They may stare off into space and seem relatively low in energy. These kids often go missed in the classroom as they sit 'under the radar' and don't tend to have behavioural issues or get in trouble at school for being naughty, calling out or disrupting others.
4. Daydreaming. Although ADHD tends to cause hyperactivity, your child might display a quiet, calm disposition while staring off into space and ignoring what's happening around them, lacking the ability to be emotionally present with others.
ADHD shares the core symptoms of inattention, staring episodes or daydreaming.
Though most staring spells are perfectly normal, sometimes they can signal an absence seizure. Once known as petit-mal (“little sickness”) seizures, absence seizures most commonly affect children between ages 4 and 14, but older kids and even adults can occasionally have them.
An absence seizure is the term for a type of seizure involving staring spells. This type of seizure is a brief (usually less than 15 seconds) disturbance of brain function due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain.
Compulsive Staring OCD: A lesser-known subtype of OCD
The hallmark symptom of compulsive staring OCD is the excessive, intrusive thoughts or urges to stare at others in inappropriate or uncomfortable ways, especially strangers on the street or in public places.
An absence seizure causes you to blank out or stare into space for a few seconds. They can also be called petit mal seizures. Absence seizures are most common in children and typically don't cause any long-term problems.
Some eye conditions are more common in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These include refractive errors, such as astigmatism, and convergence insufficiency, which makes it difficult for the eyes to remain aligned when looking at nearby objects.
For example, children with ADHD often fail to attend to others' eyes during emotion recognition [15] and are not using others' gaze direction to guide their attention [16].
Often has trouble holding attention on tasks or play activities. Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly. Often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (e.g., loses focus, side-tracked). Often has trouble organizing tasks and activities.
Spacing Out With ADHD
It's an involuntary process that happens even when you are actively trying to pay attention. If you've ever started reading a book, only to find yourself lost in thought or staring at the page without really seeing or comprehending the words, that was spacing out.
Children with ADHD may present as fidgety, impulsive, and unable to sit still, or they may actively run around the office. Adults with ADHD may be distractible, fidgety, and forgetful. Affect/mood: Affect usually is appropriate and may be elevated, but it should not be euphoric.
Every child's mind is a busy place and staring occurs when daydreaming, thinking and imagining. Drowsy children can 'zone out'. During activities that children do not want to be part of, they can disengage visually.
Common anxiety seizure-like episode symptoms include: Staring spell. Blank look. Stiff muscles.
Why do we stare? Perhaps staring is an attempt to make sense of a perceived difference. When a person's physical appearance may not be the reason for a stare, someone's behavior could be the cause. Whatever the case may be, staring at people is generally a social behavior thought of as rude.
Staring spells are defined as periods of time when children "space out" and are subcategorized as either "absence seizures" (brain activity resembling a seizure but with no physical seizure symptoms) or "non-epileptic spells" (inattentiveness or daydreaming).
Blank Stare (Eyes), Blank Stare (Face), Compulsive Behavior And Confusion. A blank stare or blank facial expression can result from conditions with psychotic features such as schizophrenia and related disorders.
Most high school children occasionally zone out in class because they are either tired or bored. But when your child chronically daydreams, this could indicate she is struggling with attention skills. Attention is one of our executive functions: the set of skills that let us execute daily tasks.
They may look like they are staring off into space or have a blank stare. Your child has temporarily lost awareness of what's happening around them. They may suddenly stop all activity — even in the middle of an activity — and will not respond during the seizure.
Inattentiveness (difficulty concentrating and focusing)
having a short attention span and being easily distracted. making careless mistakes – for example, in schoolwork. appearing forgetful or losing things.
Similar to the hyperactive symptoms, impulsive symptoms are typically seen by the time a child is four years old and increase during the next three to four years to peak in severity when the child is seven to eight years of age.
ADHD causes kids to be more inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive than is normal for their age. ADHD makes it harder for kids to develop the skills that control attention, behavior, emotions, and activity. As a result, they often act in ways that are hard for parents manage.