Very Distracted Children: 9 Types Of Attention That We Must Reinforce
Very distracted children worry parents, since their ease of being distracted prevents them from focusing on the tasks that require it. This can lead to poor school performance, as these little ones have a hard time paying attention and staying focused on their homework.
In the following lines we are going to know the types of attention that exist and which one we should work on if our child is clueless or distracted. Do not miss it!
Very distracted children: types of attention
One of the most difficult functions our brain carries out is the attention process. Next, we are going to see what are the different types of care that exist and how they can be combined. Knowing this, we can help children depending on the area that needs it the most.
Divided attention
When we speak of divided attention, we refer to the ability of the brain to pay attention to various stimuli or tasks at the same time, thus responding to various demands of the environment. For example, copy from the board while listening to the teacher.
Alternating attention
Alternating attention refers to the ability that people have to change our attention focus from one task or stimulus to another and, in addition, to do it with ease. For example, while homework is being done, someone calls us to ask something, we take care of it, and when it’s done, we can get on with our homework with ease.
Selective attention
Also called focused attention , we refer to this when we are able to focus the mind on a precise task or stimulus, although other environmental stimuli are present. For example, read a story.
Sustained attention
Sustained attention is the ability to maintain attention over a period of time. For example, when we study, we hold our attention for a long period of time on the notes.
How does the attention of distracted children work?
With the different attentions seen in the previous paragraphs, the thing does not end. There are more types that can be combined with the other types of care:
- Visual and auditory attention : especially when we take into account the sensory modality.
- Open attention : we focus on the source of attention.
- Covert attention : we are doing something, but our attention is on something else. These two types of care are given above all in the motor field.
- Voluntary : we consciously direct our attention to something.
- Involuntary : we do not direct attention consciously. These last two types of attention are given if we focus on the attitude of the person.
We already know a little more about the types of care that can be given and how they are combined. So keep in mind that the ability to pay attention develops as children grow older. In addition, attention also depends on other factors such as motivation, environment, how you work, etc.
Types of attention that must be reinforced if they are very distracted children
We have already seen the different types of attention that there are, that is why it is not so easy to talk about attention if we do not know which one we are referring to. Normally, when parents worry that we have very distracted children, we are mainly concerned with their sustained and selective attention, without realizing that other types of attention are also important, such as alternating attention.
Let’s see it in an example: it would be useless to focus on a text if we cannot read it and do a job on that text at the same time. An effort should be made to improve this lack of flexibility, because it can be very problematic when we want to do tasks such as academic work.
Another attention that is very important, apart from sustained and selective attention, is divided attention, since it is necessary for our day-to-day lives. Without divided attention we would not be able to make ourselves milk and toast at the same time.
For this reason, all types of attention are important and must be worked on in children who are easily distracted. Even so, it is true that, despite the fact that sustained and selective attention are the easiest to identify by parents who worry about our child’s distractions, the reality is that you have to work on all of them.
On the types of attention to work in very distracted children …
As we have already seen, there are many types of care that exist; In very distracted children, as in the rest, it is important to detect which ones really have difficulties to work on and reinforce them.
With the information we now have, we can identify in our children the attention with which they have problems and work it with different activities. We can also contact a professional if we cannot solve this difficulty so that they can guide us on how we can work on it.
