School Daze

So, now that school is back in session I thought it would be a good time to do a series on typical problems that I see in the school setting. Feel free to email any problems that you might be having with your child and I will address it within this series.

Problem: The child who is unable to focus and is not diagnosed with a particular problem.

Scenario: The teacher notices that her student Jason is unable to focus or is it unwilling? Therein lies the question really. There is nothing noted in his school record about previous problems so why is he unable to sit still for any period of time? What is the teacher to do?

Answers: Well this is a tough one because the problem could be emotional, cognitive, situational and even others. It could be a problem at home or the start of ADD. As the teacher you don't want to overreact and as the parent you don't want to be in denial. If the teacher brings this your attention as the parent, try to be as open as possible as I am sure he/she is truly trying to help. As the teacher, there are a few things that you can do to try to work with the student on focusing his attention on the work. Want to know what they are? Tune in next week to see how we begin to handle this situation with the parents and in the classroom.