Difficulties with attention can hamper a child’s ability to be successful in the classroom and in life.  To better understand these challenges, families and teachers must first understand three primary aspects of attention:

1. Focus
2. Response Inhibition
3. Inconsistency

Focus

It sounds as if the child with an “attention deficit” cannot pay attention to anything – when in fact she pays attention to everything around her. She cannot direct her attention to the mostimportant information.

Children with problems focusing struggle to inhibit their attention to unimportant information others “tune-out.”  They often complain that it is “too noisy” when they are trying to do homework and someone in the next room is talking on the phone or making dinner.   Common descriptors from parents and teachers include:

• He is easily drawn off-task due to unimportant sounds
• She often pays attention to visual details others ignore
• He always needs instructions repeated
• He does not seem to listen, and he seems to forget easily
• She misses the main idea of instructions
• He struggles to learn the most important details in school work
• She has trouble figuring out what is important when listening
• She remembers trivial detail more than important facts
• He is hyperactive

Yes, for some children, hyperactivity is actually the result of trouble focusing on the right thing at the right time: it’s not really about activity.  When faced with many choices, the hyperactive child moves from one thing to another without ever focusing on one item for very long: he needs help focusing on the one thing at a time so he can slow down.  Rather than being hyperactive, some girls with attention challenges are hyper-sensitive: parents often use the term “drama-queen” to describe their girls with ADD.

Used properly, not being able to pay attention to one thing at a time can become a strength as an adult.   Adults with attention problems can often juggle many responsibilities and tasks at once.  As a result, they can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.  This type of juggling can be a problem for a child when he is expected to sit in his seat and complete the math assignment on page 258 between 1 and 2 o’clock even though he is still thinking about the writing assignment he had before lunch.

Response Inhibition

Internationally known ADHD expert Russell A. Barkely, Ph.D. has said that the core of ADHD is response inhibition.  Even focus involves the ability to inhibit your response to everything around you.  Many children with attention challenges have trouble knowing how their actions affect their success or failure.   Children with these challenges often have difficulty anticipating the consequences of their actions: They often “act before they think” and are called impulsive.  Common comments from parents and teachers include:

• He does not always consider the results of his actions
• She does not plan before starting school work
• He has trouble slowing down long enough to solve problems
• She fails to recognize when makes poor choices
• He completes activities “the hard way”
• She has trouble determining time needs
• He fails to notice when others are upset
• She does not seem to notice careless work errors
• He fails to learn from mistakes
• She fails to use an approach that has worked well in the past

Children who can monitor and adjust their behavior do well in most classrooms, church services, and fancy dining experiences. In contrast, the enthusiastic, uninhibited child may be frowned upon when she has trouble sitting through many hour-long church services.

Well-meaning friends and family may suggest parenting classes not knowing the parents are doing all they can to help their enthusiastic, active child “fit” into a world that demands she “think before acting.”  As a result, parents may often find themselves apologizing to friends or even total strangers for their child’s actions after church or a long dinner at a nice restaurant.  

Inconsistency

Although not talked about as often as the “ivity-words”  (hyperactivity and impulsivity), inconsistency is a hallmark feature of attention challenges in most children with attention problems.   Family members often say the most consistent thing about children and adults with attention challenges is that we are inconsistent. Day-to-day, hour-by-hour, our attention to task can vary dramatically.  Families and educators consistently report that their child’s inconsistency is the most frustrating  challenge of all.  Common comments from parents and teachers include:

• He gets tired easily during the day
• She gets restless when needing to pay attention for long periods of time
• He has trouble finishing school work or chores
• He has trouble working on tasks that are not interesting
• She has inconsistent work habits
• She often doesn’t pay attention to school work long enough
• She doesn’t seem to “get” the concept of time and timeliness
• He pays attention to unimportant things too long (TV, video-games, action movies)
• He seems to “over-focus” on things he enjoys (sports, Legos, etc.)

Parents of children with attention challenges often complain that their child has trouble staying on-task for what seems to be an “easy” school-related tasks.  She quickly gets tired when completing a task that requires sustained mental effort. She often “runs out of steam” quickly before finishing her homework.  For example, the child who is good at math may have trouble completing the 25 – 50 math problems assigned.  After about 5 problems, he gets the concept, and the task quickly becomes boring and monotonous: it is at that moment that his energy for the task appears to “go right out the window”.  As a result, completing the remaining 20 to 45  problems becomes a conflict.  He moans, groans, whines, and complains taking far more time to complete the task than necessary.  Really, he is trying to let his parents know that he needs more structure and more flexibility when completing his homework.

Raising a child who struggles with attention challenges is a challenge!  Parents must develop understanding, creative strategies, flexibility, and a good sense of humor. Last year, this website helped over 4,000 visitors develop the skills and abilities to help their children be successful.

(c) 2009, flexiture, monte w. davenport, ph.d