Inattentive child: causes and how to cope
Every parent wants his child to study well, visit various circles, always be energetic and manage to do all the planned things. But, unfortunately, it often happens that children become inconsiderate.
Causes of the child's inattention
Before taking the first steps to improve the care of your child, you should understand what causes led to this problem:
- Adult attention deficit or hyperactivity - children with hyperactivity are more active than their peers. They can not sit for a long time in one place and therefore are often distracted by various external factors. To solve this problem (and it, as a rule, is found out yet in a kindergarten), parents should be reserved by patience. In the upbringing of the child will need to rely on the advice of psychologists, teachers and doctors.
- Frequent diseases that develop into a chronic form - in children with poor health often have difficulties with achievement in school. Their attention, most often, is reduced due to a weak organism.
- Special nervous system - children with a labile nervous system are more attentive and stable. But with an inert or weak system, the child will be sluggish.
- Strong overtaxity at high loads - modern schoolchildren have too many responsibilities, which leads to congestion. Of course, this greatly affects its efficiency and attention.
- Bad motivation - even a small child will pay more attention to the occupation that he likes more. When children perform uninteresting tasks, their attention falls.
Risk factors
Inattention and absent-mindedness occurs in many children, but some of them are more prone to this problem. This characteristic of the character is strongly affected by stress, poor ecology, depression, malnutrition, lack of attention, incorrect day schedule, fatigue. That's why parents need to try to create for their children close to an ideal living environment.
Symptoms of the child's inattention
How exactly does the child show inattention?
- All work, especially school assignments, he does quickly and too superficially.
- The work allows a lot of mistakes.
- He does not pay enough attention.
- The child gets tired too quickly, even from a small amount of work.
- The child does the job very slowly.
- High level of dreaminess.
The child is absent-minded and inattentive
An absent-minded and inattentive child is not a diagnosis. And this is the first thing to remember for all parents. Arbitrary attention can be trained even at an early age. For today in shops it is possible to buy the most various dynamic toys which are intended for improvement of attention at children till one year.
If the attention disorder developed in the child with time, for example, when he went to a kindergarten or school, you can try to eliminate the main causes of inattention. Teachers recommend that children be given a separate place in the house, where they will always prepare for the lessons. It is necessary that it be well organized.
Do not forget that children need to eat right, because the lack of omega fatty acids leads to less attention. Today, you no longer need to force a child to eat fish oil or fish. In the modern pharmaceutical market, there are many different supplements that are rich in these fats. They support the mental and physical health of the baby.
The child is inattentive at the lessons
The success of a child in school depends heavily on his attentiveness. As a rule, children become distracted if their parents do not take part in their upbringing. That's why you need to try to develop the mindfulness of your child from the first classes of the school. First of all, psychologists recommend to find out what exactly teachers and parents hide behind the concept of "inattention". Also it is necessary to pay attention to how the absent-mindedness of your child manifests itself.
It happens that children are not attentive only on a particular lesson, then, most likely, he does not like this subject or the teacher does not explain the material very clearly. If the child is scattered not only at school, but at home, this can mean that something is bothering him.
Parents can help their child improve their care with simple psychological methods and special games. Also do not forget that for mindfulness it is very important to observe a certain regime of the day. Remember that the child will be less distracted if the homework, games and time for themselves will pass according to a pre-written plan.
If the child is slow and inattentive
Sluggish children are characterized by low lability of the nervous processes, which determine how quickly the child will do this or that task. Adult people can, if necessary, change the pace of their activities, but even they do not immediately. Children do it is extremely difficult.
Unfortunately, most psychologists hold the opinion that sluggishness in a child with low mobility of nervous processes will never pass. Since it is their individual characteristic. Of course, over time, all the actions the child can perform faster than before, but will always lag behind his peers.
To ensure that slow children do not lose focus during the execution of any tasks, especially school assignments, they should in no case be made to work faster. It is necessary to create the ideal conditions under which the child will be comfortable. Psychologists say that if one dislikes such a person, then it will be very difficult for him to regain his attention.
The child is inhibited and inattentive
Already in infancy, you can determine whether your child is inhibited or not. Such children languidly and reluctantly suck mother's breast, sleep much and quickly fall asleep. But if at a small age it does not frighten parents, then in the primary classes it starts to worry much. This is due to the fact that a child who is hindered is often inattentive, which negatively affects his work.
Once you notice that your child is excessively inert, you should immediately begin to encourage him to be more active. First of all, psychologists recommend not doing the following things:
- Do not get to do homework right after the schoolboy returns home. He needs to take a break for at least two hours.
- Written assignments should not be forced to often remodel, even if he did not do them neatly for the first time. This can lead to the fact that the child develops a negative attitude towards learning.
- Do not leave the child alone when he does his homework.
- Do not make your baby play team games. He will slow down the whole team, and this will lead to negative consequences for both sides.
- Do not punish a child if he does it all too slowly.
The child is restless and inconsiderate
Inconsistency and inattention, most often, are explained by the fact that the child is simply not ready yet for school because of the peculiarities of his physical and mental development. Some children are bored in primary school, because they have already learned this material at home. Others, on the contrary, can not understand the task, so their attentiveness is severely affected.
Most often such children are given a special diagnosis: hyperactivity and attention deficit. To treat such a condition, psychologists recommend using specially developed techniques, thanks to which the behavior of the child is adjusted. These methods include psychotherapy. The child adapts faster and will be able to change his mindset.
Sometimes it is used and medicamental treatment, but it is worthwhile to understand that in this case any medicine should be prescribed by a specialist.
Complications and consequences
First of all, inattention negatively affects the assessments in school and the overall development of the child. Such children in many respects lag behind their peers. Several negative assessments immediately discourage the child from the desire to correct them, especially if he does not succeed. In the future, this can cause stress and mental disorders. Teenagers often fall into depression and begin to behave in an inappropriate way.
Diagnostics of the child's inattention
Diagnosis in this case should be carried out by the following doctors: child psychologist, child psychiatrist, child neurologist. Inattention is diagnosed if the child's main symptoms remain for six months. For diagnosis, a variety of methods are used: conversations, interviews, direct observation, information from parents and teachers, questionnaires, neuropsychological tests.
Forecast
From inattention can be successfully disposed of, if correctly and in time to use the recommended methods. Most often, after talking with the child, creating a suitable place for him to solve homework, selecting the right methods for getting rid of inattention and lessons with a tutor, the child's absent-mindedness passes.
Medical expert editor
Portnov Alexey Alexandrovich
Education: Kiev National Medical University. A.A. Bogomolets, Specialty - "General Medicine"
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