Other Challenges

Attention deficit and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity (AD and ADHD)

Inability to concentrate on a task long enough to grasp it. Difficulty in sustaining and maintaining attention is a distinctive feature. Hyperactive child is one who responds with excessive activity. A child must be able to shift attention to various tasks and remain attentive to the task in hand. An ADHD child is unable to screen out distractions to maintain attention and responds excessively to distractions.

• Is easily distracted
• Often fidgets, squirms in seat
• Difficulty in waiting turns in games or group situations
• Often shifts from one activity to another
• Often talks excessively
• Often interrupts or intrudes on others
• Often does not listen to what is being said
• Often looses things necessary for tasks
• Does not under stand the possible dangerous consequence of physical activities engaged in.

Poor memory

Poor memory is due to the inability to structure information received. Unable to retrieve memory from the past. Cannot remember information presented verbally or by hearing. For further information read "Memory"

• Difficulty to recall the written word
• Has poor hearing discrimination
• Poor in using grammar rules,
• Forgets spelling of words
• Unable to remember directions
• Poor in rehearsing/ reciting
• Forgets numbers, math facts

Speaking Difficulties

Is a language disorder, the inability to communicate is indeed a big disadvantage. Speaking problems may fall under the general category "Expressive language" difficulty.

• Incorrect use of a word in a given context
• Problems with tense, pronouns, possessives and negatives
• Omissions of words and word endings
• Fragmentation of thoughts expressed
• Articulation difficulty
• Unable to retrieve words during conversation.
• Using many "fillers" I mean?, uh?. Uhm?..

Perceptual Problems

• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinesthetic
• Tactile

Is a cognitive disability. In simple terms it means that the child is unable respond meaningfully to external stimuli. It may be related to response when seeing (visual), when listening (auditory), touching (tactile), Motor (kinesthetic)

Visual

• When looking at things, unable to concentrate on what is relevant and ignore the irrelevant.
• Poor directionality, unable to differentiate left, right, under above, etc
• unable to visualize a view from another person's point
• Difficulty in seeing and doing, for e.g. difficulty in buttoning, lacing, cutting, pasting, copying.
• Gets confused by shape size and position of objects

Auditory

• The child does not have a hearing problem yet is unable to interpret what is heard.
• Child is unable to say which words are same sounding or which are different.
• Unable to recall the correct sequence of letters or words heard

Kinesthetic

• Unable to write and his hand and cannot produce pen/pencil strokes.
• Clumsily walking, awkward in playground
• Difficulty in balancing in a beam, or standing in one leg.
• Not good in coloring, tracing, needlework, bead stringing, buttoning
• Tendency to reverse words when writing to reverse words when reading

Tactile

• Concepts of hard/soft, rough smooth, or hot warm not clearly understood

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