ADHD child and chores/focus

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  • May 30, 2016 at 11:24 am
    caedmyn
    Participant

    My 7 yo has ADHD. I’ve been trying to implement morning checklists for my kids this summer, and trying to keep him focusing long enough to do his is not working. He is supposed to do piano practice (about 5 minutes worth), empty the dishwasher, do either one sentence of copywork or one page of Miquon math, and do one daily chore. He focuses well enough on emptying the dishwasher, but not the others. For him to focus his siblings need to be quiet and away from him, but they need to be watched all the time, so it doesn’t work well to send them off to another room or outside. And even if they’re not around he gets distracted super easily by anything and everything and nothing. I have a lot of trouble focusing myself, and trying to keep him on track, me on track, and manage the younger ones is super stressful. We worked on dusting in the living room for a daily chore all last week and he’s constantly getting distracted. Even when I am right there with him I have to give him very frequent reminders to focus, and it’s not like a week or two of this will train him to work diligently–I will have to do it every.single.time. I feel like it’s just not worth the hassle and stress of trying to get him to do things that aren’t absolutely necessary. Maybe I should stick to having him do the few chores he does focus relatively well on.

    Any suggestions on getting him to focus better, or managing what he’s required to do better so that it’s not so stressful and actually adding to my workload instead of being helpful?

    May 30, 2016 at 12:21 pm
    Tristan
    Participant

    My most distractible child needed a script for the longest time.  Meaning, she had a rote verbal set of instructions she repeated as she worked.  An example:

    First I wipe off the table.

    Then I wipe off the chairs.

    Then I put away the rag.

    She would repeat the first line in some way until the table was finished.  So “First I wipe off the table, the table, the table.  First I wipe off the table. Wipe it off, wipe it off.”

    Then she moved to the next line as she made it all the way around the table to her starting point. “Then I wipe off the chairs. One chair. Two chairs. Three chairs. Wipe off the chairs.” etc.

    I don’t know if auditory input is important for your particular child but it is for this one of mine.  She’s 10 and still hums herself to sleep most nights.  When she’s drawing she hums a song.  Or she talks.  Or sings.  I just harnessed that and gave her a specific script to help her remember what to do in a room.  (She also had cards to physically move as she finished each chore, she wore them in a badge holder on a lanyard.  The lanyard got turned in to me when finished, or to my computer/desk.  Then I knew to check her chores.  The chores became automatic after several months.)

     

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