When a child has a short attention
span, it affects many areas of learning.
Children are often easily distracted and inattentive, so as teachers we
find ourselves having to repeat instructions and redirect our student’s
attention to the task at hand. At times,
pursuing those tangents our kids lead us on can actually be both fun and
educational. For those times when you
really need to get something specific accomplished, those “rabbit trails” can
be a source of frustration.
My dog, Daisy, has demonstrated to
me in a very visual way just how many twists and turns a rabbit trail can
take. With her nose to the ground, she
tracks the path the neighborhood cottontail has taken through our
backyard. Every little bit Daisy
suddenly changes direction in seemingly random moves, sniffing away, moving
rapidly but ultimately going nowhere.
This paints a mental picture of how it has been on those days when I’m
trying to teach my distractible kids. I
exert a lot of energy, but getting pulled off course in so many directions
leaves me feeling like I’m getting nowhere just like Daisy as she dashes around
my back yard following the rabbit’s scent but never catching up to it.
I’d like to share with you some
practical ways to stretch your child’s attention span using materials and daily
activities that are already part of your routine. Remember, children with attention challenges
like novelty, interaction, and brevity.
It is counter-productive to plan a lengthy activity to work on attention
span development. Instead, try
activities like these:
1.
Do the unexpected.
When a child’s mind starts to wander, pull their attention back by
introducing something unanticipated. Try
changing up a familiar story to catch your child off guard. For example, when telling the story of the
three bears discovering Goldilocks in Baby Bear’s bed, instead of having her
run off, have Goldilocks say, “I’m going to turn you all into bear rugs!” When your startled child reacts and tells you
that’s not how the story goes, have him tell you the proper version. Now you’ve got your child’s attention, he is
engaging in on-task behavior, and developing his language skills and attention
to details.
2.
Take “one more turn”.
When a child tires of playing a game or reading a book have her remain
with the activity for one more turn or one more page than she would choose. In this way, you are gradually stretching her
attention span with a little bit of a challenge but not to the point of
absolute frustration.
3.
Use humor. Humor
is memorable, and can help a child maintain interest when he begins to feel
restless. Break up those longer sessions
by sharing a good joke or telling an amusing anecdote related to the
lesson. Just make sure the joke is not
at anyone’s expense, or the attention span may last longer but shift to the
subject of the joke instead of your teaching topic.
4.
Tap in to your child’s imagination. Many of our children who struggle to pay
attention have an amazing capacity for creative endeavors. My highly inattentive son could recall minute
details about inventions he wanted to create or stories he planned to
write. Ask your child to picture what
you are talking about. The more details
they can envision, the better they will be able to recall the information
later. Giving a child the task of
imagining what something looks, sounds, smells, feels, or tastes like keeps him
actively engaged in the learning process and helps him attend for longer
periods of time. I would prompt my son
to “make a movie in your head” when giving him a multi-step direction. If he got upstairs and forgot all or part of
what I had asked him to do, he knew to watch that movie in his head to help him
remember the tasks. This is also a
helpful strategy to increase reading comprehension and recall of auditory
information. Picture it!
5.
Stay active and interactive. If you have a child with a short attention
span, be aware that this child needs time to mature and will not do well when
required to sit passively for long periods of time. Incorporate movement when you can, because a
child in motion is more alert and some kids need an outlet for excess
energy. Involve your child in the lesson
as frequently as you can, making it interactive even if you are just having her
answer a question or retell something in her own words. My children could pay attention for longer
periods of time when I had them write or draw on a white board with dry erase
markers. When the lesson itself is not
really conducive to physical activity or interaction, you may be surprised at
how much longer your child can attend if you provide small and quiet fidget toys.
With maturity, attention spans
lengthen. Some children take longer than
others to develop but most improve their ability to pay attention dramatically
over time. If your child is not there
yet, try the ideas above. You cannot
force physical maturity, but you can incorporate these strategies to nudge and
stretch the attention span to lengthen it just a little bit more. Gradually, you will see your child attending
for longer and longer periods of time.
As with so many things, you will have helped them on their way to
growing up.
