September 2010

Understanding Attention Problems
By: Laura Breslin
Problems with attention are real.  When ADD/ADHD first became a common label, public concern grew that too many children were diagnosed and too many prescriptions were written.  Consequently, children who were experiencing authentic ADD/ADHD might go without needed help. Children with ADD/ADHD were unfairly branded "lazy" and "careless" injuring their self-esteem.

Attention issues are not new.  The 1844 poem, "The Story of Fidgety Philip” is a clear description of a boy with ADHD!  In the agrarian culture, children were schooled for fewer hours each day and fewer months each year at home or in a one-room schoolhouse.  Keeping children outside and moving doing their “chores” was very healthy. As society became less rural, attention difficulties were more obvious and called "hyperkinesia."   As women returned to the workforce, schools scheduled longer days/years, children took part in less physical work/play, attention difficulties seemed to become epidemic. 

Homeschooling provides an opportunity to allow students who struggle with focus, more movement and hands-on learning. Parents can schedule a shorter school day, and "do school" three or four days a week as opposed to the traditional five. It is crucial for parents to understand attention problems are real. They are not a character flaw, or disobedience.

Today with PET AND SPECT scans, much is known about brain activity. For example, people without ADD/ADHD when required to concentrate, show a rise in their alpha waves (concentration waves), while their beta waves (daydreaming waves) drop. This is not so for the person with attention deficits.  The harder the person tries to concentrate, the less they are able to do so and the higher the competing, "daydreaming" forces rise. 

Parents must understand this behavior is not defiance, uncooperative or carelessness. These brain differences are now scientifically observable not determined by a child’s lack of effort. Understanding can ameliorate the frustration for both parent and child.

Parents can sometimes be resistant to any diagnosis of attention problems.  An often-heard argument is, "I just wonder if it is laziness, because he can focus on his favorite cartoons for hours, but if you ask him to complete a page of math problems or clean his room, it takes all day and involves a lot of fighting." 

There is an explanation for this behavior. Where attention problems exist, as long as an activity is: (1) novel, (2) an already-present personal interest or (3) is exciting/stimulating (alpha waves increase!), the person can concentrate well.  In fact, since there is such a huge inconsistency, a parent might see the child able to hyper-focus at such a time.  However, give him something that by definition requires attention, focus, and perseverance–if the student does not have an affinity for the activity, it is instantly and automatically much harder than for the person without such struggles. 

Parents of children who are struggling with poor attention can have healthy relationships with their children if they accept the child’s brain differences and understanding that they are not forgetful, avoiding, or resisting on purpose.

Laura Breslin is the Director of Cognitive Programs for Mindworks Learning Institute LLC, providing Learning Assessments, PACE/Master the Code training and The Listening Program. She is a homeschooling mother of six, grandmother of two who has thirty-five years of teaching experience.

Other recent articles by Mindworks Learning Institute, LLC
Working on Cognitive Skills: Processing Speed
Working on Cognitive Skills: Working Memory
Working on Cognitive Skills: Logic and Reasoning

Share