ASD folk - how do you keep from zoning out?

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Yesterday, DS came to me and said, with real concern, "Mom, when I take a test at school I get distracted and just stare out the window the whole time." I remember this happening to me as a child, myself - when something didn't interest me, the slightest movement out the window...or anything, really, would catch my attention and I'd watch it for hours until somebody stopped me.

I did a search and found only this topic, which describes what's happening pretty well, but doesn't really offer any solutions. His teachers are aware of his disability, especially in this area, and have been making gargantuan efforts to help him (considering he just has a 504) like stopping the test in the middle (which required them to call the IT department and have somebody come to the classroom to fix the computer program; it was not a small thing) and having him take a break, etc. (He wound up scoring in the 97th percentile, which, sadly, is a barrier to us getting him an IEP. Grrr.)

While I really appreciate the support he's getting at school, I think my son came to me because he's looking for a more internal system or tools he can use himself. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I wish I knew. My older sons has very strong ADHD and is in 9th grade. Where most kids can finish timed tests, many times he cannot. Where we used to live, they give intelligence tests to see if kids qualify for GT full time. We missed the regular testing as we wre moving in from another state, so we did it the summer before shool started. One test he was in the 99th percentile. Other test he was in the 88th percentile. They didn't accept him.

At the time, we were like, "Ok, let's see how weekly GT works versus daily). It was a disaster - he started to hate school. They had him take a the same (grade up) test the next year, again he scored at the 85th percentile, but this time we got the breakdown. The test had, let's say, 100 questions. We knew from reading about the test, that kids should be able to finish it. Well, Adrian didn't. He attempted, I think 76, got 75 right, but didn't get to the last 24. Well, there's a BIG PROBLEM there then. He processes too slow, first of all, because of ADHD, and day dreams, because of ADHD.

So, we had his scores relooked at and asked for an appeal. The counselors looked at his scores and said, "well criteria is that he needs to score above 95th percentil on ONE of these two tests. He has a 99th percentile on the one... why is there even a question about his eligibility?" So, the next year he started full time Gt and things got a lot better.

Skip to the next year - to take algebra GT in 7th grade, you had to get a 95th percentile on an apptitude test. Again, timed. We drilled with our son on HOW to take tests, about moving on and so on. We were so worried he would not complete the test and not get into Alg. (he had been DYING to learn algebra since he was . We worried, and yep, when he came home he said he didn't get to 6 questions out of 60. MAN!! !! But, he didn't miss any, and got in at the 95th percentile Phew!

We had him evaluated by a psychologist and his recommendation was to allow for extra time for tests - especially these big evaluative tests... but, so far, they won't allow for it because, since the 3rd grade fiasco, it hasn't been an issue with his doing well enough. And, while he has a 504 plan like your son, he doesn't qualify for an IEP because he's doing well enough in his all GT classes.

I think what we will find is that when he takes the PSATs as a sophomore next year, we will see his time issues and will then be able to say - SEE, he needs more time as has been recommended as a need by his pscyhologist/specialist.

It just kills me though that a kid has to fail at something first to get the help he/she needs!

Here is some advice I got on this issue a while ago: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp2404162 ... t=#2404162

Give meditation a try. Meditation is a holistic way of building your concentration muscles and beating anxiety, among other things.

Make sure you get enough sleep and eat a healthy diet. (Not necessarily anything fancy, but balanced and not too processed. The foods the day of a test should have a low enough glycemic index to hold him steady through the test.)

After that, there's not a lot you can do. You can talk to yourself out loud, but then you'll probably be disturbing the other students. Maybe you could ask for a private testing room just so he can do that, though, because it's a dramatic help for me.

i used to slap myself in the face. it works but it might not be a socially appropriate thing to do...biting nails helps my son focus at school. other than that, he could keep a bottle of water and drink out of it if he feels himself getting out of focus, or even wet his hand and pass it on his face... it feels sort of like falling asleep so i think all this might help.

Thank you all - these are very helpful suggestions, and since we have the support of the school, they might all be possible to implement (we did try meditation, I think that's not going to work for us during for this particular developmental stage for DS, even though he might benefit - he can't focus long enough to meditate.)

DenvrDave, thanks for the link to the other thread, good stuff there, too.