By Justin Smith, Mathnasium Instructor
“She’s just not paying attention.”
“He keeps talking to the other students.”
“She hasn’t been doing her homework.”
“His grades are slipping.”
As a parent, you’ve probably heard it all before. Usually, it’s implied that it’s time to lay down the law, or to set up a reward or punishment system to keep your child focused while in school. But what these remarks don’t always mention is the cause of the behavior. And that’s probably because the cause isn’t known.
Here are 5 reasons why your child may not be paying attention in school.
1. The material doesn’t make sense.
This is one of the most common diagnoses of why kids aren’t paying attention. They just don’t understand the material. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the material is too challenging, but perhaps that it isn’t being taught in a way that your child can understand. Not every child learns the same way, and it’s difficult for most teachers to adapt to various students’ different styles of learning. If the material isn’t making sense, it may just need to be explained in a different way.
2. The material is too easy.
This is one that often goes unmentioned, especially in mathematics. Sometimes, a concept is deemed to be “tricky” or “difficult” by a teacher or a school board, and thus an entire week of time is set on a single lesson. If your child is a fast learner, or has a naturally mathematical mind, he or she may have learned the material on the first day, and now has to spend four days waiting for other kids to catch up. In some cases, this can actually cause a child to second-guess herself, thinking, “I must be missing something, everyone else is still working.” In other cases, they will just move on, stop paying attention, and in some cases, begin causing disruptions.
3. Attention.
I fell prey to this when I was in school. I loved attention. I loved getting a laugh out of a classroom, or especially the teacher. It was more important than learning, because getting positive attention felt like the most valuable thing in life. As a child, it’s hard to put into perspective the way life is going to look when school is over and it’s time to start living a life of your own. Immediate gratification is the name of the game. Sometimes, that means putting learning on hold to get a laugh from a group of near-strangers. The reason your child wants attention could a variety of things, but if this is the cause of the misbehavior, it’s important to find out.
4. Trying to fit in.
Sometimes your child isn’t the cause of all of the disruptions. Sometimes he or she is being lumped into a group of other students who is often deemed disruptive. This could be by accident or by choice, if your child feels like the disruptive students are the “popular” kids. Depending on how well the teacher knows your student, or how far into the semester or school year you are, this could lead to a bad first impression or just raise a red flag in the eyes of the teacher.
5. ADD / ADHD
This is the most commonly diagnosed cause of disruptions in classrooms. Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder can cause difficulties in learning, in paying attention, in moving forward in schooling, and in maintaining a social life.
Learn more about how the Mathnasium Method builds confidence and makes math fun and easy to learn.
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