Short Attention Span

[atrecord]

My DD who started P1 this year has got v short attention span, and i’m also trying to find a way to improve it. All the teachers whom we spoke to during the teachers-parents meeting from her childcare centre onwards said the same thing. in Apr, her P1 chinese teacher used a phrase i’ve not heard for a long time to describe her in class - 神游！


Now coach her for homework is high-maintenence job. The moment takes your eyes off her only, she’ll not focus. In fact, even when eyeing her, she often plays with her stationery, hair, clothes, etc…

[Leoleo18]

Hi


I have a problem with my child, he is 6yrs old in K2 this year.
He cant do his work (either in class or at home independently). Meaning in school he sits beside his teacher while doing his work and will ask his teacher if he is doing correctly. His teacher did ask or go through w him in class and he is able to understand and reply but when coming to doing the work, he jz need to sit beside his teacher. His teacher told me that we need to build up his confident level in doing his work as he understand and capable of doing his work without any help.
At home I will have to sit beside him and see him work and he will also post me same question : if he is correct in his work? Sometime i realised that he is lazy to think or recall that y he kept asking how to do this and that?

Any mummies out there to advice.
Next year he is going Primary 1, no teacher will be sitting beside him to watch him… really worried.

[atrecord]

Leoleo18:

Hi


I have a problem with my child, he is 6yrs old in K2 this year.
He cant do his work (either in class or at home independently). Meaning in school he sits beside his teacher while doing his work and will ask his teacher if he is doing correctly. His teacher did ask or go through w him in class and he is able to understand and reply but when coming to doing the work, he jz need to sit beside his teacher. His teacher told me that we need to build up his confident level in doing his work as he understand and capable of doing his work without any help.
At home I will have to sit beside him and see him work and he will also post me same question : if he is correct in his work? Sometime i realised that he is lazy to think or recall that y he kept asking how to do this and that?

Any mummies out there to advice.
Next year he is going Primary 1, no teacher will be sitting beside him to watch him... really worried.

This sounds so familiar. my DD is like this too. Now that she's in P1, she'll call either DW or myself in the morning (she's in afternoon session most days, and we're both working) to ask this and that, often treating it as a helpdesk!!

High maintenance it is. We're hoping that with peer pressure, she will see that other classmates can do homework on their own so that she will learn to do the same too.

[cherrygal]

Boys by nature, have shorter attention spans than girls at this age. My Ds wanted to learn piano so we enrolled him for a 1-to-1 course at a music school with a young teacher. After a month, he said it was boring. I pulled him out. Well, he can’t blame me for not letting him try ya? If he decides to take it up again later, I will let him.


To me, music / ballet lessons are not mandatory. If you have the talent, I will let you take the lessons. It’s that simple. If you don’t, then give up. It’s not like you need to know how to play the piano to survive. It’s a nice-to-have, not a must-have. And if the kid doesn’t progress till Grade 8 teaching / performer cert, it’s as good as nothing achieved.

In fact, the kid’s time could be used on more useful areas such as learning to read, mental abacus, financial knowledge, baking etc.

There’s no need to force your kids to take up music / ballet lessons to fulfill your own dreams. Go with their inclinations.

[cherrygal]

Hi Leoleo


My son used to be unsure too, esp for Maths. He would always ask his teacher if he did it correctly.

If I sat beside him at home, he would also try to ask me if he was correct at every step. I refused to give him any affirmation till he completed the whole exercise. I told him I would only mark once he has checked all his answers. In fact, coaching doesn't mean spoonfeeding them the answers. You should ask him \"what do you think?\" instead.

Now, I would tick the pages he needs to do, tell him to do within 30 mins, then leave the room. I would check after 15mins to see if he was actually doing the work, then leave again. Once completed, I give him a last chance to check then I will mark it.

I also praise him profusely if he gets the answers correct on his own. He beams. :lol:

[LittlePrinz]

smurf:

my 5 YO boy also has short attention span. he is K2 now, and whenever I read to him,he wiould be very restless. and ssometimes, even after 1-2 mins (of me reading), he will yawn and look up and down. he will also look away from the book, fiddle with something he can find on his hand.


I dunno what to do, I dun expect him to read by himself, but me reading to him, also cannot.

I have a slightly different problem with my 2 yr old son. Whenever I try to read to him, he will close the book and walk away. But there are many times (everyday), he will pick his book and browse on his own (he can't read obviously since he's only 2) and when I try to take over to read to him, he will close it and walk away. So I'm at a loss now. :idea:

[jedamum]

LittlePrinz:

I have a slightly different problem with my 2 yr old son. Whenever I try to read to him, he will close the book and walk away. But there are many times (everyday), he will pick his book and browse on his own (he can't read obviously since he's only 2) and when I try to take over to read to him, he will close it and walk away. So I'm at a loss now. :idea:

leave your kid alone to browse the books. he may be making up stories in his head while looking at the pics.
instead of taking over to read to him, just pick another book and sit down beside him and browse or read to yourself, hoping that he will be interested to come and sit with you.

[LittlePrinz]

jedamum:

LittlePrinz:

I have a slightly different problem with my 2 yr old son. Whenever I try to read to him, he will close the book and walk away. But there are many times (everyday), he will pick his book and browse on his own (he can't read obviously since he's only 2) and when I try to take over to read to him, he will close it and walk away. So I'm at a loss now. :idea:

leave your kid alone to browse the books. he may be making up stories in his head while looking at the pics.
instead of taking over to read to him, just pick another book and sit down beside him and browse or read to yourself, hoping that he will be interested to come and sit with you.

Hey thanks! You may be right. Okay I'll try and see. Thanks for the tips.

[Leoleo18]

cherrygal:

Hi Leoleo


My son used to be unsure too, esp for Maths. He would always ask his teacher if he did it correctly.

If I sat beside him at home, he would also try to ask me if he was correct at every step. I refused to give him any affirmation till he completed the whole exercise. I told him I would only mark once he has checked all his answers. In fact, coaching doesn't mean spoonfeeding them the answers. You should ask him \"what do you think?\" instead.

Now, I would tick the pages he needs to do, tell him to do within 30 mins, then leave the room. I would check after 15mins to see if he was actually doing the work, then leave again. Once completed, I give him a last chance to check then I will mark it.

I also praise him profusely if he gets the answers correct on his own. He beams. :lol:

Hi

Thanks for the ensuring.....
Now I realised that he is v.slow in this work. His teacher even told me that he is distracted in school.... imagine he take more than an hr to complete the task in school. I tried to let him do the same task at home... he took 1.5hr to complete. He is ask to copy from the white board 11 questions on gammar.
So I seriously don't know how to help him.
Any idea

[cherrygal]

Hi leoleo

Have you tried asking him why he needs so much time? Is it becoz he writes really slowly (left hander, perfectionist etc)? Maybe he has trouble deciphering the words on the board (eyesight)? Try to eliminate all environmental and health issues before concluding that he’s just distracted.

You could also show him by finishing his work quickly, he can go and play. That’s an incentive.

Are there things that he does very quickly?