Five Year Old "Zoning Out"

Sounds like me as a child and an adult and I have no medical problems. When I was a kid, I had to stand up in class to work, and got in trouble for it all the time, but it kept me sane.

Though as some moms suggested, having her tested could rule out anything else.

In the meantime, I would just give her little 5 or 10 minutes breaks to stand out from doing homework, do some jumping jacks, get the boredom out, give her some crisp peanut butter apples to snack on to keep alert.

Consider having her evaluated for ADHD-inattentive type (no hyperactivity). Her symptoms sound like a classic case. A psychiatrist or neuropsychologist are in the best position to make a diagnosis. Check out the site for ADDitude magazine -- www.additudemag.com -- for more details about the condition.

Ha! This could have been me at her age. I cannot tell you how many times I've been yelled at for the behavior growing up, and also for being lazy and self-centered -- "especially for a girl who is so smart and has so much potential." It wasn't until I was 25 that I got tested for a learning disability. Better late than never, I guess, but it's still a shame I lost so much valuable developmental time. For this reason, I highly suggest speaking with your daughter's pediatrician or maybe the school psychologist about having her evaluated for ADHD. Dealing with it now could make the difference between your daughter fulfilling her potential in school or having twelve-plus years of struggle.

Best of luck to you and your kiddo!

This is just a guess, but I'm thinking this sounds like absence seizures. I've looked up a lot of things because my daughter has some fainting issues. I came across lots of different things, but it sounds like your daughter has the symptoms based on this info... (pasting from site)....

Absence seizures are brief episodes of staring. (Although the name looks like a regular English word, your neurologist may pronounce it ab-SAWNTZ.) Another name for them is petit mal (PET-ee mahl). During the seizure, awareness and responsiveness are impaired. People who have them usually don't realize when they've had one. There is no warning before a seizure, and the person is completely alert immediately afterward.

Simple absence seizures are just stares. Many absence seizures are considered complex absence seizures, which means that they include a change in muscle activity. The most common movements are eye blinks. Other movements include slight tasting movements of the mouth, hand movements such as rubbing the fingers together, and contraction or relaxation of the muscles. Complex absence seizures are often more than 10 seconds long.

I would ask my pediatrician for a referal. You might try a neurologist, just to rule out the seizures, but more than likely, you are describing problems with inattention. A neruolgist can tease this out, and may be able to give you direction. My concern would be ADHD, innatentive type. Many girls with this are very bright, want to please, try hard, but get lost in the middle of doing things. They loose thier train of thought and need redirection.

I would get it checked out, and don't worry too much unitl you do.

M.

I agree with talking to the pediatrician. Some times "zoning" out can be syptoms of mild seizures. My daughter had a test done and it was found that she was having deep brain seizures. Nothing serious, thankgoodness, but you never know.

I suggest that you have her checked by her pediatrician. This may be a medical condition. Before going to see him, write down a description of when this happens and how often as well as a description of what she is like when this is happening so that you'll be sure to have complete and detailed information for the doctor.

Scary, I know. Once you have either ruled out a medical condition or know what it is you'll be able to do something about it which will be a relief.

Boy, she sounds a lot like my daughter, but without my daughter's other autistic issues. I don't have anything new to add, just agree that your daughter should be tested for ADD.

C.
www.littlebitquirky.blogspot.com

My oldest is eight and has this issue. I will also mention that my son is very bright...all of his grades are 90-100% and all of his teachers since preschool have commented on his extraordinary vocabulary. When he was only 13 months old he asked " where is my triceratops, mommy?"

It was his first grade teacher that really brought it to our attention, although, I had noticed similar examples at home that you notice. She started him on a sticker chart at school that she would keep at her desk, not in view of other students, since it was not a behavior-related problem. This was not effective. He had no idea until the end of the week, how his week went. The chart was broken into AM and PM...stickers for paying attention without staring episodes and then "X" for times when he didn't pay attention.

He is in second grade now and his teacher has a much better system. We met with him at the beginning of the year and he came up with a self-rating system that has increased his awareness of his attention/zoning out...about 2 months ago he quit doing the system all together because it is no longer an issue!!! He also used a chart that is broken into AM & PM that was kept at the teacher's desk. (I made it clear that I wanted him to be discrete when talking to my son about this...I didn't want him to feel embarrassed in front of the other kids) Everyday, when the teacher told the students to line up for lunch, he would have my son come up to his desk to quickly rate his morning 1-10, with a picture rating scale(sad face next to 1, happy face next to 10) for the following goals:

1. I followed the directions that Mr. C. gave in class.
2. I had my book open and my papers ready when Mr. C. told me to.
3. I was ready to answer Mr. C's questions when he called on me.

Mr. C wanted to know how my son thought the morning went first, and then Mr. C would give him his rating. The goal was to be between 8 & 10. Mr. C. would then do it again at the end of the day when the kids were getting their backpacks ready to go home for the day. This increased my son's awareness significantly because he had to rate himself.

I should also mention that I am a speech therapist and the "zoning out/staring episodes" scared me from a medical standpoint. I have known kids that had a petite mal seizure disorder and 1 child with a brain tumor who also "stared" into space. I went to the pediatrician at the beginning of this school year and asked for an EKG and MRI to rule out seizure activity and a tumor. I am not trying to scare you, but, for obvious reasons, it is a good idea to rule out possible contributing medical conditions. Good luck and I hope that this information helps you.

Your daughter may be having seizures. See your pediatrician.

That is generally the hallmark of one of two things - ADD or extreme giftedness. Frequently the two go hand in hand (I know from personal experience - I fall in both categories and it is looking like my daughter does, too.)

I strongly recommend reading Delivered from Distraction and see if any of the techniques (Chapter 29) work.

Also, take some heart in that while she is zoned out, there are wonderful amazing things going on in her head.

HTH,

C.

I agree with the possibility of seizures. They are called absence seizures. I'm not saying that this is definitely what your daughter is experiencing, but it is possible. I had them, and know that it feels like. You are sort of aware of what's going on around you, but it's hard to pull yourself back. They are often called 'staring spells' or 'zoning out' before a diagnosis. I'd start with a trip to the pediatrician, and then maybe a neurologist. What your daughter is experiencing could be true moments of zoning out or getting lost in thought, but it's a good idea to rule out other possible causes.

Hi,
My son was the same way and still is. He does very well in school so I never had him tested for ant attention stuff.

I am an artist and was a huge daydreamer. I think my so has the same. Very smart and creative people are swirling with ideas and doing basic stuff is so boring. Sometimes they get so involved with thoughts they forget what they are doing.
My son is 15. Sometimes he gets so mad a t me because I have to remind him so many times to do something. But when on his own he functions very well.

Be patient. You may have a very smart creative child. You want to nuture those traits.
Good Luck!!
L.

She might have sensory issues. I’m a nanny that through the years have kids like that. Get her tested, either through school or privately. There are a lot of companies that do this. Often it’s a non medicated therapy, of which can be done in a combination of in home treatments with you and outside with the therapist. But , the earlier you do this the better.