Hi there, new person to the forums (found you through fark.com) and I am glad that you have a support group available to both children/adults who are touched and for the family members and friends.
Quick history, my son who is 9 was diagnosed by a teacher's aid in kindergarten after having been in the EI and other programs in our school district. (great programs btw). After finding out from the aid and not from his case workers/teachers and getting over the shock of it all (we had thought maybe add/etc) I took the next step and decided to make sure I did everything I could to enable my son to achieve any goal he set forth.
Fast forward a few years, and he has grown into a wonderful little guy. He's wheat/gluten free and this seems to "keep the clouds out of my brain" he has told me.
He has made great strides in finding his place in the world, so well in fact he no longer qualifies for services!
So our new challenge is this... he gets distracted very easily when doing homework. Now, I know that this is an issue with most every child, no matter what their situation, but I swear I have to nearly sit on him to keep him on task.
What works for those of you when you are feeling distracted, but know you MUST concentrate and finish what you are doing?
What I am doing at this point is having him in our office, working at a clean desk and classical music playing in the background. I will sit in the room with him while I do my homework (yay for mom going back to college
) and if he seems to be daydreaming I call to him and call him back to earth. Yes he gets activity breaks, or as we call it "wiggle time" so he can go outside and kick the soccer ball or just turn on some fun music and dance. Keeping his body active seems to calm his brain, but obviously I can't put him on the treadmill while he's trying to do his homework! (ok I suppose I could but his handwritting would be even worse than it is already!!)
So what can I suggest to him that he do so that he can keep himself on task and not have to be so dependent on others doing this for him?
Thanks !
Hiya Mamluv:
Came across your post while checking out the forum (I also found it thru Fark *grin*). While I'm not on the spectrum, I might be able to help a little; I'm an OT and some of my kids have the same problem (although for lots of different reasons); I can pass along things that have worked for them:
Thing is, your best bet is to find things that help your guy focus (obviously, I know). That means a lot of trial and error. So he is more together after moving around? (sounds like it to me) There's actually lots one can do and still sit and work. Like, chair exercises (chair push-ups, arm movement, etc). Or spinning once in a while if the chair is the kind that can. Or some kind of move n sit cushion on the seat (like those new exercise cushions I've seen in Target) so he could wiggle without getting up. If you think he would be safe, a large exercise/therapy ball could serve the same purpose. Or even some bungi cord tied around the 2 front legs of his chair so he can bang his feet on it.
Keep in mind none of these may not work. But if you do try any, let me know how it goes
Alli
PS: would love to see what works for other folks!
WELCOME
to AFF!
I have never found any of my boys to be able to keep on track by themselves until adulthood - except in their areas of special interest.
It may be that the whole homework thing will be easier and less stressful for you both if you recognise that he is
simply unable, at this stage, to concentrate on something that does not engage his mind unless he has adult help.
There is no sense in thinking that he 'ought' to keep on track. He can't. That is why ASDs are considered to be invisible disabilities. No-one expects a child with a broken arm to use it like a normal one - yet somehow it is expected that a 'broken brain' can work the same way as a 'normal' one if it somehow tries harder.
Before I get flamed - that was an analogy! I do
not believe autistic brains
are 'broken' but we are wired differently enough that tasks designed for the neurotypical to do are extremely difficult, if not impossible, for us.
If it is possible for there to be a nice big mirror placed where he will see himself you may find that is sufficient reminder. He knows what it looks like to be doing homework and seeing himself in the mirror can remind him that he does not look that way.
And welcome!
If it is possible for there to be a nice big mirror placed where he will see himself you may find that is sufficient reminder. He knows what it looks like to be doing homework and seeing himself in the mirror can remind him that he does not look that way.
And welcome!
A mirror probably wouldn't work, he would just sit and look at himself and mess with his hair LOL! A yoga ball might be an idea, but not sure how to translate that into something usable at school that wouldn't get him comments from his classmates.
Good brainstorming though.. I'd love to hear more!
*pops back in*
Those move n sit cushions (also known as exercise cushions, balance cushions and even wobble cushions) are pretty unobtrusive and give almost as much movement as the big balls. Do a google image search on "exercise cushion" and you'll see what I mean. Once they are on the seat you really can't see them.
That being said, I find the biggest issue with the therapy balls is not the student feeling different, but getting the teacher to understand it's an ok thing, and trying to keep the other kids off it! Turns out (usually) everyone wants one *sigh* Then again, I have found the kids who really needed one both liked the attention, and the chance to expound on why they needed it *grin*
HTH
Alli
Alli,
I really like the idea of these cushions, I'm going to get one and see if it helps! Thanks!!
I'm still interested to hear from the teenagers that have AS and have, as we call it in our house, "wiggle-itis"
How do you manage to get homework at home/school??
For me, lots of checklists and breaking-things-down helps. I'm not studying any more, but I still create minutely detailed lists at work when I'm in one of my moods. (This, among other things, got me misdiagnosed with OCD before someone sussed I was an Aspie.) It keeps me on track and helps me focus, and also helps me know what to do next, since I can be overwhelmed easily if there are lots of different things demanding my attention. There's also a real sense of achievement in seeing lots of things checked off the list, and it's great motivation, even if it correlates to little actual work done!
I have no idea what sort of homework a nine year old does these days, but for the sake of illustration, a list for making a cup of tea might look like
1. Check water in kettle. Fill if necessary
2. Turn on kettle
3. Get cup.
4. Get teabag and put in cup.
5. Get milk out of fridge.
6. When kettle boils, put hot water in cup.
7. Put milk in cup.
8. Put milk away.
Much more detailed than such a list would usually need to be - because, as Tigger said, we're not dealing with a 'usual' brain here. Tigger, I love the broken arm analogy!!
And sometimes, I still go for a walk around the block for no reason apparent to the rest of the office. It doesn't matter that I take more breaks than others, because when I AM working, I do the same amount of work in much less time, due to the twin gifts of hyperfocus and good language skills.
Routine is good. The clean desk idea sounds good too. Homework on a diningroom table with family hubub around can be too distracting for some people. Dad helped me build my own desk in a corner of my room. I had fun selecting and buying my own supplies and arrainging them precisely. I'm 50 now, but at work I still can not think with a cluttered desk. Everything on the desk is positioned where it is supposed to be and if I get out one color pen, I have to put away the other color in the drawer. Otherwise... the "chaos" keeps nagging at the corner of my eye and makes me feel unsettled and jittery. He might be more enthusiastic if he gets to either select or help build his own desk and have his own favorite supplies to keep in order.
Another motivator for me was getting rewarded for my work by either good grades or verbal praise from others.
One other technique I used is silly but I'll share it for a chuckle. I *really* hated reading History. I struggled trying to make myself read my hystory book but it was like slogging through quicksand and I'd fall asleep or stop. It eventually occurred to me that when I'm in the bathroom I'll read anything I can get my hands on, be it newspaper, hairspray cans, toothpaste ingredients, whatever. So I made sure there was nothing to read in the bathroom BUT my history book.
I swear thats the only way I got through history class.
Hi,
My son used to have a stress ball on his desk so that he could play with it whilst he was working out answers to questions etc. and then just put it down to write the answer in is book.
How long are your homework sessions? I've found that 5 mins to 10 mins is the max we can get anything productive done.
I agree with Tigger that doing homework without supervision may just be unrealistic at this point, although I do try with my son to agree what he's going to write for his next word/sentence and then say 'I'm just going to go and do whatever, you write that and I'll come back and see how you're doing' and then move away for a few moments so he's got a very short clear task but is actually doing it by himself. To start with he sometimes managed a word or part of a word before being distracted but over months of slow practice I've found he can now do a couple of questions by himself (if he's in the right mood) - as ever amount of huge praise for any progress and vast amount of patience will win the day.