Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Hyperfocus, and Transitioning

This doesn't exactly belong on here -- but it does in a way. I mentioned hyperfocus a few posts ago, and now I wanted to mention a related problem -- transitioning.

This site describes an ADD characteristic this way :

The student finds it difficult to "sustain attention, effort and persistence, or the student becomes so focused on a task they find it difficult to change activity when asked.
Solutions:

Assistance through transitions to and from the classroom, and from one activity to another. Set up routines and use them consistently. Alert the student to transitions coming up a few minutes before the instruction to change is given.
Of course, this is very school-y. However, the principle may be helpful. I notice that the corollary to my tendency to hyperfocus is a difficulty in moving on. This happens in all areas of life, but particularly in areas where I am focusing mentally. No doubt that I have to work so hard to get into the focused state, that I get locked in and have trouble moving out again.

So in future I'm going to try to plan a transition stage ahead of time. When I used to have to go to the hospital every week when I was pregnant with Paddy, I would plan a few moments after I had just gotten home, to potter around and get back in touch with the house and kids. I do this whenever we go to town, actually, because I get car-sick and it's difficult to simply resume normal activities.

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