What Are Signs & Symptoms of Inattentive ADD?

Living with a child with Inattentive Attention Deficit Disorder (Inattentive ADD) can appear to be like a roller coaster. New projects that appear simple to complete may not be simple for the child with Inattentive ADD. Life for these children is full of new opportunities and influences. The challenge for parents and teachers is helping the child cope with the disorder and learn to stay focused on one task at a time.

Appear Not To Be Listening

• Children with Inattentive ADD appear not to be listening to directions, even when presented in a one-on-one environment. According to healthcentral.com, this is because the child is being stimulated by other activities, items, or thoughts and attempting to concentrate on too many things at once, therefore being unable to concentrate on any of them.

Trouble Following Directions

• Children with ADD tend to have problems following directions and completing a project to its end, according to healthcentral.com and helpguide.com. There are numerous reasons why the child may not be able to follow directions. She might have become distracted while receiving the directions and did not understand them thoroughly. Or, she may get distracted by another task while working on a project, and leave the project incomplete to start a new task. Sometimes the distraction will not result in a child starting a new project, but forgetting the steps to complete the task at hand.

Lack of Organization

• Inattentive ADD can make organization skills hard for a child to develop. Helpguide.com and healthcentral.com both indicate children with Inattentive ADD might have difficulty completing school assignments, such as homework, because they cannot sit down for an extended period of time and remain organized enough to gather the information needed to complete the task. Students with Inattentive ADD struggle with keeping organized records and files such as school notebooks for individual classes.

Avoids Complex Tasks

• A child with Inattentive ADD will sometimes avoid tasks that require multiple tasks or strong organization skills. According to the helpforadd.com website, the child will avoid these tasks because she is not interested in projects that take a long amount of time. The inability to concentrate for extended periods of times on a single task results in children with Inattentive ADD choosing shorter projects that are easier to complete with a minimal number of steps.