Short Attention Span by
Children who have ADHD often jump from task to task without finishing any of them. They feel trapped by any task that takes longer than the time they’re able to maintain focus. Improving this skill usually requires breaking tasks into smaller segments while working to increase the child’s low attention span.
Sustained attention is the ability to maintain focus on a task or assignment a child considers uninteresting or difficult — in other words, schoolwork and homework. A young child can typically complete a five-minute chore with only occasional supervision. The average teenager can do a task, with short breaks, for one to two hours. But for children with ADHD, it’s completely different. Try these tricks for increasing focus and attention in your child with ADHD, both at school and at home.
How Can Children with ADHD Focus in the Classroom?
Teach students how to pay attention. At the beginning of the school year, ask students to demonstrate what attention and inattention look like. Say, “I’m going to start talking. I want this side of the room to act out what paying attention looks like, and I want the other side to act out what inattention looks like.” After you have done this exercise, talk about the differences you saw between the two sides of the room.
Take 10 minutes every day to practice paying attention. Set a kitchen timer for random intervals (one to three minutes), and ask students to place a check mark on their paper if they were paying attention when the alarm went off. This will help students become aware of how long it takes before they drift off. There are smartphone apps — Interval Minder is a good one — that allow you to program an iPhone to sound a tone, create a screen flash, or vibrate at random intervals as short as five to 10 seconds.
Adjust tasks for shorter time frames. Set a kitchen timer for 10-minute intervals. When the bell rings, have the student with ADHDshow you his work. This gives him a chance to get up and move and allows you to monitor progress.
Provide preferential seating — in front of the classroom, within cueing distance of you, and away from as many environmental distractions as possible, including doors, windows, and visual displays. If possible, make sure the child is seated among attentive, well-focused students.
Cut work pages in halves or smaller segments. Pass out one part at a time. This reduces a student’s frustration over seeing a lengthy worksheet.
Give the student some choices. Allow kids to decide which assignments to do or the order in which they want to do them. Choice increases motivation, and motivation increases sustained attention.
Have a student clear his desk of distractions. He should have only the essential items needed to do the task at hand.
Create opportunities for children to respond to the material as it is being presented. Lecture for no more than 10 minutes, then ask kids to comment on the material. Have everybody vote on something, ask kids to write the answer to a question on their individual whiteboards and hold them up, or ask, “How many of you…?”
Cover or remove visual distractions. Erase unnecessary information from the board and remove visual clutter.
Ask kids to track how long it takes to complete an assignment. Have them write down start and stop times for classroom assignments. Then ask them to estimate how long an assignment will take, and to compare their estimates to the actual time.
Have a class discussion about fighting homework distractions. Talk about what the common distractions are, then break up the class into small groups to brainstorm ways to combat them.
How Can Parents Increase Attention Span for Studying at Home?
Break schoolwork assignments into small segments. For a child with ADHD, the general rule of thumb is that a task is most likely to get done when the child knows that “the end is in sight” at the beginning of the task. It’s easier for kids with ADHD to do six five-minute chores than to do one 30-minute chore.
Reward your child when he finishes a task. Some parents don’t allow kids to play video games on school nights. But video games can be an incentive to maintain attention if kids know they will be allowed to play for 30 minutes after they finish their homework. If you decide to make this offer, say it like this: “As soon as you finish your homework, you get to play video games for 30 minutes.” Saying, “You can’t play video games until you finish your homework” sets the scene for a power struggle. Giving your child something to look forward to will energize him.
Have your child rate how hard a task is for her (1 is easy and 10 is difficult). Ask her how she could turn an 8-9-10 task into a 2-3-4 task. Can she turn it into a game, make it fun by listening to her iPod while she does it, or break the task into small pieces and do one piece at a time, with built-in breaks?
Ask your child to estimate how long a task will take. Your child may think it will take an hour to do his math homework. If he finds it took him only 15 minutes, he will be pleasantly surprised — and much less likely to procrastinate the next time he has to tackle it.
Gradually increase attention. Measure how long your child can stick with homework or a chore before needing a break. Once you establish that, set a timer for two to three minutes longer than the baseline measurement, and challenge your child to keep working until the timer rings.
Be there. Children can sustain attention longer when someone is physically with them. Make homework time a family affair — everybody brings work to the dining room table at the same time every night. Parents work on their paperwork while kids do their homework.
Schedule movement breaks. Kids with ADHD work more efficiently when they have regular opportunities to get up and move around. Even on nights when they have a lot of homework, they will get it done faster if they have periodic breaks that include some physical activity.
Help him visualize time. Devices that show elapsed time will help him reset his focus when it drifts from the task. Time Timer makes a clock and a wristwatch, as well as software for the computer, that show a time-challenged child how much time he has left (or how much has passed) via a diminishing red disc.
Expand on your child’s partial answers by saying, “Tell me more. I would like to know how you arrived at that answer? It is interesting.” This will keep his attention on the task at hand.
Impulse-Control Strategies for Students with ADHD
Why do kids with ADHD call out in class or push in line? Poor impulse control. The solution? Clear expectations, positive incentives, and predictable consequences for good or bad school behavior. BY
Why do kids with ADHD call out in class or push in line? Poor impulse control. The solution? Clear expectations, positive incentives, and predictable consequences for good or bad school behavior. BY
What Is the Definition of Impulse Control?
It depends. For children with attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) who are ruled by their impulses, calling out in class or pushing to the front of the line comes naturally. Kids with ADHD live in the moment, undeterred by rules or consequences. For them, impulse control means learning how to stop and think before acting.
Lack of impulse control may be the most difficult ADHD symptom to change. Medication can help, but kids also need effective behavior management strategies in place — clear expectations, positive incentives, and predictable consequences — if they are to learn to regulate their behavior.
How to Teach Impulse Control at School
Lead your students in compiling a list of class rules. Include some that are difficult for kids with ADHD, such as “Always raise your hand to ask for help.” Be sure to define each rule: What does it mean to “Use materials appropriately”?
In general, discipline should be immediate.
If one student pushes another on the playground, for example, have him sit out part of recess. A delayed consequence — such as after-school detention — doesn’t work for kids who have trouble anticipating outcomes.
Provide visual reminders to keep kids on track.
To spare a child the embarrassment of frequent reprimands, agree upon a secret gesture you’ll use to signal her to stay in her seat or to stop calling out. Some children benefit from a reminder taped to the desk. That, too, can be private; no one else has to know that “N.I.” stands for “No Interrupting.”
Encourage appropriate behavior with recognition and rewards.
This is especially important for children with ADHD, who get a lot of negative attention for misconduct. Acknowledge good behavior with specific praise, such as: “Edward, I appreciate how quickly and quietly you cleared your desk.”
Some older children are embarrassed by compliments, so give a thumbs-up or a pat on the back instead.
Clear, Enforceable Expectations
Write the day’s schedule on the blackboard, and erase items as they’re completed.
This gives kids with ADHD a sense of being in control of their day. Provide advance notice of any changes to the usual routine.
Issue frequent alerts as the end of an activity draws near.
Give the class a five-minute warning, and then a two-minute warning, to ease the transition from one activity to the next. Devise a plan for students for whom change is especially difficult. Assign them to a special task, like collecting classmates’ papers, to help them maintain self-control.
Use a daily report card.
This tool allows a child’s teacher and parents to monitor academic and behavioral goals — and gives the child a chance to earn rewards. Each day, the teacher records whether the goals were met, and the child takes the report card home to show his parents.
How to Teach Impulse Control at Home
Be explicit about how your child is to behave.
Instead of telling her to “be good” at the playground, tell her to “wait in line for the slide, and don’t push.”
Hold your child accountable for his actions.
Keep punishments short and appropriate, but let them remind your child that he is responsible for his own behavior. A good rule of thumb for time-outs is one minute for each year of a child’s age.
Discourage a problem behavior by “charging” for each infraction.
This strategy rewards your child for not engaging in an inappropriate behavior, such as interrupting your phone calls.
How it works:
- Determine, roughly, how many times a week your child interrupts you during a phone call, and fill a jar with slightly fewer quarters.
- Tell your child that these are hers to keep at the end of the week, but that you will remove one each time she interrupts a call.
- As the behavior begins to diminish, reduce the number of quarters you put in the jar at the beginning of the week.
Special Rules for Special Occasions
Go easy on minor missteps.
If your child spills milk because he’s pouring it quickly, help him clean the mess, talk to him about the importance of being careful, and move on.
Anticipate potentially explosive situations.
Children with ADHD need consistency and routine, but the unpredictable will sometimes happen.
Prepare your child for special occasions: Explain where you’re going, who will be there, what activities are planned, and how he should behave. Plan a way for him to signal you if he’s becoming overwhelmed, such as putting his hand in yours. (You can do the same if you sense a meltdown in the making.)
