by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble; and www.patlambchristianauthor.com

Dealing With Attentiveness

Train up a child…

Dealing with Attentiveness

         I don’t claim to be an expert on Attention Deficit Disorder, but sixty-two years of teaching experience should count for something.  When I first started teaching, a child was given a spanking for not paying attention in class.  Now, a child is often given medication for the same problem.  Many people feel that the medication is over-prescribed.  It becomes a real quandary for parents to know what to do when they are told that their child has ADD.  In making decisions about such a child, it would be well to check to see if the child is consistent in not paying attention, check the environment of the child, and make sure the child is not getting caffeine or too much sugar and getting proper nutrition.

         During my 20 plus years teaching GED classes, I have often had students tell me that they have been in special education classes and have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder.  When I worked with them, I found they were far behind where they should have been at the time they dropped out of school. I believe that a few of them truly had a physical problem affecting their ability to focus on their work.  However, most seemed able to focus when they chose to do so.  In one case, a student told me he had ADD.  When I asked him what he really liked to do, he told me that he was a cook at a restaurant and liked to work on cars.  “Do you have a hard time paying attention to cooking and working on cars?” I asked.  “No”, he said, “that’s something I like to do”.  If a person can pay attention at some times, but not other times, it is a pretty good indication that medication is not needed.

         Our education system has taken on an attitude of classroom management that is often very distracting to any student.  Many classrooms are far too noisy for children to concentrate.  In my orientation of new students for GED, I often hear a loud sigh of relief when I tell them that I don’t allow anyone to waste time and steal time from other students by being disruptive in the class.  I have been surprised by responses to the question on their enrollment paper that asks, “How can the teacher best help you to learn?”  Many new students have written that they would like a quiet room with a good learning environment. Several students have told how their classrooms were often too noisy when they were in school.

         Children should not be allowed to have caffeine at all.  Most soda has caffeine, and many children are allowed to drink that soda.  Sugar can cause a child to have a rush of energy that is hard to control.  Proper nutrition plays an important role in a child’s ability to concentrate.

         It is amazing to me, that when children are diagnosed with ADD, that acceptable means of dealing with it are not addressed.  Even if medication is required in a few cases, parents and teachers should continue to address the causes and make accommodations for dealing with the problem.  Until the problem is taken care of, teens and adults who have been diagnosed with ADD should not be behind the steering wheel of a car.  If they can’t pay attention in school, why do we think they can pay attention while driving a vehicle?  

         For the most part, we need to understand that treating the symptom does not correct the cause. There can be no harm done in checking a child’s nutrition and making sure s/he does not have too much caffeine or sugar.  Rather than simply giving in to the idea that a child can’t pay attention, we need to decide if the child simply won’t pay attention. It would be nice if we could get into a child’s mind and see clearly what is going on there.  Since we can’t, we simply must use our best wisdom and understanding to provide the help needed.