<p>Make sure you are getting enough physical stuff in your life- some people find exercising in the morning before you ahve to sit in a desk can do wonder, gets those wiggles out</p>
<p>also a stress ball, or something to "fidget" with in class can help</p>
<p>try different things that you can do while you are listening to the teacher- having an outlet, a "distraction" as it were can actually help with the focus issue</p>
<p>Your post could have been written by any of a number of my D's classmates. The parents who have responded to you so far have given you some good advice. I will add a few suggestions.</p>
<p>1) Have your hearing evaluated by an otolaryngologist. Hearing disorders (which include the inability to hear sounds as well as the inability to appropriately process sounds)--are on the rise among teens. If you have a hearing disorder, the sooner it is diagnosed and treated, the better.</p>
<p>2) Have a thorough physical examination, to determine if your low energy and inability to concentrate have a physiological basis. If you have a medical condition, the sooner it is diagnosed and treated, the better. Most colleges require a pre-matriculation physical exam; have that exam now rather than later.</p>
<p>3) Evaluate your amount of sleep. Sleep deprivation, chronic fatigue, inattention, and (quite often) procrastination, go hand-in-hand. If you are not getting enough sleep, and if you are also juggling multiple extracurriculars and/or a part-time job on top of a typical senior year college-prep workload, then drop your most time-consuming extracurriculars and/or quit your part-time job. Health should be your first priority, and academics your second priority.</p>
<p>4) Evaluate your quality of sleep. If you know (or think) that you are getting enough sleep, and yet, you are always tired, you might have a sleep disorder. Do you snore? If so, then you might have sleep apnea. (Tell your doctor.) Is your sleep disrupted by physical discomfort or frequent trips to the bathroom? (Again, tell your doctor.) Are your family members noisy and disruptive? (Tell them.) Do you go to bed too hungry or too full? (Adjust your eating schedule.) Poor quality sleep is as problematic as insufficient sleep, and it will impact your energy and concentration.</p>
<p>5) Evaluate your attitude. If your hearing and general health are fine, if you are getting sufficient quality sleep, and if you are not suffering from ADD, then your classroom inattention is a blatant display of disrespect, selfishness, and immaturity. If I were your teacher, I would not tolerate your conduct, and after conferencing with you and your parents, I would recommend that you undergo appropriate health screenings. If those screenings were not performed, or if they were performed and came up clean, and you still persisted in sleeping in my class, I would remove you from my class. If I were prohibited from removing you, I would refer you to detention as often as necessary to impress upon you that kindergarten is over. (Yes, I'm a hardnose.)</p>
<p>6) Evaluate your intended career path. If you cannot improve your aural attentiveness, then the legal profession is probably unsuitable for you. Many college courses are lecture-based, and this is particularly true of the history, political science, and other social science courses typical of a standard pre-law undergraduate program. Many law school classes are also lecture-based. Good lawyers must have top-notch listening and speaking skills (picture yourself "zoning out" in the office, the conference room, the boardroom, or--worst of all--the courtroom), as well as good reading and writing skills. I'm not suggesting that you abandon pre-law at this point, but I am suggesting that if your aural inattention problems persist in college, then you should sit down with your faculty advisor or with a career counselor, and discuss your academic and career options.</p>
<p>I commend your self-awareness, and your effort to compensate for your problem. Recognize the value of your ability to take verbatim notes, because this ability has served you well in high school, and will serve you well in college. However, don't waste time being jealous ("insanely" or otherwise) of your apparently more attentive classmates. For all you know, they could be daydreaming too, and the "lecture notes" they're scribbling could be unfinished homework! </p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>
[quote]
There are also little "tricks" that ADHD kids are taught to help them concentrate. One is excercise before you need to concentrate (jog/run to class) rather than relax. Another is chewing gum or sucking on a hard candy - something about the oral stimulation helps concentration.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm actually sitting here gnawing on this giant stack of Crystal Lite hard candies I keep on hand while doing homework, ha!</p>
<p>ee33ee, I'm only a year or so out of undergrad, so I can only say a little about how it's affected me out of there. I worked for a professor I was friends with for 9 months prior to leaving for grad school (graduated in December, school didn't start until October), and she learned that I had a hard time listening to large chunks of words and processing all of them. When I talk with people, I try to either reiterate what they're saying to me every now and then or ask questions early so I 1) don't forget about them and 2) can stay focused on what they say next. Otherwise, I'll wind up getting caught up in my own head thinking about what they said at first and then I'll completely miss what they said later on.</p>
<p>I'd second the recommendation someone above made for reading your textbook the night before class instead of the night after. A few classes I had lecture was really important (professors assumed we all knew the entirety of the book already), so reviewing the text prior to lecture made sure those details they wanted me to know were fresh in my mind.</p>
<p>As for it being a learning disorder or something of that sort. It's very possible. My two year old brother got tested for ADD this summer prior to his entering law school and was found to have some form of it. He swears by the pills he's on now, saying he's learned more in one semester in class on the pills than the four years he spent in undergrad getting his double major. I noticed they worked pretty well for him since one day while I was visiting we played Guitar Hero and he was doing fine, then the following day he was absolutely terrible. Apparently the first morning he had taken his pills and the second day he hadn't!</p>
<p>SCHOOLMOM, I sent you a private message. I see you are a new poster. Do you know how to open these?</p>
<p>paying3tuitions</p>
<p>Yes, I did. I just sent you a private reply. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Marian: The point is that I want to be smart and attentive at the same time... I do appreciate your other tips though</p>
<hr>
<p>2331, student: I plan on studying economics, but my school doesn't have any economics classes until second semester of senior year.</p>
<h2>Again, I don't think interest is the culprit. Give me a history textbook and I'll most likely read most of it in my spare time. But have someone dictating the words to me completely destroys my innate interest. Even being <em>expected</em> to read the textbook makes it become a chore when I probably would have pursued it on my, own off of personal interest.</h2>
<p>Paying3tuitions: Yes I think I'll definitely look into it just for the sake of knowing. However, I have parents who are very skeptical (rightly so, I believe) about the state of modern psychiatry and the overdiagnosis of ADD. They'll likely brush it off and say I'm just looking for an excuse.</p>
<h2>However, even if I am diagnosed, I couldn't imagine taking medication, let alone getting extra time to take tests or having other advantages in college. It's just a principle thing of mine, and my aversion to dependence on drugs in general.</h2>
<p>city:
I get plenty of exercise every day. In fact, my primary concern is that I don't overstimulate my CNS.
As for a fidgeting tool, I twirl my pen CONSTANTLY.</p>
<hr>
<p>Time:</p>
<p>I am a bit of a health freak, and I'm sure I have a great diet, exercise habits, and have even analyzed the specifics of a blood test I had performed on me a few months ago.</p>
<p>As for the hearing, I'll have to look into that too (I'm a little embarassed requesting all these tests when I'm usually a low-maintenance person). I do feel that I find it MUCH MUCH easier to carry on a conversation via text (online) than via audio (in person).</p>
<p>I am getting tested for sleep apnea later this week.</p>
<p>I really thank you for not skirting the issue here. I do have a strong suspicion that my inattention started out many years ago as a poor attitude, which was then perpetuated by doing well grade-wise, and has since grown into an incontrollable chronic habit. I have had surgery a few times in my life, and the closest description I have for when I'm really zoned out is... like almost being on morphine, with a heavy dose of frustration and restlessness. This is why I'm jealous of my classmates, because they seem to be doing perfectly fine.</p>
<p>The affect that this will have on my career is exactly the reason why I'm posting for help.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Racin:
OMG that sounds just like me... the "not being able to process large chunks of audial information" part</p>
<p>Did YOU get tested for a learning disorder for this?</p>
<p>You sound kind of like I was in college 25 years ago :-) I hate, hate, hate lectures. Can't pay attention or stay alert to save my life. I learn much more easily by reading, or discussing, but if someone's talking goes over about 3 minutes, I'm gone. Weird for someone at college on the top full-ride scholarship, huh?</p>
<p>In the classes I did best in, I took notes like crazy. Something about writing helped me to engage better. Still didn't really feel engaged with the lecture til later, though, as I read my notes. If the professor didn't have enough content to take a lot of notes, I read the book in class (I know, I know). I got the degree :-)</p>
<p>I had to <em>force</em> myself to attend class because it felt like such a waste of time. If you don't go to class, you will miss tests, misunderstand assignments and make an enemy of the professor. Get to know your professors, go to office hours, ask questions, discuss things with them. I'm convinced that's how I graduated!</p>
<p>You know, I still have nightmares, here decades later, that I have just realized that the final exam is tomorrow and I've forgotten to go to class all semester....</p>
<p>i have an idea- find some lectures in the city- if you have a commonwealth club, or talks a museums, things that you find interesting...see how you handle taking notes on those situations</p>
<p>experiment a little- see how a different topic, different people, different locations affects your study skills and note taking and remembering</p>
<p>what city or area are you in?</p>
<p>well, there are many amazingly succesful people who have ADHD or ADD or other attention issues- do you think Bill Gates is not a fidgeter?</p>
<p>Get this book and READ IT!!! It is wonderful and I think you will relate to the authors:</p>
<p>Learning Outside The Lines: Two Ivy League Students With Learning Disabilities And ADHD Give You The Tools by mooney and cole</p>
<p>it will open your eyes!!!</p>
<p>So glad you are being tested for sleep apnea. My dh "failed" his sleep test two years ago and started sleeping with a cpap and hasn't fallen asleep sitting up since. He has tons more energy!!!!</p>
<p>If you do need a cpap, I highly recommend you read all about it on <a href="http://cpaptalk.com%5B/url%5D">http://cpaptalk.com</a> The forums there helped us tremendously. Don't buy anything until you've spent some time on that board...</p>
<p>
[quote]
Racin and Calmom, I'm very interested in hearing more of how this affected you in college (and even other areas of your life?), especially since I plan on going to law school.
[/quote]
I did fine. I found that it really depended on the prof -- so basically I tried to enroll in classes with engaging profs... and if I was bored, I cut class a lot. Sometimes almost all the time, if the subject matter was something that could be mastered with the reading. I ended up writing my own major, which did give me more flexibility in course selection as an undergrad. </p>
<p>Ultimately I decided that I was wasting my time if I was sitting in a lecture hall and not taking in the information. But it often did depend on subject matter -- at my university there was a very popular prof who taught a course in human sexuality to packed lecture halls.... and I don't remember ever missing a beat as to what was said. </p>
<p>I did try to take courses that were graded based on papers written rather than exams, or where exams were essays rather than short answer or multiple choice. I like to read so it never was a problem to do reading or research on my own -- and so I was really able to learn the subject and write about it.</p>
<p>Get checked for an auditory processing disorder.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder</a></p>
<p>OP: There are non-pharmaceutical treatments for AD(H)D. If you are diagnosed with the disorder, you could pursue those.</p>
<p>What it is like to have APD
Persons with this condition often:</p>
<p>have trouble paying attention to and remembering information presented orally; cope better with visually acquired information </p>
<p>may have trouble paying attention and remembering information when information is simultaneosly presented in multiple modalities </p>
<p>have problems carrying out multi-step directions given orally; need to hear only one direction at a time </p>
<p>appear to have poor listening skills, and need people to speak slowly
need more time to process information. </p>
<p>It appears to others as a problem with listening. Somebody with APD may be accused of "not listening".</p>
<p>
[quote]
Racin:
OMG that sounds just like me... the "not being able to process large chunks of audial information" part</p>
<p>Did YOU get tested for a learning disorder for this?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I haven't before, though collegemom's last post totally describes me. When I lived at home with my parents I used to get into so many arguments with them since they'd give me a list of things to do out loud, I'd do the first one or two, then would think I had done everything. It would turn out I had forgotten, like, 5 other things as though I hadn't even heard them.</p>
<p>What's funny is that while I can't pay attention for the life of me to real speakers and people on the phone and things like like that if you put me down infront of a TV I can recite to you just about anything I hear. I'm actually an auditory learner, even though I can't pay attention for the life of me (reading textbooks is actually a pretty big struggle for me, even after trying to do it through undergrad)!</p>
<p>Now I'm starting to wonder if I should go talk to someone about this thanks to you guys. :(</p>
<p>
[quote]
People who discover disabilities such as APD have provided some insight into coping skills they have found helpful. These include:</p>
<ol>
<li>Ask people to speak slowly, especially on the telephone.</li>
<li>If have auditory figure ground problems, plug the other ear while talking on the telephone and get a loud, clear telephone.</li>
<li>If have auditory memory issues and someone is giving you several pieces of information together, repeat each one aloud as you hear it. This allows the brain the necessary time to assimilate the last message before receiving a new one.</li>
<li>Get directions and instructions through physical demonstration, the use of representational objects, diagrams, maps or in written point form.</li>
<li>Visual messages may be much easier for some APD sufferers to store in memory.</li>
<li>If you have divided attention issues, do not take notes yourself when information comes from others orally, as this will interfere with your processing strategies, and instead ask others to provide notes for you.</li>
<li>Many APDs read lips and body language as a coping strategy.</li>
<li>Use closed captioning while watching television.
[/quote]
</li>
</ol>
<p>^ are also things I actually do pretty regularly.</p>
<p>Whenever I'm working with friends on a problem, I always have to ask them to draw out a picture of the concept they're describing in order to give me something to focus on and remind myself what they're talking about during their explanation. Otherwise I run the risk of completely drifting off and not even remembering what they started yammering about.</p>
<p>I remember a book about the Dreamer Child and I believe alot of it has to do with boredom. Traditional classrooms just can't hold your focus. Perhaps when you are in college you can take some classes that truly interest you instead of what you have to take. That may make a difference. Of course we all knowthe story of the genius in A beautiful Mind who never went to class.....you just have to make a nobel worthy discovery to be validated.</p>
<p>Dear ee33ee,</p>
<p>I do not believe that you have a problem; your academic success so far is evidence of that. You are merely accustomed to a certain method of learning. </p>
<p>There has been a recent trend in favour of interactive / group based teaching-learning. I have not seen a single randomised control trial validating one educational method over another. So-called 'educationalists' express qualitative opinions which are erroneously adopted.</p>
<p>My learning methods appear to be similar to yours so I sympathise with your concerns. At medical school I hated going to lectures / small group tutorials because I failed to learn much. However, when at home, in front of a book and a cup of coffee it all became clear. Furthermore I found that I could control my time better.</p>
<p>Some individuals are a suggesting various clinical diagnoses based on no credible evidence. This is dangerous. Do not be misled. Use what works for you.</p>