7 year old boy with poor concentration

[mintchoc]

My 7 year old sons concentration is very poor but until now his teacher has said "he's a boy, he needs to mature". yesterday i watched him swimming and he wasn't following her instructions, he would listen to what she was saying and then when she told the children to perform the tasks, he had lost concentration and then would realise he should be doing task when he saw the other children doing it. I was struck how he wasn't being naughty he had just simply drifted off. it is very easy to put boys behaviour down to naughtiness, which I am guilty of doing, " oh here X goes again" or " he never listens to me". I have always had a niggle that something isn't right. i am wondering if he has attention deficit, I don't think he has hyperactive side as he isn't bouncing of the walls so to speak, he just has poor concentration.His teacher has said his poor concentraiton has affected his learning. His teacher thinks I should go down the food allergy route first, which i am going to do. has anyone got any ideas or advice on what to do next.

Hi Mintchoc

I would def. try soemthing like fish oils. One possibility is EyeQ or Efalex, that you can buy from most Boots, Superdrug, Healthfood shops. The majority of people do see good results within 12 weeks, unfortunately for us our dd - who has concentration and language difficulties - didn't respond very well but this is extremely rare as most parents have noticed a remarkable differences. Good luck and hope this helps.
One more thing has the school thought of bringing in the Ed Pysch. to observe your ds. As the poor concentration is affecting his learning maybe the school could be doing more to help!

Just a thought - could it be a hearing thing? My middle child had a mild hearing difficulty which cleared up, but I had some very handy tips from the local clinic (no background noise, sit child in front of you when you talk to them so they can see you speak etc) Your son's behaviour seems to be fine, so i just wonder if he waits to see what the others do, because he's not sure. Accoustics in swimming pools are usually bad anyway aren't they?

my son's concentration improved around the time he had grommits for hearing and started taking fish oils. He was 9 years at the time. So there could be something in both these routes. Also see what he feels about who he sits next to in class. Is he next to a chatterer? does he think he'd work better if he was moved or even sat on his own for a while, then reintegrated into groups again. Not a punishment exactly, just another way of working. This is what the teacher did with my son and it helped a lot.

Also I think that playing on computers and gameboys (not all the time), reading books he truly liked and sitting through films that appealed to him all helped encourage the concentration habit. His concentration probs really decreased the older he got at well. His teachers were always saying he had poor concentration aged 7 but now aged 10 it's never mentioned, so there hope for the future.

I'd agree with Gettingthere in wondering if his hearing is 100%. I suffered an undiagnosed hearing loss in infant class age. It was most noticeable when I sat the "wrong" side of the classroom so that my better ear was towards the windows and traffic noise and I did not appear to concentrate well. Once my parents and teachers were aware of the issue they were able to ensure I sat at the front to the left of the teacher.

To some extent I have naturally compensated for it, when I was able to choose where to sit, such as in restaurants, but it is still difficult in circumstances with echoes (such as swimming pools) or for example at parties where there is background noise and more than one conversation going on.

How is your ds otherwise ? Is he generally easily distractible or does he simply not appear to follow and partake of the lessons and activities which do not interest him. ds finds sequencing difficult (amongst other specific motor skill issues) which means he is easily distractible, but is having Occupational therapy and support from his teacher to train him to break tasks down and follow them through to a conclusion. Perhaps at 7 it is time to get an expert opinion, eliminating the more obvious potential causes, before he falls behind and gets frustrated.

Good luck

hi mintchoc - this is a long ago post of yours that i found about your then 7 year old DS - just wondering if you're still on mumsnet and if so what happened with your son? he sounds just like mine, drifting off all the time! Thank you!! Sophie x

Hi there, just wanted to say that I agree with what the others said. I tried eyeq Equazen (fish oil) with my daughter and has seen a massive difference in her concentration both at school and at home and she has been on them for 10 weeks now. Also getting his hearing check to rule out hearing problems. I have previously tried organics foods, food allergy you named it I've done it. For me I've excluded all preservatives, additives, colours etc from her diet, it's hard as so many things contain these things nowadays but has immensely help I have to admit. Hope things improved I've been there I can imagine as a mum how you must be feeling.