We had our first parent teacher conferences for S & K last week. Socially, both seem to be doing well - playing with others, sharing, making friends. For the most part, they are on par for fine motor and academic progress.
The one area of concern was the S shows tendencies towards Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). She has a very good teacher this year that doesn't mind that S stands up most of the day to do her work or wiggles around a lot.
Definitely not like the battle axes I had for teachers growing up. I had one who would check our fingernails daily to make sure they were clean. And we had to tell the class whether or not we had remembered to brush our teeth that morning. She had these fantastic long fingernails and wore sleeveless polyester shirts and everytime she wrote on the board, I would watch her upper arms swaying in the breeze. I was mesmerized! During cold and flu season, she would use and re-use the same handkerchief and tuck it into her sleeve when not in use. She was also the type that got her hair set every week and by the end of the week, it looked like she had rolled around in flannel.
But I digress...
Anyhoo, I'm not entirely surprised by the ADD tendencies with S. She finds it virtually impossible to sit still during supper and will literally run laps around the table after school. If she is supposed to be doing homework and there is ANYTHING else going on, including a fly buzzing from 12 counties away, she cannot seem to concentrate enough to keep writing on the same line. She will start adding words to a sentence she previously completed on the page. She is constantly talking or humming and cannot seem to follow a list of directions but instead will get hung up on only one part of the directions. Or she won't listen at all. She's a bit like Hammie on "Over the Hedge".
I'm not going to go charging for the Ritalin bottle yet but there are days that it absolutely drives me batty. I asked her to please be quiet the other night at the dinner table and she said, "Why?" (her favorite word...) to which, being the supportive, encouraging, warm, nurturing mother that I am, I replied, "Because you are annoying the snot out of me." Little K pipes up beside me, "And you is snotting the snot outta me, too."
On second thought, a Ritalin drip may be in order.
1 comment:
Hey there girl! Glad the girlies are doing well.
From a teacher's point of view, don't look at medication as being all bad. You don't want her to suffer and not being able to concentrate isn't any fun for her either. It has to wear her out not being able to think about one thing. Plus, she doesn't want to upset you or her teacher. Thank goodness, she does have a good teacher that recognizes that some kids just need to move when they are working.
From an adult's perspective that has ADD, it's tiring having all that stimuli going on. Sometimes I just want to stop thinking. I'd like to be able to concentrate on one thing at a time and not be so distracted.
There are doctors that specialize in childhood ADD and they might be able to give you so ideas of how you can help her before she "snotting the snot outta of you" again ;o)
Miss you guys!
Danita
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