Focus issues

L

Laura291

New Member
My son is 13 years old and has Asperger's Syndrome. He has always had a hard time focusing and being motivated. I don't know if he's getting worse, or just the work is getting more challenging so he's giving up sooner, but he has been having the worse focus issues lately. I've tried external motivators, giving him written instructions, cutting up his school day into smaller chunks, moving his classroom outside or to different rooms, giving him computer time instead of book time, but nothing is working. His counselor thinks we should try medication. I want to make sure that's my absolute last resort and have been researching supplements for him. Does anyone give their children supplements for attention and focus, and have you seen a difference? Which ones to you give?

Thank you!
 
Have you tried caffeine? My daughter has an auditory processing disorder and anxiety. Needless to say, she's VERY easily distracted. I've found when I give her something high in caffeine, she focuses much better. We use V-8 Fusion Energy drinks [mainly because she also needs the nutritional value], but anything with a higher amount of caffeine can help.

My daughter's therapist also recommended getting her a mini trampoline to jump on for 5 minutes before starting each new lesson to help wear her down a bit physically while waking the mind up.
 
I have a person in my household who takes psychotropic drugs, and have a sister whose special needs child takes psychotropic drugs. I myself am ADD and a compensating dyslexic.

I say this to let you know I have compassion for both sides of your struggle with a decision to use drugs or not.

I encourage you to try to find coping skills and healthy living options to optimize your child's best potential.

On the other hand be open to exploring medical treatment. If your child had high blood pressure and you knew he was eating a healthy diet, avoiding vices and getting regular physical activity, sleeping well and was in a good place spiritually, and yet his blood pressure was high, would you insist he struggle with trying to keep the blood pressure down without meds while in the meantime his kidneys were being damaged by the extra high blood pressure. What would have to be done to avoid raising the blood pressure in this un-medicated individual. Perhaps they would avoid exciting music, good books, action movies, falling in love, and successes for life just to afford themselves the opportunity to stay off medication.

The other side of the coin: What might taking medication while he is still young and developing habits and his personality and world view potentially afford him. Is it possible that some of the irregularities of Asperger's might be attenuated with a medication affording him an opportunity to enter or continue adolescence with fewer struggles or diminished struggles. Increased social abilities, and academic successes might enable a higher level of self confidence and allow a greater enjoyment during the hardest years of his life.

Using meds does not have to be a life long sentence, and a well rounded adult might find himself better able to cope without them than challenged teen who is having academic trouble.

Looking back on my life, I wish we had gotten dh psychiatric help about 20 years earlier. I will always wonder what I could have done in college had I not been plagued with not being able to keep up with the reading load and always needed more time on exams. I always tested well on standardized exams, but never lived up to those levels in classes. There was just never enough time. Would a little Ritalin have made it so I could have finished college? It was always so tough to be in labs with students who were making A's and knowing the material way better than them and being able to put into practice far better and explain it to the others, but not being able to finish the exams left my grades average at best and often the reading caused me to get further and further behind as each semester progressed.

If you do try meds, the path might not be smooth. The docs might not have the right diagnosis the first time around. Sometimes the failure of a class of meds can be diagnostic in itself. I remember one my dh took, it seemed like a miracle come true at first then.......well anyway, that failure directed the physician in the right direction and things were better in the next round and have been ever since.

Brain chemistry is interesting. So many aspects of personality and behavior and the way people perceive things can be tweeked with medicine. I would never have believed it until seeing the wrong drugs cause my spouse to become other people I had known in my life. I would then think, wow, that person had too much dopamine on the x or y receptor type. Or this person needed just a tough more serotonin, or......

I pray that you will find help for you son, wherever God sends it from. Better now than later after the best decades of his life have passed.

And until then do not under-estimate the power of Testosterone. Get that boy working. Hard physical exercise, intense sports, gardening, chopping wood, and the like, running, biking, surf fishing, cast net fishing, something physical.
 
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Thanks Shelley! I never would have thought about caffeine. I always avoid it, thinking my kids will be hyper and not focus. But I myself often lean on caffeine when I am having my own focus issues due to the afternoon fatigue.

Vantage, thank you so much for your well thought out reply. You actually echo exactly what my mother has told me this past year, as things got worse. In fact, she used the blood pressure example too! :) I have always thought that he may need medication as he gets older or becomes an adult and doesn't have me to give him stamps as rewards to shower and brush his teeth! LOL! I would like to hold off as long as possible and would LOVE to find more natural ways to help him, but I am beginning to realize that those options may not be the best anymore. I hate to think what's going to happen when he has his first job and I'm starting to wonder if he'll be able to live alone ever. It scares me and I am pushing him harder now to be more independent because if he's capable, then I want for him to be independent! And I think that's part of why he seems to be doing worse - because he's not growing emotionally as fast as he's growing physically.

Thank you for helping me to think about the positives of finding a medication that will help him!
 
Laura, I understand your feelings on medication as well. We just started my daughter on Zoloft for her anxiety back in November. I spent a year trying out non-medicinal alternatives. I found a couple that worked really well...for a month or two. Then her body adapted, and I wasn't sure what to do at that point.

Really, she could probably use an upping of her dosage, but we're waiting to move into our new place and get some physical equipment for her to work out on at home to see if more strenuous exercise in bursts will help her. However, if the exercise doesn't seem to make a difference, we will up the medication.

There is nothing at all wrong with seeking alternatives [it was a neurologist who suggested the caffeine] and giving them a whirl. But there's also nothing wrong with saying, if they don't seem to do the trick, "These really aren't working, and we want our child not to struggle simply because we withhold a medication that could help."

Do try the exercise and caffeine. Again, if it makes you feel better about that, it was the neurologist who recommended it to us. He wanted us to steer clear of using any of the 'focus' medications because they tend to be appetite suppressants [and our daughter is underweight as it is]. And don't feel bad at all if you find you must go to a medication. We do what's right for our kids, and that's nobody's business but your family's. :)
 
Laura, caffeine has the opposite effect on children with special needs. It's worth a try!

Check out www.headsupnow.com Melinda Boring has all kinds of ideas for special needs children.

And, too, your son is 13. Sigh.... I've a 14yo son, and I'm wondering if some of what you're going through isn't simply his age. They go through what we homeschoolers refer to as the "Rooster Stage". It has to do with trying to be a man. My one friend is always telling her son that she'll treat him like a man when he starts acting like one, lol!
 
Thanks Shelley! He ran really hard today - we had our PE class, and he focused better afterwards, so that's something I need to start doing with him. I bought some caffeine drinks tonight and am going to try that starting tomorrow. I'm excited to give it a try - I've never heard that before!

Jackie, thank you for the site. I will look at it right now! I have a 13 year old step son as well, and we also raise chickens and have a rooster, so we tell him "stop being so roostery" all the time - too funny! I do wonder if age is part of it. My son is not "roostery" yet - he's very withdrawn most of the time, and only comes out of his shell when playing the video games. Which is why I let him play them for FOUR hours per day, but I'm afraid I may not have done him any favors with that. He seems to be withdrawn even more when he's not playing his video games, and I think some of his focus issues are due to always thinking about the video game (he plays Roblox on the computer).

Thanks again, and I'll let you know how it goes!
 
I was going to suggest caffeine and exercise, but it looks like both have been covered! I do hope you'll report back to let us know how either/both are working. This sounds just like my son over the past few months. The doc thinks it may be early puberty, but I'm hopeful it's just a phase. :/
 
I have a 12 year old aspie daughter. I will say that about 6-8 months ago we started allowing her coffee in the morning and requiring yoga just prior to lunch and that combination has been pivotal to her renewed success! I hope that caffeine and exercise are helpful to your son as well. :)
 
Coffee, diet changes (dyes, gluten, all sorts of things can cause a behavior issue), and Vetiver Essential Oil (I actually made a blend for my kids, but vetiver is a good starting point if you don't have a collection of essential oils)
 
Voting for caffeine also! My son, we believe, is an undiagnosed ADD child. (we don't want a diagnosis because then we would have to jump through additional hoops for the school district).

I allow him a cup of coffee every school day. ONE cup. And most days he TRIES without it and only has it if he's really having trouble focussing. It helps him immensely.

:)
 
Wow, I never would have guessed caffeine until you all! Thank you! My son doesn't like coffee and he doesn't like the caffeine drinks I bought because they were carbonated. He's super picky. I'm going to search for something else, but if anyone has tried some non carbonated caffeine drinks not too high in sugar, let me know!

Josie, I just attended a seminar about essential oils and I was impressed. I will try that. If you get yours from a certain place, can you PM me where (unless you are allowed to post it here).

The past two days were slightly better, I built in more time to run outside and had him being active during his breaks. But, I also lightened the load this week, only Math Reading and Science. Next week we have to pick up writing again, and that alone is always rough!
 
We use V8 Fusion Energy for our caffeine, Laura. It has almost as much as a cup of coffee. They have at least 3 different flavor varieties. :)
 
Oh, and Laura, if he doesn't like the V8 Fusion Energy, you can also look at the water flavorings [like GNC's stuff or Mio]. They have energy water enhancers that have quite a bit of caffeine in them and in flavors kids will drink like grape and cherry.
 
Tea? Or get smaller cans of soda. They have small 100 calorie sizes of coke, pesi, and others. A little sugar is not going to hurt a teen who is active. Adjust the breakfast carbs as needed.

And speaking of carbs, be sure that the breakfast is not entirely carbs. Most typical American breakfasts are. Instead of cereal and juice, or toast with jelly and juice, if that is what your son eats try to balance it between carbs, protiens and fat.

With eating a Type II diet during my pregnancies, I learned this. Convinced my spouse to change his breakfast and to always eat one made a big difference for him also. My dh who is not a pork eater often eats a "griller" or a "sausage" patty by morning star farms brand meat substitutes as part of his breakfast. He basically makes sandwich with mustard and pickle relish out of one. You can also eat them on the plate like a hamburger or use the sausage type things.

Or just mix and match ideas, eating a bacon sandwich, or a couple of hard boiled eggs and having something like v8 with them, or just putting a bunch of peanut butter on a English muffin can really help with concentration and avoiding a sugar slump.

An all carb or poorly balanced breakfast can cause a dump of insulin that is followed by low blood sugar despite having eaten lots of sugar and carbs.

Vitamin D is huge. Does this young man get outside. Force him outside in short sleeves for a time each day just to be sure.
 
Thanks all! I bought the V8 Energy and he drank one this morning. I almost totally ban sugar so he was all about getting to drink it, and of course I had to let my daughter drink one too. It's only been one day, but today was a good day! Knock on wood - neither kid got hyper and they did a good job today with their work.

Vantage, I had the same issue when pregnant and I became hyper vigilant about my diet after that! I try to give the kids a health fat, whole grain, and a protein at each meal. Fruits and veggies are a bonus these days! LOL!

Good point on getting outside more often. This winter has been HORRIBLE for getting outside and I'm sure that's playing a role. How many more days until spring?!?!

Thanks all! I'll let you know how the caffeine goes!
 
I tried the V8 fusion energy all last week and so fart his week. So far no improvement. We also cut out most sugar. We haven't tried a gluten free diet, but he was tested a few years ago for ciliac and didn't have it. I know he could still have issues with gluten, but that's such a tough diet! I also started a more intensive reward system. I'm going to give all this through the end of next week and if there is still no improvement, I'll have to take him into the doctor. I'm torn if he really can't help but get up and wander off everytime I turn my back, or if he is just making poor decisions. He's 13 and I would expect he has more self control than that by now! Today I put him at the table with his math book and DVD with the following instructions (same as everyday): Watch the DVD and then do the problem set problems. I then went to my office for a 1 hour meeting. I came back upstairs and he'd watched the DVD (10 minutes) and then had wandered around outside the rest of the time. He hadn't even opened the book! This happens daily, if I'm not right there, leading him through each step, and constantly calling him back to his book. And it's not just math - it's all subjects (except Science, he does fine in Science). Ug!

By the way, I put him in the kitchen to do his math so I could watch him while making lunch. He did all the problems in less than 20 minutes and only got one wrong. So I know it's not an issue of it being too hard or too overwhelming.
 
I'd say either resign yourself to spending every minute with him right by your warm side, or use the meds!
 
There are 2 more possibilities that could help that would be non-medicinal. Both are naturally occurring chemicals in the body: L-theanine and Inositol.

L-theanine is an amino acid found in green tea. It's undergone clinical studies and has been proven to help calm a person and increase focus. We used this with my daughter for a while [until she seemed to adapt to it], and it had noticeable effects for her. Her karate instructors even commented that she seemed more focused. The effect won't be instantaneous. As with any substance, it will have to work its way into the system for a while.

Inositol is part of the Vitamin B-complex family. Like L-theanine, it's undergone clinical testing and has shown to have some impact in helping to calm a person and thus increase focus levels. My daughter had a very noticeable difference on this within exactly one week of starting it. Again, though, it had to work its way into the system.

Really, it's going to come down to why he can't seem to focus as to what will work to help him do so. In my daughter's case, it's the combination of auditory processing issues and anxiety that causes her problems. It helps a lot to discern the source of the problem and direct your focus on treating that then, hopefully, the focus issues will follow.

Oh, and if you go either of the above routes, we found the L-theanine in capsules that were flavorless. We could mix them into most stuff. The inositol powder we got was very lightly sweet tasting, so we were easily able to mix it into anything that had a sweet taste [e.g. chocolate milk, Kool-Aid, juice].
 
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