Parents and teachers can help improve children’s attention span through education, healthy diets, and adequate rest. Children with ADHD may need medication, behavior modifications, specialized learning environments, or talk therapy counseling sessions to manage their attention span issues.
Children’s attention spans are naturally shorter than adults’ attention spans, and it is generally considered important that parents and teachers play an active role in helping to improve children’s attention span. A variety of factors can affect children’s attention span. A child’s education, adequate food and rest, and impairments such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can affect a young person’s ability to pay attention.
One way to improve children’s attention span is for parents to work with their children at home. Parents can slowly expose their children to situations where they need to pay attention. Adults can teach children from an early age that it’s impolite to fidget, make noise, or engage in other distracting behaviors when a person is talking. Teachers can also help with the mission of making children more attentive by making their lessons child-friendly. Younger children, in particular, are more likely to pay attention to an interactive lesson that uses pictures and objects during a longer, lecture-like lesson.
Children’s attention span can also be affected by their daily routine and diet. Eating too many sweets can make a child hyperactive and less inclined to want to sit still and pay attention. A parent who is struggling with a toddler who isn’t paying attention should try replacing your child’s processed, sugar-filled treats with healthier snacks like sliced fruit or celery sticks. It is also crucial that children get enough sleep at night. A child who doesn’t get adequate rest is likely to be irritable and lethargic the next day, which can affect their ability to pay attention.
Some children cannot pay attention no matter how hard they try, usually due to a medical disorder. A child who struggles in school, seems consistently distracted, doesn’t seem to be learning at the same pace as their peers, and doesn’t seem to fit in for them may need to be evaluated for ADHD, a common medical problem. Once a psychiatrist diagnoses a child with ADHD, she can start treatment that will help improve her attention span.
Methylphenidate medications are available to help suppress symptoms in people with ADHD. Behavior modifications are another step in treating ADHD, because medications alone don’t always fix children’s attention span issues. Some children may need a specialized learning environment or one-on-one helper to be able to manage their schoolwork. Talk therapy counseling sessions can also be helpful for a child with ADHD.
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