I have a 10-year-old English and Verbal Reasoning student whom I'm struggling to get to the bottom of. I suspect learning difficulties but which I don't know. To talk to, she is bright and alert and you can hold a perfectly intelligent conversation with her. However, when it comes to learning, her attention is all over the place. She cannot focus for more than 30 seconds, and simply cannot get her head round the simplest of concepts. For example, the "i before e, except after c" rule: we practised this for a whole hour-long lesson and by the end of it, she still hadn't grasped it. I'd explained it every which way I could, with utmost patience, shown her examples, but it just wasn't clicking in her brain.
She constantly gets questions wrong because she either does not pay attention to what the question is asking/does not understand what it is asking.
Often, when I am explaining a concept or grammar rule or helping her with a verbal reasoning question, she will interrupt me and ask how my week has been, or jump to the next question, which I interpret as a coping mechanism when things become overwhelming. When I remind her that we are still working on question no. 4, she looks surprised and says, "Oh, yes!"
She is very obviously a bright girl, but when it comes to learning, she simply can't focus/grasp new concepts. I've had dozens of students, and even ones with a very obviously lower IQ have managed to grasp these simple concepts.
Has anybody had any experience with this type of behaviour? Could this be ADD/ADHD? I do not believe this to be dyslexia, and while she has some symptoms of being autistic (high-functioning), her communication skills are very good, so I am less convinced (although not completely) that she is autistic. I found this sub-reddit that points to it being ADHD.
www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/6frypm/that_feeling_of_not_grasping_a_concept/
I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has had similar experiences.
TIA