Nothing is more frustrating for a speech therapist than spending hours preparing for an activity, only for the child to zip off after spending a grand total of… 5 seconds. In such situations, we might have tried yelling for the child to “Come back!”, or threaten them with a “Do this or else”, but as we all know, these methods hardly ever work.
Why Attention is Important
Attention is important, as it is the gateway through which we learn. A teacher can try to teach you the label of an object, but if you aren’t attending, you won’t learn its name. In speech therapy, the tasks are designed such that the child can learn specific goals through the activities. Therefore, attending to these tasks is critical in order for the child to meet those goals.
Some good strategies are making ourselves more fun and interesting, as well as incorporating the child’s interest. These have already been covered under Eye Contact and Social Skills. But what about the child’s attention span? Is there anything we can do to stretch it?
In this article, we shall explore some strategies we can use to help our child attend for longer and longer. A good way to remember the strategies is: If you want your child to attend for longer stretches, use these 5 MATODS.
How to build toddlers’ attention span
#1: Alternate beween Movement and sit-down activities
Movement is a great place to begin since all children need it. For the hyperactive children, movement help them to work off their energy enough to sit down for an activity. And for the passive ones, movement help to warm up their system so that they can get into the zone for learning. Even though you can also teach during movement activities, being able to sit at a table is a skill that children need to learn eventually when they start school. Alternating between movement and sit-down activities is thus a good way to spice things up so that children are kept engaged through-out the session.
To stretch children’s attention span, sneak in a couple more movement and sit-down activities, doing so gradually. The good thing about movement activities is that they are usually fun so children hardly notice that they are having to do more “work”.
#2: Use Achievable Tasks
Sometimes in our over-zealousness to get our child talking, we skip right to talking when the child has not even mastered the prerequisite skills for doing so. We might hold a child’s favourite toy car, while repeatedly trying to get him to say “Car”. If he has never said the word, or worse, if he’s not even aware that you are in the room, there’s no way he is ever going to do it. Doing so would only lead to a tantrum, and we all know there is no way the child is going to learn anything when that happens.
Therefore, we have to meet the child where he is. This means working at a level where the child has a chance to succeed. For example, if the child is able to clap, then we know that he is capable of bringing his little hands together. Therefore, a goal of getting the child to sign “more” would be a good starting point. When we keep a child at that happy medium where he is able to be successful without being bored, then the child is more likely to stay and work with you.
#3: Use TEACCH Activities
TEACCH activities not only teaches your child new skills, but it can also be used to stretch your child’s attention. Because TEACCH activities has a clear end point, it helps a child to stay with the task as he knows clearly when the activity is done. Think about it, if you can see your goal, and it is within reach, you are more likely to press on. Contrast it to when you are walking aimlessly in a desert with no destination in sight. You are much more likely to throw in the towel, even if the end is near as you have no idea that that is the case.
If your child has a short attention, you can make the task short. Take for example a task of inserting coloured straws through a hole into a container. For a child who cannot sit long, start with 2 straws. Then gradually increase the number of straws over the next few sessions so that the child can eventually sit for at least 10 minutes doing one task or a few tasks back to back.
#4: Use the “One more” rule
I borrowed this one from Laura Mize. This is such a great strategy and is applicable across any kind of activities. The idea is that you would just get the child to do one more high 5, one more piece of puzzle, one more anything just as the child starts to show the first sign of wanting to leave.
So let’s say you are playing a fishing game. If the child starts to stare off into space, then tell him “one more fish”, and encourage him to (or help him to if he doesn’t want to do so) catch one more fish before you end the game. If possible, try to do “one more” than the previous session, so that the child’s attention is extended over time.
#5: Remove Distractions
Perhaps this is the most intuitive strategy of all. If you don’t want your child to be distracted, then minimise the distraction in the room. If your child is constantly staring out the window while you are working with him, then move the session to a room without windows. Or let’s say the child is constantly running off to jump on his trampoline, then remove the trampoline. Alternatively, place it higher up so he has no free access to it.
In my experience, I find that some children are so highly distractible that even working in a room is too distracting for her. In these cases, I might find a small space like behind a couch where I might conduct the therapy. Within the confined space, there is not much else to capture the child’s attention and she was better able to attend to the tasks.
Conclusion
Attention is such a crucial skill for your child since it is the basis from which your child learns anything. Unfortunately, most children, even neurotypical ones, are not born with plenty of it.
Thankfully, with a little bit of work, your child can learn to attend. Give the above MATOD a try and let me know how it goes in the comment below. Good luck!
