My 4 yr old daughter is easily distracted at school,has short attention span & has a lot of fears?

Question

My 4yr old daughter (who is in nursery) sometimes cannot finish her school work, especially in coloring objects because she gets easily distracted. However, she finishes her other school work like math, identification, etc. except only for coloring. She is said to have short attention span. She can't stay longer in her seat. She keeps standing up but obediently return when ask to. But despite being described as having a short attention span, she can easily recall what was instructed to her. Her teacher says her cognitive skill is high that she's recommended to join the kindergarten class & still she did well, except that she kept on going out of her classroom. She has also a lot of fears, sometimes i don't know how to deal with these. she's scared of nosy classmates, scared of swimming in the pool, going inside the clinic & tends to scream when she's in fear. I really appreciate if some of you there would help me with these... or maybe im just an overly-concerned mom

Answer 1

Sound like a little over parenting.  Before you stick her on drugs start with some discipline and some freedom.  I have a neighbor whose kids are scared of everything.  Ten minutes with the mother and you know why.  Oh no, don't do that.  Oh no, that will hurt you, you'll get sick blah blah blah, that is all her kids hear.  Who wouldn't live in fear.

And with over parenting often comes lack of interaction with other kids doing normal everyday play and being kids.  This Coupled with the fear can be the problem and you have to change how you react to situations .

Answer 2

4 yr olds should NOT being doing dittos !! it is NOT developmentally appropriate ! a couple of problems of dittos at this age, she just may not like coloring! you can do so much more to express your ideas and thoughts than just on a sheet of paper and crayon. how boring. "color the apple red, Suzy" well, what if Suzy has many ideas of the color red. Ah, the ideas could go on, but many schools squash this free thinking. Different schools have different teaching ideas. i teach in a Reggio-inspired room, where kids are taught to be thinkers and express ideas. (a red apple in crayon, a apple made in clay, a play w/ props about a red apple, the ideas are endless)

Answer 3

My little girl is the same way! I found out that many gifted children are misdiagnosed as being ADD or ADHD.Why do Gifted people act the way they do?   One reason is that gifted people become bored easily in settings that average people find tolerable (like school or work).  Boredom leads to restlessness, and restlessness leads to all sorts of problems.  Fast thought processes can lead not only to boredom but to poor handwriting, errors in simple work, disorganization and sloppiness.In addition, brighter people tend to exhibit more "overexcitabilities" than average people. This has been well demonstrated in studies.  The five overexcitabilities that have been identified are Physical {hyperactive, fidgety, restless, impulsive} ,Emotional {moody, temperamental, prone to depression and anxiety},Intellectual {head in the clouds, inattentive to surroundings},Sensual {picky eater, over-reacts to physical discomforts -like your daughters 'fears'},and Imaginational {daydreams, inattentive }.

Maybe you could get your daughter's IQ tested, and see if there are specific programs to help stimulate and guide her.  Sounds like you have a gifted daughter there, keep giving her your love and understanding. Good luck to you!!

Answer 4

Maybe the environment her nursery is set in is very distracting and contains a lot of fears. You might want to consult with the principle or the teacher to put away all those distracting stuff and let her sit where there aren't noisy/nosy? classmates. Swimming in the pool is not a rare fright for kids. Show them its not dangerous and its actually very fun to swim in. If she is reluctant to go in, stay with her and comfort her. Otherwise, well shes going to scream. Fear of going inside the cilnic? Talk and explain to your child why this is. The fear of catching diseaces? The fear of dying? You got to know, because your her mum! An overly concerned mum is common among these days, smoking, drugs, etc. Calm yourself down and have confidence in your kid. Tell her to be brave and maybe set a reward for her everytime she gets over her fears.

If you have time, visit the local pool and make it a habit. Not only will she earn swimming skills, its good for her health.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I have a similar problem with my 5-year old.  Unfortunately, he required a lot of direct one-to-one attention in order to help him focus - only on things he didn't want to do. He was able to sit down and be still when he was reading or coloring, but unable to sit still for "circle time" or meal times.

Giving him some freedom was possible at home, but not so much at school- kids can't be running out of the rooms. The good news is he seems to be growing out of it.  As we patiently re-iterated our "Focus, focus" techniques with him, he eventually started being able to sit and take directions, though meals are still tough for him.  He also has had a lot of fears and anxiety, but our constant calm approach and repeated reassurance are slowly drawing him out of that. He felt the need to be assured that he was good at something, and so we made sure to praise what he was good at, and praised him for trying new things. As he tried new experiences, he became more confident in himself and less anxious.  He still has to be told NO a lot and must be called multiple times to get his attention, but there's definitely some improvement, and most of that was by boosting his confidence in his abilities.

Answer 6

Buy her a doll or something and give it to her teacher, when your daughter will go to the nursery, let her teacher give it to her, maybe it will help