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Thanks.

Well, I started picking at the piano when I was 4-5, now I had heard a lot of music at home, my mother was a concert pianist as well as a concert singer, so I used to sit in the music room listening to her from an early age, I remember that I wanted to sound like that (her) but I never got a chance; 1 the piano was always occupied by either my mother or my father (composer/conductor), 2 they never gave me any lessons (well, my dad showed me a couple of chords when I was 10 (a II-V which set me off on the jazz path) or encouragement, but I did get to hear a lot of music, and sit in (and sometimes sleep) at rehearsals; big bands, shows, concerts. I also got to meet a lot of musicians, and me futzing around with those two chords the pianist in my father's band took mercy on me and showed me a couple of more chords plus a scale this time.

In my early teens Keith Emerson became my hero, so I started to play in bands.

No, it has never become easier.
Actually, the more I played, and the more I learnt it all became harder, that's where the ADD and Dyslexia came a lot more into play. I have my improvisational ability and theoretical knowledge to thank that I made as far as I did, so when I stopped performing (my first child came along) and focused on composing, then music became easier (also thanks to software; remember the Atari and Steinberg 24? )

But playing the piano? It's as hard as ever, but thanks to the fact that I have a diagnosis I don't beat myself over the head anymore, I work with my disabilities, learning different strategies, for instance when practising I might practice for two hours, but those two hours are divided in 10 min blocks. Practice 10 mins, then a 2 min short break away from the piano, then 10 more mins, etc. It works wonders.
I practice hands separate, listen a lot to a recording of the piece - so that I internalize the music, when I practice my LH I sing the RH and vice versa (or just sing a single hand), practice the rhythms on a table-top, etc.
Yes it's hard for me to play the piano, but as much as it's hard, I really, really love it.

One counter-intuitive suggestion is to have her try some HARDER pieces. It is typical that people with "ADD" (which by the way if you ask me, is horribly over-diagnosed, and too much medication is being prescribed) are very much right brain dominant. Right brain likes to see the whole picture (beginning to advanced) learn things very generally and holistically, and fill in the details later. It is not like a linear left brain (progress from level 1 to level 2 to 3 etc). Sometimes kids like this are just bored and need to be challenged. Make a note to review the piece she's stuck on in a few months but put it aside for now and move on. It's probably just boredom, not capability.

We always think they have to get everything perfect in a linear fashion, when it might be better to think of their learning like a "loop", in that a few iterations through the same material is what it takes, each time honing on more and more on the details.

Thinking along these same lines, NEW and familiar songs (ones they know from a movie etc) would be great too. A lot of kids need to be fed new things to keep their excitement up; a new book, song, game. The trick with these kids is to tap into their desire and what motivates them. Sometimes, if they are motivated through competition, some healthy games where they compete against themselves will do a lot, as will just something new to grab their attention again.

The funny thing is that I've come to believe that asking an ADD'er to concentrate and try to play the piece perfectly is the WORST thing a teacher or parent can ask! The performance becomes akin to walking into a minefield of wrong notes and slip-ups.

(This is while reading off of music.....and this is despite the fact that many of 'them' have tremendous ability to over-focus.)

I'm wondering if maybe the pencil point method I use gives them something else to look at and softens the hard narrow concentration into something that's more generally aware. (just speculating)

By the way, I got the idea for the technique when I accidentally set the tempo on my Sibelius player too slow and watched the colored note cursor lope across the page.

Does anyone else use a similar technique?

(I generally ask people to internalize by singing, I get some resistance, but it's preferable to using recordings for me.....)

I have definitely noticed that she does do better if I play the piece for her first so she can hear it.

I sometimes use pointing with the pencil and it seems to help because otherwise she gets lost in the music. Another thing I will do is if the rhythm is tricky in the measure, I'll have her tap it on her lap so she doesn't have to worry about the notes - she just gets the rhythm right first. Or we just do one measure at a time and work on it till she gets it - usually when she can play one part, she repeats it until it's really good.

Chris - I never thought that she may also be dyslexic, but that's a good point - how do you overcome that?

One doesn't. All one can do is learn different strategies, learn that transitions take time (the student comes to you from what? home? school? maybe he/she needs a 5 mins quiet time before he/she starts?), maybe have the student play the RH whilst you play the LH, meditation is really good craft to learn regardless the age.
There's some good literature to read: "Music and Dyslexia: A Positive Approach", "Instrumental Music for Dyslexics" and "Music and Dyslexia: Opening New Doors". It seems that the UK has a lot more going for it regarding Dyslexia and Music. The Royal Academy of Music acknowledges that facts about Dyslexia and take into account regarding a students performance in a vista classes or doing exams.

Those are good resources Chris, thanks!