to get it over with so he can play with his other classmates. I need help as to what I can do to get him better focused in the classroom and at home.
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Avatar universal
I understand him. He wants to get it over with so he can play. Well, maybe to use that as a stimulation, the playing time, before he does any work at class, to offer the reward of playing if he does follow the instructions correctly, some times make him repeat the instructions works to. Just ideas
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Avatar universal
Maybe with all the stimulation it is just hard for him.  Maybe he gets nervous when tested and can't perform, with you, it's less pressure to count, etc.  
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1174019 tn?1269852999
Ok yeah I was missing a few letters on the lda.org URL. it's actually:
http://www.ldanatl.org/   Yes I forgot the acronym. Dang and I was just there! Umm... It's Learning Disabilities Association ...something something. If you go there it'll tell you.
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1174019 tn?1269852999
This one is very awesome too. I just went and got the link.
http://www.ldonline.org/index.php
(Learning Disabilities Online)
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1174019 tn?1269852999
It sounds a bit like me when I was younger. I had a difficult time paying attention in places that things and people weren't as familiar. This created a novelty that pulled my attention away from what I needed it for. He probably is paying attention but to too many things. At that point for me I gravitated towards the easier things to do because I ran out of brain energy to continue doing the more complicated tasks. That still happens to me and I'm 44 and on Ritalin. Attention deficit isn't (in me) a deficit in the amount of attention that can be paid but in the ability to identify and assign priorities to things to pay attention to as well as filtering out what can be ignored. It's exhusting to keep up with everything if there are a lot of distractions. I usually have to make my surroundings extremely simplified by having only things in there that are relative to the subject matter at hand. Having nothing in the room is as much of a distraction as having too much of the wrong stuff. I have pictures to remind me of the subject matter even if I already know what it is. I have to have as many avenues of learning as I can get my hands on. Visual, audio, video, olfactory, linguistics, role playing, sharades, drawing, painting, mini sculptures, talking with 1-3 people about the subject. I have to work 2-3 times as hard to learn and retain the material that mist people take just moments to. Getting geared up, in the mood, inbthe right frame of mind to do things is paramount. I need a few monitors to a couple of hours to get my brain into something "else." Shifting is an enormous problem and is a distraction in and of itself. I use flash cards that depict the activity I have to switch to. I look at it and imagine myself doing it like I have to fit it in an already cluttered place. Being around a lot of people is going to comprimise a much needed controlled environment. I don't know how to tackle that kind of problem with a kid. I've read that there are coaches that can help. While working with you and your kid they can come up with a strategy that's not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. I don't have it handy to know fir certain but I found some good help at lda.org (Learning Dusabilities of America). I'll check on that URL. I wish you the best.    vikkttoorr99    





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