Same thing happened to my husband. His teacher thought he was 'slow' because he didn't do his work and sat in a daze in the classroom. Come to find out, he was a couple grades ahead of his peers. :roll: FWIW, I was never a trouble maker in school, and I watched a LOT of tv growing up...and I mean a lot...it was always on even as background noise. Same with my husband. While I completely agree that the overuse of tv and other electronics is not good and does not 'help' children to become more focused, it's also not something you can put sole blame on. As with anything, moderation is key.
Good point Jackie! You know I worked at a daycare for a while, when my oldest two were younger. Do you know that daycare offered computer classes (for an extra fee) to ANY child that was 2 and a half or older! It was crazy. As a teacher my children were offered the classes for free. I declined for my two year old to take it, but I will admit that my children probably watch more tv and play more video games than they should. Though for us it's mostly out of necessity since there are so many times they can't go outside and play.
I agree. I tutor a little girl who has been diagnosed ADD. She's six and her parents are only just now allowing her to play educational games on the computer (on my recommendation - it's a great way to drill those letter sounds!). She has not grown up watching TV. She's almost always outside helping with the gardening, or playing ball with her dad, skateboarding, turning cartwheels down the street, etc... While it's true that she has the attention span of a tse tse fly when it comes to sit-down work, I don't think modern society has made her that way. If anything, I think the problem is that she's badly suited to modern society. She'd do just fine on a farm, working outdoors all day. She doesn't have any attention issues at all when she's outside and moving.
I'm not saying all ADHD kids are that way due to the environment. But I think more of them are. Also, keep in mind that 60 tears ago, a kid who today would be ADHD was called simply an "active" kid. And the teachers kept him busy too busy to get into trouble, or he was sent to "work it off" on Uncle Bob's farm.
Yep. If the future economy calls for more office workers, than the local populace gets to supply kids who sit quietly at a desk for extended periods. As someone who gardens, and runs what is, essentially, a hobby farm (semi producing goats, chickens who don't lay for months at a time :roll: ) it takes a certain amount of energy just to KEEP UP with the chores. I wish I had a little more of the H part in ADHD. Now I will say I believe my sister and her entire family have some form of ADD. However, they can sit still just fine. They do flit from project to project, though. There are some helpful things about that- they all multitask like pros.
It was never my intention to suggest that television or computers alone cause the problem. I honestly think it's a combination of many factors, including food additives, and lack of much physical "work" in most people's lives anymore. Even your eye itself is changed by looking at a screen though. They aren't meant to stare at something like that for so long. They're exercised properly only when looking from say, the mountains in the far distance, to the person in front of you, etc. More than our minds are weakened by televisions and computers. Jackie: I will try and find that book, thank you~
I do believe society has created children who are used to a fast-pace entertainment-style of life. I also think it has also taken normal differences and put a label on it. I'm pretty sure if I put my son in a classroom a label might be chasing him around. He certainly is a challenge to teach sometimes. As long as I have his attention he does fine. Often his attention is off in his incredible world of imagination. Despite the challenges he sure is a joy to teach. He isn't ADD though. His attention is great for anything he is interested in.
Embassy, I KNOW they would have wanted to medicate Faythe! And maybe some of it would have been warranted. Both my little brother and Carl's little brother were ADHD, and with my brother it was exasperated by the fact he had an IQ of over 150, so that boredom factor also played into it. If Faythe had attended public school, she would have been the kid who would work on math very hard for the first five minutes, and then she'd see a bird outside the window, and she'd have to sharpen her pencil, and she'd be listening in to the reading group, and then she'd need a drink of water, and by recess, she MIGHT have the first row done and the teacher would make her stay in to finish it. Sigh.... But one-on-one, I was able to deal (most days ) with her inattentiveness. And she's SO much better now! My mil, who has never been much of a hs supporter, once commented that keeping Faythe home was a good thing, because "she really needed the one-on-one".
LOL, I can totally see my son doing the same thing. He needs the one-on-one. Any tips? Was it just growing up that helped?
I really thinking a big part of it was a natural maturing. But I've also had to accept that she works best under conditions that I normally wouldnl't encourage. Instead of at the table where I could control the distractions, she wanted to work on her bed. At first, I would have to remove all books off of her bed, other than her schoolbooks. It's a loft-type bed, so she wouldn't get down to get a book off the shelf, but would read anything up there with her. I would also check on her every now and then to make sure she was on task. And I found her on task more and more, so I checked less and less. Now, I never check on her. She works diligently on her own, though she says she can work better with the music on. One time, I had an emergency dental procedure. My dentist couldn't get me in (one partner out of town, and the other was taking up the slack), so they suggested I go somewhere else. This happened to be a Christian guy (who actually attended a church with people I knew!), and his aunt was the receptionist. My kids were in the lobby doing schoolwork, and the receptionist had the local Christian station on. Faythe actually went up to her and asked if she would please turn it down, because she (Faythe) knew all the songs and was singing along instead of doing her work.... LOL!
