When a child cannot focus and cannot stay where he/she should be, the first thing that comes to mind is whether the child may be hyperactivity. This is a common assumption, but there are other factors to look at. . Because this situation can be more understandable when compared to the student's peers.
It can take an unusually long time for a child to finish his/her studies in class. Maybe when the teacher calls out to him, he may look as if he's hearing it for the first time. Or he may not do it when given instructions or even forget what to do. The most common result is loss of homework.
All children, especially those in early childhood, have a shorter attention span than adults and are prone to distraction. Some children may have more trouble concentrating than others.
Since difficulty concentrating is commonly associated with hyperactivity, it's normal for teachers, parents, and experts to suspect this is the first thing teachers, parents, and professionals suspect. However, there must be more than one reason other than these. All these reasons alone are not enough.
Some reasons that may cause a child to have difficulty paying attention at school may be:
1. Separation Anxiety
A child who doesn't seem to be focusing on school may have some concerns that their teachers (or even their parents) are not aware of. A child with separation anxiety, in particular, may not be able to concentrate on schoolwork, worrying that something bad will happen to their parents when they are away from them.
2. Fear of making mistakes
Some children are extremely worried about making mistakes or embarrassing themselves. That's why they try to hide when the teacher calls out to them. They may look down and pretend to be writing something, even if they're not really typing anything. To avoid the things that worry them they try to look like arrows.
3. Perfectionism
Sometimes when a child takes too long to finish their work in class, it may be because they are struggling with perfectionism. He may scrutinize to avoid the thought that he is not good enough if he tries to do his job perfectly or if he doesn't deliver his homework.
4. Obsession - obsessive-compulsive disorder
OCD, which usually starts in primary school years, is a major cause of distraction. Such children may not only have obsessive thoughts, but may force themselves for no reason, performing reasonless rituals to prevent bad things from happening. They feel that everything will be fine when they force it or perform that ritual. In this case, it causes distraction and related difficulties in time management. For example; A child may be compelled to sort things on his desk, and may be counting in his head while sorting them. Or he may be focused on having to go to the bathroom to wash his hands. Or he may be constantly in need of fixing something. Such students may go to great lengths to hide their compulsions while in school. To a teacher or adult unaware of OCD, distraction may seem like ADHD, but it is not.
5. Trauma
Children can also experience inattention when affected by a trauma. After an event or a long-term traumatic period, the child's mind may be constantly in that event or period. This situation is accompanied by carelessness and stress. This inattention can be confused with hyperactivity
6. Learning disabilities
Some children may be embarrassed that they cannot do what other children can do, and they try to cover up this fact. Others may try to compensate by working extra hard to cover their learning disability. For example; A child who is not good at math They may avoid doing homework and be concerned with distractions. Even if he reads a book, he may not understand the book he is reading, so he is interested in other things. Someone may think of a learning problem as hyperactivity.
In short, the diagnosis of ADHD (Hyperactivity) should not be made only after a discussion with a teacher's report, a pediatrician, or a diagnosis from someone you trust.
For an accurate diagnosis, long-term observation, collecting information from a few people observing the child, including parents and teachers, would be appropriate. Parents and teachers should be asked to complete a rating scale for an accurate assessment of the frequency of symptoms. The behavior needs to continue over a long period of time and be observed in more than one setting, for example both at home and at school. It's also important to compare a child's attention span with others his or her age, not everyone else in his class.
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