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Original poster

vibrating watches for attentional difficulties

29 replies

CatMarwood · 16/05/2013 09:12

I'm just wondering if anyone has tried their child with a vibrating watch or other similar devices for attentional difficulties?

I was originally considering something called MotivAider which can be set easily by the child to vibrate at a set time interval. The only problem is it needs to be either attached to a waist band or kept in the childs pocket. My daughter will certainly loose it. There seem be watches that do something similar, but I'm not sure in practise how effective the are.

Has anyone tried one and if so did it help the child?

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CalicoRose · 16/05/2013 09:28

No, but I've had success with supplements and diet to improve attention.

And also online brain training games.

Original poster
CatMarwood · 16/05/2013 10:52

Hi CalicoRose, Thank you for the quick message.

What supplements have you tried? My daughter has been taking Haliborange Kids Multivitamin + omega 3 and does eat quite a lot of fish. The Ed. Psyc did recommend omega 3 and more fish but as she has this already I'm not sure this is an issue or if there could be something else she's missing in her diet.

We haven't tried any brain training games yet. Are there any you have found especially useful?

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CalicoRose · 16/05/2013 11:06

I don't think Haliborange contains enough Omega.

I use Igennus Vegepa which contains far more.

I also use / have used:

Behaviour Balance
Zinc and Magnesium
B12

For brain training try Lumosity or BrainHQ

Original poster
CatMarwood · 16/05/2013 11:21

Thank you for those links, both look very useful.
Now I look again at the Haliborange there is no RDA listed for the omega 3! So it does imply a very low amount.

In addition to the attentional difficulties she does suffer with extreme anxiety and from reading the reviews for Behaviour Balance that looks to be very appropriate. I might also try it with my son who is dyspraxic and has very poor memory especially with speech.

Will look at the brain training sites too.

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Original poster
CatMarwood · 19/05/2013 15:19

My order of Behaviour Balance arrived in the post yesterday. I'm hoping from the reviews to see some benefits for both of my children.

Dyspraxic son, who is very literal, reaction was "I wont forget my words now." and "I'm going to be really good at remembering things." Trying to point out that might help but wont do it for him doesn't seem to be going in so I hope he wont be too disappointed.

Dyslexic daughter with attentional and anxiety problems had a panic over the taste and having to swallowing it but will now take it in orange juice. My main hope is that it will help to relieve her anxiety. She has just finished 7 months worth of sessions with a child psychologist and is feeling very apprehensive.

Just wondered if anyone else has tried this with their children and how long they took it for?

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jojane · 19/05/2013 15:26

My son had a wobl watch which is made for smaller wrists, we used it to remind him to go to the toilet but could be used for anything really.

Original poster
CatMarwood · 19/05/2013 15:34

Thanks for that jojane. I've just looked at the site for these watches. How easy are they to adjust the time between reminders? From talking to my daughters teachers something that vibrates initially every 5 or 10 mins that she can easily adjust for longer or shorter times seems to what is suggested. Mainly to keep recalling her from daydreaming!

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jojane · 19/05/2013 15:52

I don't think she would be able to so it really, we set it for specific times throughout the day to conincde with the school timetable to remind him Togo to the toilet, might have had a stop watch function but not sure , will dig it out later and see

mrz · 19/05/2013 20:24

The watchmind can be programmed to vibrate up to 70 times a day but they are expensive

Laura0806 · 20/05/2013 10:25

How does the vibrating watch work? My dd (5) no diagnosis but I strongly suspect has ADD, (not hyperactivity) struggles at school to stay on task even to follow a simple instruction. Its a shame as her teachers say shes a bright girl who gets concepts very quickly but then switches out. Im concerned that as she goes up the school this will have a greater and greater effect on her learning. At the moment, we give her supplements and the teachers ensure shes sat at the front of the class not by the windows or doors and they try to only give her one instruction at a time.

Original poster
CatMarwood · 20/05/2013 21:42

Thanks mrz I will look that up.

Laura0806, the idea of a vibrating watch or other device is that is vibrates at regular intervals to recall her attention to what she should be doing. Ideally sufficiently frequently!

I did find a device called MotivAider which is designed for this purpose, but it needs to be worn on a belt or kept in a pocket and I just know my daughter will loose something not attached to her (she doesn't have a belt with her school uniform!).

Your daughter does sound a lot like mine. Mine is now 10 and we have been trying to solve this since she was in reception. She is also thought be bright, (apparently IQ 138), but if you send her upstairs to clean her teeth she often forgets and tries to make up for it by washing her face or doing something else similar. She also sometimes forgets to put her socks on before her shoes! At school she continually daydreams and can't stop herself as she doesn't know she's doing it until told and then has no idea as to how long she has been daydreaming! We eventually got an educational psychologist to asses her and the has confirmed attentional difficulties!!! Your daughter may be too young to be diagnosed yet but probably worth doing as soon as possible as she will then get in writing the support she needs which will follow her up the school meaning the next teacher will have a clearer idea as to how to support her.

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Original poster
CatMarwood · 20/05/2013 21:44

Just looked up the watchmind and can't find it. Do you have a link please mrz?

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oohaveabanana · 20/05/2013 21:58

bookmarking as some of this may be relevant to my son too...

NynaevesSister · 21/05/2013 05:24

Interesting we are working on this too.

sitzonhandz · 21/05/2013 05:38

watchminder.com/

This one

We started looking at them for toilet reminders on the suggestion of the psych, but as he's 2e like lots of others on here (gifted and ADHD) he could do with a bit of bringing down to earth periodically.

Psych always recommends watches. Have never heard of this waistband this before, although it sounds freakishly like an enuresis alarm...

sitzonhandz · 21/05/2013 05:39

watchminder.com/

Sorry, there you go.

CoffeePleaseSir · 21/05/2013 06:09

Interesting thread will be watching this Smile

Original poster
CatMarwood · 21/05/2013 09:24

Just done a currency conversion to see how much the watchminder is in pounds with postage and it comes to £58.44

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Original poster
CatMarwood · 24/05/2013 12:36

I have just ordered the watch and will let you know how we get on with it.

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Laura0806 · 25/05/2013 23:22

Good luck with it, hope it helps

piemashandliquer · 26/05/2013 08:00

Catmarwood - have you ever had your DD's sensory profile assessed by an Occupational Therapist? It may be that she is low arousal and that a sensory diet could help raise her level for learning. Contact your local paediatric health OT Team (NHS not social services - they do not generally do this), or you could look privately that's an option for you.

Original poster
CatMarwood · 26/05/2013 20:05

Hi piemashandliquer, Thanks for the suggestion. This isn't something we have explored and having looked it up if I'm understanding correctly I don't think it would apply to her. She has a fear of sudden loud noises, is very sensitive to taste and uses a colour overlay for reading (especially if the paper is very white).

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Original poster
CatMarwood · 13/06/2013 12:08

Just to give an update!

The watch arrived last Friday. Unfortunately I had to pay a customs charge (according to the lady in the post office parcels are checked at random so this was just bad luck!)

The watch is larger that I had expected. My daughter is 10 and it is big on her on the smallest hole so may well be too large for a younger child. It has a rechargeable battery which needed charging for 6 hours. I then wore it for the first day having set it to vibrate every 10 mins just to see what it felt like! It can easily be set to vibrate at regular intervals from 1 min to every hour and does give a very strong vibration which is also slightly audible so not suitable for exams! You can also set it to give reminders for specific tasks at any time you wish in addition to the regular set intervals.

I found it very annoying to wear but my daughter loves it. She claims not to day dream so much as she is aware of the watch just being there. I haven't had any feedback from her teachers as yet - just their confirmation that it is not disruptive to lessons. I will ask them again in a couple of weeks and see if her attention has improved.

I will just add that we have also really upped her intake of omega oils, she is still taking the behaviour balance mineral supplement that CalicoRose recommended, doing exercises from "The Brain Food Plan" Tinsley House book and eye convergence exercises given to her by a specialist so it may be difficult to pinpoint which of these makes an improvement!

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CalicoRoses · 13/06/2013 14:11

Great news!

What convergence exercises has she been doing?

IME the best help for convergence problems is playing Enagaging Eyes

Original poster
CatMarwood · 14/06/2013 09:57

CalicoRoses, I don't think our eye exercises are as sophisticated as yours! One involves a piece of string and three buttons placed at different intervals and the other two pencils, one that we start by moving backwards and forwards and then hold near with a second one further away. She then as to switch focus between them. I hope they are going to prove effective!!

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