Getting your 8 year old to follow directions... any input???

You have a good question here. Well, my little boy is 10 years old. We have him on riidlen. It helps calm him down from being active all the time and helps him focus on what he needs to do. Especially in school. To tell you the truth I am on something like that as well. It calms me down alot. My wife has noticed that when I aint on the medicine I am always fussy. So this might help you out a little. You will have to bring her to doctor to get a prescription for it. The doctor might have something else in mind as well.

Well, I don't know about ADHD and all these new-fangled terms (it's not that I don't believe they exist just that I'd need to know a lot more about you and Gabby to say whether that is the problem). My guess is that she does hear you ask her to go make her bed but that so much is going on in her mind that she doesn't connect what you say with something she must do (hence the weird look). At eight she is on the borderline of being a 'baby' and understanding about doing what she is told (following instructions) and of understanding that she can (and should) decide for herself what she should do. My diagnosis (based on whatever) is that she needs more love and cuddles, sharing laughter about her 'forgetfulness', understanding that she's growing up, belief that she's a perfectly normal and average (but fantastic and really valuable) eight year old and that it's not easy, this growing up stuff! Selective hearing is something that males (especially) carry over from their childhood. It's a coping strategy, not an illness. If your little girl is really developing it then (1) it's pretty normal but (2) it might tell you something about the attention that you are able to give her at a particularly stressful time in her life (and, hey, being eight is NOT as stressful as being 11, 12, 13 and on!)

Well, at some points he sounds like a typical 8yr old, i have one myself. a boy. i find myself repeating things to him or telling him to do things more then once because he doesn't reply when asked the first time. one thing you can do is you can ask her to repeat what you just said and ask her if she understands that. that might help a little bit. for the other problems. for ADHD, you need to get that properly diagnosed. I was thought to have ADD (which i think might be your daughters case or not) but they said that wasn't the case. ADD is when you can't concentrate on one thing for too long and the reason they said I didn't have it was because I could sit down and do one thing for 30min. I think people are too quick to put ADHD on kids and give them medication. So if you're worried about that, see someone for it. for the sleep problems, you might be on to something. if she just seems out of it them she might be a little sleep deprived. i think there are clinics for that as well that you could have it checked out. but you're right, she doesn't sound like a BAD child. and i have selective hearing, just like my father....if she's staring straight at you, then i don't think thats the case. selective hearing is forcing yourself to ignore the other person, thats all. but just ask her to repeat what you said and monitor her behaivor a little more too make sure everything is all right.

Have you tried having her repeat things back to you? Does she have trouble with written directions too? If so, having her read them out loud might help. And if not, then try writing down what you want her to do. If it is a "behavioral" problem like selective hearing, she'll eventually get annoyed enough with you writing everything out that she'll correct the behavior on her own. Just some ideas that I know help people to comprehend instruction better, if that's her problem.