Steph, not belittling your talent at all and not saying that for some jobs it's necessary as in Booger and OldFart's explanation but not everyone who is being forced to multi-task can truly do it well. My students (I am sure there are some who do but not mine) with ADD do not multi-task. They would never complete any of the tasks. My thought comes from knowing that there used to be people and professions who worked best in this manner but wondering if this is necessary for everyone to do in these days and if it benefits every profession. If so I had better prepare my kiddos in a different way.

__________________

The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

Lil, I know very little about ADD, so my comments may be wrong ... if so correct me, please. I thought ADD involved an inability to stay focused, and in it's own quirky way this may help your students in the real world.

In my job I find that I am forced to move with the times and often do so very quickly. I work in an electronic environment where 90% of my communication is by phone or email, I must be able to respond to those items quickly and can't continuing plugging away on a spreadsheet without taking a glance at my email to see what's going on in the inbox. I'm alos forced to deal with competing and changing priorities on a daily basis, perhaps sometimes an hourly basis. Being able to adapt quickly and change directions on a drop of a hat is critical to my success.

I encounter people in my office (my manager) who are not good at this and it drives me straight up a wall. I find myself highly agitated that he can't keep up with the flow from one topic to the next or can't keep up on the 75 emails he receives in a day.

I'm not sure I consider it multi-tasking anymore, as much as adaptability and managing change.

So what did I mean by the ability to "not stay focused" might help? When they are stuck on the task at hand or bored with it... they can flip over to email for five minutes, fire off some responses and then go back to the task at hand.

I got what you are saying and that is part of the reason for my questioning. I mentioned my kids because I think part of the way I have begun thinking about multi-tasking is based on me spending my day trying to teach students to either 1. not be distracted by extraneous stimuli or to 2. return to the task at hand and follow it through to completion. For instance.... I usually give this group 2 worksheets after a particular lesson. They know how to complete both. At first not thinking I handed them both to them at once. The students went back and forth between the two at times and only the one on meds finished them. So then I began to give them one at a time. Maybe I'd be better off handing them both and showing them how to toggle between the two and still stay focused. Just trying to figure out how to best get my kiddos ready for the real world despite my personal feelings so I figured I'd survey the real world (or at least the sexy part) for some opinions.

__________________

The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

I don't think it can hurt to teach them to "toggle", it could be a good life skill for them or a method of coping. It may not work for all of your students, but for a few it might be a great tool.