Posted by IsoM on January 1, 2002, at 13:32:39
In reply to questions on my ADHD teenager.., posted by MOMOFTHREE on January 1, 2002, at 12:28:08
< ...for example we an have him clean his room for 3 hours (without games ect) and he will do nothing. I have tried even giving him one task at a time. Is he just being stubborn ?
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I'm an adult with ADHD & without one of the meds I use for it, I have the worse time trying to stick to something & finishing it. Even on Dexedrine (Adderal), it doesn't help a great deal.
Just a suggestion (using the way I think as someone with ADHD), try cheerfully doing a task with him. Not in a typical mother-type way of ordering the child around, but as a companion or co-worker & see how he responds to working with someone else around to mentally stimulate him. (Be careful, you don't take over & decide what's going to be thrown out or where things belong - that would only defeat the purpose of trying to get him to do something.)
I have two friends who are ADHD too & all three of us agree that it's so much easier to stick to something if there's another person doing the task with us. It's not to force us to work but the mental stimulation is there which perks us up no end. Also by another person doing this task with us, it prevents us from being side-tracked into other things.
You wouldn't believe how easy it is to get side-tracked. You pick up something to put it away or dispose of it, it triggers another thought & in a few minutes, your mind (& often hands) are far away at something else.
As a mother, I found both for my sake, & my sons' sake, that doing chores, tasks, & projects together was the best way to get anything accomplished.
poster:IsoM
thread:88427
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011222/msgs/88443.html