Lack of staying on task in PDDNOS 8 year old

[Laura38]

Hi,

I have an 8 year old daughter who is in 3rd grade. She is very high functioning Autistic. Lately I have noticed how she cannot stay focused on one task. For example, I asked her to get her socks on and 10 minutes later I find her playing with something and still has no socks on. Her teacher says she needs lots of prompts at school to stay on task. I am extremely frustrated as I don't understand why she cannot follow through with a simple direction. She is taking Zoloft for anxieities. I feel as though she just does not listen and just does whatever she wants to do not what she is asked. I do realize she is a kid and I don't expect perfect behavior but this seems to be getting out of hand and I am wondering if there is something else going on. This has really come to disrupt our family in the last couple months. She completely ripped up a roll of toliet paper because she said she just needed to. She removed the cats flea collar( which she has had on for months) because she did not like the way it looked, she drank finger nail polish because she liked the way it smells and wondered what it tastes like( thankfully she thought it was gross so she only ingested a tiny bit) She knows better than to do these things, yet that does not seem to stop her. Does anyone else see this in their child? I am not sure if I am dealing with a new issue or just another surprise from the Autisim spectrum.

Any help would be welcome.

Thank you
Laura :confused:

[AutMom]

Transitioning tends to be very difficult for those on the spectrum, so some of what you describe doesn't surprise me. Is it a new thing for her, or is it that you've just really noticed it?

My son would do things just to see what happened....like knock over a glass of juice just to see what happens. And there were things he just had to do and would do them impulsively - like run into another classroom or whatever.

[Dad by 3]

Hi Laura,

I guess my son (a 9 year old 4th grader) is in the same catagory of high functioning.
In particular I see in him the issue of staying on task in regards to getting dressed. One of my morning tasks for school days is getting the kids dressed and I'm almost always having to remind him to get dressed after I lay his clothes on the bed. Some days there is no delay but most days it takes multiple reminders and requests.

This is not anything new for him so it is most definitely his normal behavior. Of course the thing I learned long ago was to not wait until just before the bus is arriving for him to get dressed but instead have it early in the morning schedule. That way I'm not having to apply pressure by saying "you've only got 5 minutes to get to the bus" or " you won't be able to have a big breakfast if you don't get dressed in time". Adding pressure definitely does not help.

[AutMom]

[QUOTE=Dad by 3]Adding pressure definitely does not help.[/QUOTE]
This is SO true!
Welcome to the group!

[Dad by 3]

Thank you AutMom, Glad I found this site today:)

[john w humphrey]

HI laura
your daughter ripped up a roll of paper well our son is 5 and he ripes up 1 telephone book every 2 days our house is a mess whats new. and we can not stop him if we do he ripes everything eles up so i bring books home from work for him to rip up i think it makes him fell good :rolleyes:

[john w humphrey]

i am new to this could some one help me i am not sure if i am sending my replys

[john w humphrey]

please help my son has autism and he can not talk
my son's ear's are full of wax and he will not let anyone clean them out every time the doctors look in thay tell me the same thing we can not see his ear drums but now he keep moveing my hand to his ear :confused:

[kmintrigue]

My son does all the above..... ROLLS of toilet paper a week..... He is in the process of rediagnosis (currently has ED label)...He has alot of trouble staying on task and recently he has started to refuse to do any type of written work.... He is very smart, they are only asking him to do a tenth of the work required and he wont even do that.... He spends his whole day sitting in the back of the classroom coloring or on the computer, just so he is out of their way. In kindergarten he also would just walk out of class with the excuse of "oh mom I just was ready for recess." Just non chalant .... like why what's the problem...lol He had stopped that for about a year (he was in a special program) we recently moved they have no special programs here and wandering has become a major concern again. It is frustrating sometimes and really wears me down.... It is absoloutely EXHAUSTING to me, so I am curious...how come he gets to keep all the energy?....lol

[clgonzal]

John

We used to have the same problems, then one day a wonderful OT therapist help us by teaching us a tecnique that seems to work almost in anything you want to accomplish, step to follow

1.- let him touch the object you going to use (of course be carefull that he does not hurt himself) it could take several days for him to feel comfortable about it

2.- guide his hand near to the part you want to work with and with soothing voice explain what his is doing and make it a good experience (it takes patience)

3.- once he feel confortable enough with the object and the approach it will be easy, but allways be carefull.

PD: sometime is good if he has something that makes him relaxed, like music, it help to build a good experience for him.

it has work for us in almost anything he reject it before.

[BeccaG]

My experience is that educational folks raise concerns about staying on task (frankly because it makes their life very difficult) but tend not to distinguish between ADHD all over the place not on task kind of behavior and the behavior more typical of our children of being COMPLETELY ABSORBED in something, just not what was on the grownup's agenda for the moment. They miss the distinction until they are asked about it. This can be important because the all over the place stuff sometimes responds to medication and there may be pressure to medicate your child when that is not the issue. If they can identify for us what it is the kids get so absorbed in, they can find out more about those interests that are the gateways to communicating with our kids. Try this, its fun, when the teacher is complaining about your child getting stuck on a particular subject say "Oh good! You've discovered his compelling interest in... I wonder how you can use that to get to... (teachers perseveration)!" :D