What to Do When You Have a Very Short Attention Span
Although some of this will be similar to my post on the child’s need to move, a short attention span is different. A child needing only movement can still stay on task as long as they can fidget a bit.
What I have done with my children:
- I ALWAYS begin with diet. Always.
Many times, the inability to focus is the result of consuming fake food-like products. The statistics are high for children who react to the various food dyes. I’ve shared about this topic before.
To heal the brain, we must first heal the gut.
- Break up the activities while staying on the same subject.
For example:
I like starting with some timed drills for 1-2 minutes on math.
Then the child can work on a file folder game.
Or play a board or card game using numbers.
Or color a picture that requires math computation to know the color to use.
For a young child, math should not take longer than 15 – 20 minutes. So varying the activity every 5 minutes will not require too much.
Sometimes, a parent can choose certain days for specific activities.
Monday for building something using math computation.
Tuesday for file folder games.
Wednesday for board/card games.
Thursday for assessment activities (not necessarily on paper).
One game I played with my students was to bounce a ball to each other in a circle. The student would have to answer.
This could be used for math practice or grammar.
- Use your child’s interests to teach the subject.
This was a game changer for my son. Children tend to focus for longer periods of time if the subject is interesting to them.
Keeping a child on task takes some planning, but it can be done. I’ve shared about my card reward system before. Combining the cards and the steps here can help lessen stress for both the parent and the child.
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