When Children Have Difficulty Attending

by Lucy Collier

The process of attending consists of active selection of information that leads to an activity or thought process. For a child to attend and be functionally competent, they will need to effectively screen out irrelevant stimuli (e.g., a bell ringing, a fan blowing, the room temperature, etc.).

Irrelevant stimuli may be internal (involuntary and sensory) or external. We can help a child attend and increase their persistence by providing experiences that help the child organize their sensory systems. Increasing the frequency and duration of activities can help regulate a child’s arousal levels. Minimizing distractions or stimuli that over arouse can increase a child’s attention or persistence.

Here are some suggestions to help increase a child’s attention span and level of persistence:

Environmental

• Put toys and activities into clearly defined bins;
• Limit the number of toys available;
• Recycle toys to maintain novelty;
• Provide enclosed spaces in which to play and explore (large box, pup tent) with soft carpet and pillows;
• Eliminate distracting sounds;
• Keep visual clutter to a minimum.

Body Comfort and Timing

• Do quiet concentration activities when child is most alert in the day;
• Provide a few minutes of organizing body input before focused activity—for example, squeeze toys, Play Dough or therapy putty, pulling an carrying heavy objects, gentle bouncing and rocking;
• Before and during activities, provide a child with crunchy or chewy snacks;

Recreation

• Include in child’s daily schedule opportunities for high intensity active play such as wrestling, climbing, swinging, throwing, running, jumping, rocking, bouncing, etc.;
• Avoid high intensity activities after dinner and before winding down for bedtime.

Auditory

• Consider headsets for some children to minimize extraneous noise;
• Turn off the TV;
• Talk less and use language geared to the child’s communication level.

Visual

• Highlight with colors or line boundaries the visual information you want child to attend to;
• Focus lighting on the visual information you want child to attend to;
• Eliminate visual clutter in the area you are working with child.

Behavioral

• Encourage engagement for longer increments over time;
• Give “breaks” to do activity child enjoys (and chooses for themselves);
• Give limited choices of things you want child to do so they can feel in control;