[pmh383388]

My son, aged 11 +, cannot concentrade on his study. A little noise or people talking will distract him.But comes to PC games, he is smart !

If no parent at his side, his writings would be terribly urgy. He sometimes mix up addition and subtraction.

He can not sit still, always on the move.

He likes to mix with kids smaller than him, but not his classmates.

Is he LD/ADHD ? Or other problems ? Any method to cure him ?

[J_9]

This is something that only your doctor can diagnose. From the little you have written here he may or may not have ADD. I can't see where it would be ADHD.

Talk to his teachers, make an appointment with his doctor.

[Wondergirl]

Your son could be LD/ADD or he could be an active, growing boy. Have you talked with his teacher(s) about your concerns? Now that your son is probably on summer vacation, you may have to take him to the doctor for a school check up (?). In any event, ask the doctor about this (he may agree there is a problem, or he may not), and he can refer you to a child management psychologist in your area.

Be sure this is not a parenting problem. Be gently consistent in how you act and talk with him. I googled and found this response about someone's daughter, from a professional:

It is important for you to understand that this idea that all children should be able to sit and concentrate is just not true.

First of all, the frontal lobes of a child's brain do not fully develop until around age 25. This is when he can think ahead of the consequences of his actions and can reason things out better.

This makes it difficult for most children to concentrate for long periods of time, and then you add other traits that incline a child to wander in his mind and also for some to be physically restless and also for some to actually learn better when they are moving around because their brain works better with physical movement than sitting.

Trying to make robots of children where all sit quietly in a classroom is not a good idea and it doesn't work unless most of the children would be medicated. Medication also is setting up the child for future addiction.

Some people are born with the trait of low concentration. We call this trait Impatience because he gets impatient in trying to sit and listen, or cencentrate on one thing for very long. All our challenges are our gifts and the gift of this trait is that as an adult she will be able to change focus quickly in an occupation that requires low concentration.

Being a radio or TV announcer requires you change focus quickly, or being a manager where you are overseeing a large room full of people and noticing things quickly from one person to another to see how they are doing.

It is the ability to keep a lot of things going at one time.

Now, she probably also has wide-spaced eyes. This means that she can see all around her easily and is easily distracted. Later, on this is a gift of being able to see the big picture, see all sides to the question, see the big plan and the overview of whatever she is working on or when working with people.

She could also very well have the trait of High Ideas and Imagination and is a dreamer. This means that she is a creator and not meant to live a regimented life. Perhaps you could answer this with more description of her behavior and how she reacts.

Now, with that said, she is old enough to train her brain to be a bit better. Punishment is the worst thing you can do to get her to concentrate on one thing. Make up some games with her with rewards of whatever is really a reward to her.

Get some of those books like they have in first or second grade where they draw lines to match various items on the page. Or, better still, perhaps would be a simple puzzle. See how long she can do the puzzle without looking up or around the room. Time it in seconds, if necessary. Then tell her than if she can look at the puzzle and work it for an additional amount of time without turning her head or looking at something else she will get X award. Then if she can repeat it X amount of times she will get more points, etc. and when she gets so many points then she gets to do such and such or receive some reward.

Teach her what the word focus means so that when you are telling her to do something asn you know she is not hearing you, touch her and say, "focus". Children need visuals, use a play telescope (empty paper town tube and look through the tube. Then ask her what she can see. Tell her that that is what focusing is, to narrow her vision down to one thing. She can learn to bring her mind into focus if you make it fun and not that she is defective or needs punished. In fact, tell her that you are really glad she has a hard time concentrating because that tells you she has a talent in some area.

Can you tell me what she likes to do? Does she ever play at one thing for any length of time?

She also might have the trait of High Ideas where she quickly changes from one idea to another. this, again would make her very creative and sometimes has too many ideas until she is old enough to sort them out and work on them one at a time.

Without my seeing her I can't tell for sure, but knowing a little more of her behavior would be helpful.

Otherwise, this will, I hope, give you some encouragement. Observe her. Ask her questions about her dreams and plans. Discover who she really is and then you will know better how to work with her. If you were one of my regular clients I would work with you in figuring out games to play to increase her brain abilities and also find her talents and concentrate of developing those so she will have a healthy view of herself and not feel like she is defective in any way.

One of my sons is high-functioning autistic. He noticed that he is different from other children in some ways. I explained to him that his brain is wired differently. He is smart but he learns in a different way from others. He has to find the best way for himself. Meanwhile, he remembers everything he reads (scary!) and has a fantastic memory otherwise (knows that we painted the living room in 2002 and had bought the washer in 1998--and he is correct!). His big problem is social but bit by bit he is overcoming his shyness and wish to be alone.

Find your son's strengths and find ways to make them even better and broader. And love him unconditionally!

[RSM]

My son, aged 11 +, cannot concentrade on his study. A little noise or people talking will distract him.But comes to pc games, he is smart !

If no parent at his side, his writings would be terribly urgy. He sometimes mix up addition and subtraction.

He can not sit still, always on the move.

He likes to mix with kids smaller than him, but not his classmates.

Is he LD/ADHD ? Or other problems ? Any method to cure him ?

You should really ask your primary physician for a referral to a nuerodevelopmental pediatrician, or a neurologist. They are specialists in the area of ADD and should be able to give you the most useful feedback. If you ask for a Child Study Team referral from your school, and if the referral goes forward to evaluation, then you can request a neurological as part of the evaluation plan.

[cal823]

He may not have any adhd or add, it is one of the most overdiagnosed conditions I think.
I was diagnosed with add, but I don't really believe that I had it, and the medication is quite disruptive, you need to be careful about trigger happy diagnoses, if you don't trust the diagnosis, get a 2nd opinion or something, you cannot afford a misdiagnosis, the medications for these things can be quite terrible, when I had them, I had to have anti depressents because just the simple fact of taking so many pills made me sad, and it badly affected my appetite and sleeping.
And distraction? Bad handwriting? A lot of young kids have those problems, just be careful aye, but no need to be alarmist or overcautious, good luck! See someone about it, I think the above people recommended the right sort of people.

[peanut6966]

I would have a Dr do testing on him . My son is now 9 and was diagnosed with ADHD/autism when he was 7, and a lot of the times children who do fall into the autism spectrum disorder have those problems. My son would play video games but could not concentrate on anything else, he hates to do any writing, and would rather socialize with my 3 year old then children his own age.

[cece23]

I agree with the others, you need to get him properly diagnosed. The concentration could certainly be a sign of ADHD but there are many other reasons people might have poor concentration, so an experienced professional would have to take a history of your child's problems and do some testing to see what other problems he experiences. It might be handy to keep a sort of diary to note what other things he has difficulty with. This will prove very handy when you go to get him diagnosed because its always difficult to think of these things on the spot.

To me though it sounds a lot like ADHD. My son, 14, has ADHD, he was diagnosed at the age of 8 and has since had a rediagnosis. He has problems with writing too. This is a motoric problem though, but often presents in people with ADHD. Kids with ADHD often also have a learning disorder (discalculus, dyslexia, etc), that could be why your son has problems with maths. With my son, the problems are not just that he has problems with concentrating and writing, but other things such as he is behind socially, is very quick to anger (has low frustration tolerance), is extremely impulsive, disorganised and has severe motivational problems, etc.

My son takes medicine for only the anger part of his problems. He tried ritalin twice before but it was not effective at all. I forget the name of his current medicine at the moment, but it is not treating the ADHD part of his problems. There are many different medications for ADHD and some will be more effective then others depending on the individual so they should only be prescribed by a professional who has a full history of the child's problems and situation.

One other thing, my son too can spend hours in front of the PC! ADHD I believe is more about concentrating on what is more appealing at that moment. If for example daydreaming is more interesting than the boring (and difficult) maths lesson going on then its not difficult to see which one your son would choose!

Hope some of this is helpful to you. Keep us posted!

[N0help4u]

While you are waiting for a diagnosis it would be good to get him on a schedule and a good diet cut out junk food and fast food.
Many doctors are saying kids who are hyperactive have a lack of essential fatty acids and have vitamin deficiencies. Even if the doctor says he is not adhd these things are good any way.

[starlight1996]

My son, aged 11 +, cannot concentrade on his study. A little noise or people talking will distract him.But comes to pc games, he is smart !

If no parent at his side, his writings would be terribly urgy. He sometimes mix up addition and subtraction.

He can not sit still, always on the move.

He likes to mix with kids smaller than him, but not his classmates.

Is he LD/ADHD ? Or other problems ? Any method to cure him ?

My son has the same problem. We had to put him in private tuturing with no distractions for him to improve. He does very well now.

[Eileen2005]

I also agree about the right diet. I have heard that preservatives and food colors can cause lack of concentration in kids. So try to give him less candies, smarties, fast food, frozen and canned food, etc. TMake sure he gets enough vitamins especially vitamin B series found in grains. The reason he prefers younger kids is that he can be in control when playing with them, may be he needs help in socializing with kids at his age, maybe he does not know what to do and how to interact with them.

[meagank]

If your child as add he would not be able to sit long and constrate on video games either it sounds more like he gets board with his work and he does not want to do it

[ragekage2114]

if your child as add he would not be able to sit long and constrate on video games either it sounds more liek he gets board with his work and he does not want to do it

You are a dam idiot I have adhd and I can focus on video games for hours and hours

[Wondergirl]

if your child as add he would not be able to sit long and constrate on video games either it sounds more liek he gets board with his work and he does not want to do it

Actually, yes, he would be able to sit for a long time doing one thing. Those with ADD/ADHD are able to focus well and completely on things that they enjoy doing, whether it be video games, knitting, reading graphic novels, or putting things in alphabetical or numeric order.

[heidijoanne]

I agree that ADD/ADHD is no doubt diagnosed at times when it shouldn't be. And I'm sure there are times when it isn't diagnosed and should be. The most important thing, if you think it's a possibility is to get him tested, by someone who truly understands and knows about the disorder. Unfortunately it is still extremely misunderstood. If it's not the case, great and if it is, getting him help is the best thing you can do.

Many children with ADD/ADHD feel completely misunderstood. Partly because they can't understand themselves. Imagine trying your very best to think what it would be like to switch thoughts a hundred times in two minutes and not even realize your doing it... it ends up making the child miss important pieces of imformation throughout their days, which in turn makes it hard to piece together the big picture, leaving the child confused often, and in some cases feeling inadequate and "dumb". Their worlds don't make sense to them, the sense of urgency many feel frequently, from racing minds/thoughts, and in many cases feeling they are somehow different. AS for the games, and the ability to focus on them... I imagine that deep down these children would love to be more a part of everything, but unfortunately not everything provides the same stimulation. They can become so engrossed in games, because something is always going on, no chance to get bored, or loose interest and focus like that for a child that has a neurobiological disorder such as ADD/ADD is one of the only forms of relief for their racing minds. Undiagnosed, these feelings of being confused often and constantly changing thoughts without realizing it will only progress and in some cases could end up having very negative affects on the child/person.

Again, yes the disorder is misdiagnosed in many, but what about the ones that are diagnosed properly? If we only concentrate on the ones that aren't, what happens to the ones that are.

Good luck with your Son! And if it is ADD/ADHD there are so many helpful resurces out there, and so many interesting things to discover. As well, many articles on the positive characteristics of ADD to keep things in perspective!

Cheers

[N0help4u]

Try reading Brain allergies by Philpott
And Crazy makers by Carol Simontacchi

Also ask the school about IEP http://www.helpguide.org/mental/lear...elp_coping.htm evaluation testing
They can keep him with his class and put him in special classes for what he is having trouble with.

[champion1]

You have to take a look at this website. A lot of info on the topic.

Our son has ADHD and it has made a great difference in his life and ours.

Click Here

[summer7]

Hi,
This might be of interest to you. Dr. Daniel Amen is a child/adult psychiatrist and brain imaging specialist. He has a few clinics in the US. They take a scan of the brain using brain SPECT imaging to determine the problem. This saves patients time and money on costly therapies because the scan reveals (in color) the blood flow and activity patterns within the brain. They can quickly determine if a person has ADD or ADHD. They try to treat patients with natural methods before considering medications.

Enjoy these videos. Hope you find them helpful!

Click Here: YouTube - Dr. Daniel Amen - What You Need to Know About ADD

Click Here: YouTube - Daniel Amen - Change Your Brain Change Your Life 1-8

Click here: Amen Clinics - Dedicated to your Brain Health