Is Your Child Having Trouble With Attention? Here Are Some Ways to Help!
Did you know that children have a limited amount of concentration ability. They don’t have superpowers that allow them to sit and focus on things like we would expect (and want) them to.
Sometimes at Young Folk Therapy, we find that parents worry about their child’s attention, or that they are concerned that a child is struggling to find anything that they find interesting.
Did you know that childhood development experts generally say that a reasonable attention span to expect of a child is two to three minutes per year of their age. That's the period of time for which a typical child can maintain focus on a given task.
Average attention spans work out like this:
2 years old: four to six minutes
4 years old: eight to 12 minutes
6 years old: 12 to 18 minutes
8 years old: 16 to 24 minutes
10 years old: 20 to 30 minutes
12 years old: 24 to 36 minutes
14 years old: 28 to 42 minutes
16 years old: 32 to 48 minutes
If your child is struggling with these average times this article will explain, there are a number of reasons why a child may have difficulty with attention, ways to help them.
How do we define attention span?
An attention span is how long one can concentrate on a task. One's attention span can be affected by factors like their age, health and the amount of stimulation they are exposed to.
Young children usually have short attention spans but as they grow older, their attention should start to increase in length because of maturity, an increased ability to filter out distractions in their environment or exposure to more things that stimulate them positively.
Why Do Children Have Difficulty With Attention Span?
There are a number of reasons why a child may have difficulty with attention, these can vary from something as simple as having too many distractions in place through to living with
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
What can you do at home to help improve your child’s attention span?
If your child is having trouble with attention, there are a few simple things you can do.
Sleep
Firstly, you can try to get your child more sleep. Young children need at least 10-12 hours of sleep. If your child isn’t getting enough sleep, they may have more trouble with attention.
Get Moving!
You can also try to get your child more exercise. Exercise releases endorphins, which make the brain happier and happy brains tend to have greater attention
Healthy Choices
It is essential for kids to eat healthy foods they are growing and developing. When kids are in their growth stages, they need the right nutrients to fuel their bodies and minds. Kids who don’t get the right nutrition may struggle with concentration and focus, which can affect their performance in school and social skills.
Create a reward and praise system
If you want focused behaviour, then learn how to reward and praise good behaviour, to help set boundaries and expectations. Make sure you are praising your child when they are completing their mission and maintaining focus. They need to be excited about what works, too. They need the confidence-building that success brings. Let them know how proud you are of their efforts.
Remember a break is important!
Kids need to get up, move around, and do something different and not too taxing after spending time concentrating. They will benefit from taking some time to rest and recharge, especially during after-school homework time. Younger children can take a snack or play break.
Remove distractions and stimulation
Distractions can come in a range of forms from loud television sounds to bright toys and activities lying on the floor. Before setting up a task, take some time out to scan the room or location and identify and remove anything that might take focus away from the task at hand.
Mind wandering
Did you know that one of the easiest ways to improve attention is to consciously STOP all input into our brains. When young brains are constantly bombarded with stimuli, their brains are switched on and firing but this isn’t always a good thing. Our world is a busy place and constant screen use means our brains are only paying attention to small amounts (30-90 seconds) of information constantly. We need to turn off the input, to allow our brains to learn to have sustained focused attention. All kids should have a minimum of 20 minutes of quiet time each day, this could be riding a bike or scooter, walking to the shops, exploring a garden, colouring or building lego (no instructions)
Final Thoughts
As parents and caregivers, it’s important to remember that children have a finite amount of energy, so they can sometimes have difficulty focusing on one thing (despite all of our efforts!)
We hope that some of these tips help get your family’s focus back on track, however, if you do feel like you are struggling on need some extra support, at Young Folk Therapy we can offer professional support from qualified therapists or your child can take part in one groups designed for children who struggle with social communication and attention skills.