It is so common place today for a parent to tell me that he/she believes little Johnny or little Suzy has ADD/ADHD. The child has never been diagnosed and most of the time the parent does not want the child to be medicated, so they don’t really push for a diagnosis, but they share this information with me because they see that their child has a hard time focusing and would rather play than sit still.
While I do believe there are children that are appropriately diagnosed as having ADD/ADHD, I agree that way too many children these days are over diagnosed. Having ADD/ADHD has lost the stigmatism that it used to have because so many children have been diagnosed with it. It is now common place and therefore less scary for a parent to think their child has ADD/ADHD. Again, I am saying, there are children with an appropriate diagnosis of ADD/ADHD, but most of these children are… children.
Focus skills are not just something a child is able to do by the time they are 5 years old and start school. Focus skills are learned from birth, just like everything else. There are some children that while growing up learn behaviors through seeing them done by others. If a child sees others able to focus on a task for a period of time, they mimic this ability in their play and develop their own focus skills. There are others that do not see appropriate models that are able to focus on tasks for an amount of time and therefore they learn and practice the behaviors that they see. There are other children that don’t learn through observation at all and will never learn focus skills unless they are specifically taught. All children need focus skills specifically taught to them.
Children have short focus skills when they are young because they have short memories. As their brains develop, they can be expected to focus for longer and longer amounts of time, but just as I shared in my last blog, it is important for us to know the big picture but to celebrate small accomplishments along the way.
If your child is young like my 15 month old son, I work to build his focus abilities by looking him in the eyes when I talk to him. When he sits and reads books, I compliment him. I clap for him when we play a game of ball. I celebrate the times he focuses on one task.
It’s not too late to build a student’s focusing skills at any age, even your own. For school age students, you can talk to them about what it means to focus. What does it look like? How does it make your body feel? What things should you be doing? Make a list with students and practice each piece of what it means to focus individually and all together. Remind students prior to a focusing time, especially if it is a particularly difficult time, what you discussed and practice again. In the classroom setting, walk around and praise different students for how well they are focusing and what specifically they are doing correct. Go to those students that have the most difficulty focusing first, as an early compliment might encourage them to focus a little longer than they usually do. Compliment students quietly if you don’t want to interrupt the class. Make an announcement to the class about a particular child’s well focused behavior if you see several others that are struggling and you know that won’t embarrass the child.
Your end goal expectations for each child should be the same, but your daily expectations for each student should be different. Again, one child might be able to focus for 30 minutes no problems, while another student might struggle with 5. If the student that struggles with 5 minutes is able to last 6 minutes. Take the time to make note of that with the student. Specifically praise them for their accomplishment and encourage them to keep working. They are getting better each time. “Suzy, I noticed that you have been working for 6 minutes without any distractions today. I am so proud of you. You have been working hard to learn to focus. I bet tomorrow you can focus for 7 minutes!”
It’s important to note that students often have setbacks. They might have a bad day. These setbacks can affect them in different ways. Sometimes students are able to start fresh the next day and focus for 6 minutes, while other students allow these setbacks to affect their confidence. If this is the case, it’s ok to take a few steps back to build that confidence level again. If they’re able to focus for 3 minutes today, praise them for continuing to try. When you build their confidence level back up they will quickly surpass what they were doing before.
Even children that have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD will benefit from this technique. Just because they are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, doesn’t mean they can’t pay attention. It just means, they need to be taught some specific strategies that can help them redirect their focus to what they need to do. No disability should be used an excuse.
Teacher Jen
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