spacing out

[AmyinWI]

I have a child (girl age 8) that is rather "slow" to respond some days.

She just moves slow, doesn't "hear" directions. Stares into space alot. Gets distracted easily, loses things all the time. Even when I tell her where something is, she looks around and can't seem to find it.

It seems to be worse when she is tired and/ or when there is a lot of activity that day. I know she has trouble sleeping, she wakes up easily and sometimes doesn't fall asleep for over and hour after we put her to bed. I used to have her lay down for a rest time in the afternoon, but since she's 8, I've been trying to get away from that. She does fall asleep often when we drive somewhere, so maybe she just needs extra sleep?
I have been wondering if she has some sort of learning disability going on and/or processing disorder. Or perhaps ADD?

Anyone have a child like this? Any suggestions on what I can do to help her?

[AmandaTX]

That describes my 7 yr old dd perfectly. She in fact does have a language processing disorder (also called auditory dyslexia). She receives speech services through our local public school and at our last ARD meeting they told me that they would consider her to have ADHD also (the spacey kind, not the hyper kind) and if she were in school they would need to provide her with many special accomendations. The school's suggestions to me were:
* have a consistent routine...even write it down to help her get moving and do what she needs to do
* have a very organized house...every single thing should have a special place (we are not doing a good job at all with this!)
* instructions are given one piece of info at a time and she has to repeat back to me...I can sometimes give her 2 things to do on a good day!

Anyways, HTH and good luck!

[Jennifer in VA]

Unfortunately, both boys are flighty to some extent. Our oldest, for the longest time, I just thought it was a boy thing, not wanting to try. It wasn't until into 5th grade that we started the ball rolling on testing did auditory and visual processing issues come up. Now, at the end of 6th, some issues have been helped, but we're still peeling the layers back and meeting with a psychologist next week to figure out what else is going on.

Our 9yo seems to have similar issues, but nothing as great as his brother. Part of me thinks, with him, it is a lack of drive. He sees his brothers "bar" low, so he doesn't put forth the effort.

Lists, organization, timers, and known rewards or consequences are a driving force here.

[Dawn Gilmore]

I have a child (girl age 8) that is rather "slow" to respond some days.

She just moves slow, doesn't "hear" directions. Stares into space alot. Gets distracted easily, loses things all the time. Even when I tell her where something is, she looks around and can't seem to find it.

It seems to be worse when she is tired and/ or when there is a lot of activity that day. I know she has trouble sleeping, she wakes up easily and sometimes doesn't fall asleep for over and hour after we put her to bed. I used to have her lay down for a rest time in the afternoon, but since she's 8, I've been trying to get away from that. She does fall asleep often when we drive somewhere, so maybe she just needs extra sleep?
I have been wondering if she has some sort of learning disability going on and/or processing disorder. Or perhaps ADD?

Anyone have a child like this? Any suggestions on what I can do to help her?

You might mention this to her pediatrician. Some of the things you describe could be tiny little seizures, where she's just a little out of it sometimes. (3 of my 4 children have been diagnosed w/ epilepsy in the last 5 years, and the spacing out is definitely something that was apparent in at least 2 of them.)

[Laura F]

I like Dawn's idea to mention the behavior to your ped/family doctor. A lot of what you describe can go along with AD/HD. My dd has sleeping issues because her mind can't shut itself off easily, and she also tends to be inattentive. There are so many reasons for these behaviors, however, so I would hesitate to say it's ADD. On the other hand, is your mommy intuition nudging you towards something?

[AmyinWI]

I don't think it's small seizures (I did think of that though) it's more like she will hear me talk to her,and look, but not respond, just stare or ignore?
Kind of hard to explain.
Or sometimes after I say something to her, she'll say... ok... then continues what she's doing/playing with etc. instead of doing what I told her to. Doesn't seem like she's being disobedient,just not connecting what I said to what she needs to do.

[Alice R]

I'm thinking auditory processing

[Esther-Alabama]

I have a son like this, my middle son. He is very much an introvert, very intelligent, and spends lots of time doing his own thing, kwim? He has trouble sleeping and takes melaton to help with that.

He did this SO much when he was a little younger, four to six or so. He is almost 10 now and it is so much better. I could tell him to do one math page and by the time he went into his room and put his hand onhis math book, he'd forgotten what he was supposed to do. Or, he would hear me say...time to stop playing Legos and come eat. He would think to himself....as soon as I finish this or that. Ten minutes later, he'd have forgotten I called him at all, until I was calling him again.

He doesn't do this nearly as bad as he used to. I asked him recently why and he explained that he had lots going on in his brain and he just couldn't stop as quickly as I wanted him to stop. And he sometimes was thinking of so much that he couldn't shut that off to concentrate on schoolwork.

He has a huge imagination and is a deep thinker. I have long thought there was "something wrong" but decided to work with him through it, let him mature, and try and teach him ways of transitioning from one thing to another. He is much, much better about following thru with an instruction without getting distracted. And I make an effort to have a predictable schedule and give him a warning prior to a transition, AND give him plenty of time to play alone.

[AmyinWI]

I'm thinking auditory processing

Is this something that could "come and go" or be worse on certain days,and not on others. Some days she seems sharp as a tack, and quick to respond... other days she is just off. Hard to explain.
today was one of those days.... explained math problems to her, did a few with her. come back 10 minutes later.. she hadn't even started, just staring at the paper.
I decided because it's such a dreary day, to ditch the math, do some inside physical activity.. jumping jacks and bean bag games.. then let them play on the wii for an hour. seems to have woken her brain up a bit.

[AmandaTX]

Is this something that could "come and go" or be worse on certain days,and not on others. Some days she seems sharp as a tack, and quick to respond... other days she is just off. Hard to explain.
today was one of those days.... explained math problems to her, did a few with her. come back 10 minutes later.. she hadn't even started, just staring at the paper.
I decided because it's such a dreary day, to ditch the math, do some inside physical activity.. jumping jacks and bean bag games.. then let them play on the wii for an hour. seems to have woken her brain up a bit.

With my dd's processing issues, some days/hours are much worse than others. I've noticed her's are worse if we've gotten out of routine, had too much screen time, or frankly for no reason at all. Today was a rough day here with lots of repeat instructions.