Attention Strategies – Keeping the Mind and Body Under Control

Excerpted from All Kinds of Minds – www.allkindsofminds.org

An excerpt from Keeping A Head in School by Dr. Mel Levine

What Can Be Done To Help People with Attention Deficits?

There is a lot that can be done to help a student overcome attentional problems. We probably can’t completely “cure” attention deficits, but we should not want to change anybody completely anyway. If we can help a student with attention deficits, he or she may have fewer problems in school, at home, and with friends. Well, how do we do it? The following material will give you some ideas.

Use Pictures to Explain Problems: First, we must tell kids with attention deficits what we know about attention deficits. In fact, this book has been written to help such students understand more about themselves and what they need to work on to improve. One way that we help students understand their attention deficits is by showing them pictures that will explain their problems to them. On page 41 you can see what we call the Concentration Cockpit. This can be used to help someone understand his or her attention deficits.

To understand how the Concentration Cockpit can help you understand your attention deficits, pretend you are the pilot of an airplane. The plane itself is like your brain. It is complicated and it is able to fly fast and far. However, in order to use all of the engines well, the airplane (like your brain) needs to be controlled by a skilled pilot in the cockpit.

If you look at the drawing of the cockpit, you will see that there are many different meters and dials that are like the controls of the brain. If you read about each one, it will sound familiar because it has to do with the different parts of attention that we have already talked about. To help a student understand his attention deficits, we review each meter and ask the student to use a pencil to draw in the dial that is about right for him. A zero is poor control; a one is a control that is not so good; a two is good control; and a three is excellent control.

Get Help from Tutors and Counselors: Sometimes a student needs help with his or her attention. A tutor or counselor of some sort can work with a boy or girl to help to improve attention. The student and the person helping him or her can play various games that teach the student to think before doing things, to work slowly, and to pay attention to important details. In other words, a student can practice concentrating. Having someone to help can make it more fun and interesting.

Help Yourself: There is a lot you can do by yourself.First, you need to recognize when you are drifting off and losing your attention. When that happens, you need to try to adjust the knobs in your brain’s “cockpit”! If being impulsive is your problem, then you will need practice planning and organizing before you do things and then working slowly. If it is self-monitoring, then you will need to practice proofreading and finding your own mistakes. If you have trouble sitting for a long time, you may need to take frequent breaks while you work. You can also practice sitting for longer and longer periods of time.
In class, it is a good idea to have a pencil in your hand most of the time. As you get older, you can take notes. If you are not yet able to take good notes, you can just write down a few important words as you hear them. You don’t even have to spell the words correctly.

Get Help from Your Teacher: It is important to try to sit as close to the teacher as possible. Sometimes you can work out an arrangement, so that the teacher signals you when you are tuned out. He or she should let you know this without the other students knowing about it. For example, the teacher might touch your shoulder when you are tuned out. It is also important for the teacher to tell you each day how your attention has been going.

Do Homework: Doing homework can be tough. Many students find that it is best for them not to work in their bedrooms. This is where they sleep, and when doing schoolwork they should try to stay awake as possible. Some students like to work on the floor of a living room, in the kitchen, or somewhere else. Sometimes kids will actually set up an office somewhere for working. Still others like to move around while they work. They like to use several different rooms or places to get work done. They need to take frequent breaks. Some students find that they hae to listen to music while they study. This, too, is okay – if it works. Music can be an extra filter to block out other distractions. But if listening to music makes concentration worse, it shouldn’t be played.

Know the Time When You Work Best: You need to find the best time for you to concentrate. Some students are most able to concentrate right after school. Others can think better in the evenings or early in the morning. you should set up a time that best fits your own attention pattern. Then you should try to work at the same time each day – even if you don’t have homework. You could be reading or writing or doing something else as an exercise to strengthen your control over attention.

Attention Strategies – Production

Excerpted from All Kinds of Minds – www.allkindsofminds.org

Production
(For an explanation of Production see the Attention: Difficulties section.)

Engage in “what if” exercises in various academic, behavioral, and social situations. An adult can provide sample questions initially, such as: “What if I only skim the chapters when I study for the test; then I…,” or “What if my best friend does not want to play with me during recess; then I…,” or “What if I called my friend (or the new kid) a mean name; then I…”

Build in planning time. Give your child five minutes of planning time before beginning an assignment. Provide guidance in effective planning when necessary.

Model planning techniques for your child by ‘thinking aloud’ while performing a task. For example, say “First I am going to circle words like ‘how many more’ or ‘are remaining’ that give me clues about the problem.” “Now I’m going to draw a picture of what’s going on in this problem to help me see the best operation I should choose.”

Use stepwise approaches. Require your child to break down tasks into parts and to write down the steps or stages. Compile steps of frequent tasks into a notebook for easy reference during work assignments.

Stress the importance of organization. Have your child preview an assignment and collect the materials she will need before starting it. Guide your child in keeping her materials and notebooks organized and easily accessible. Emphasize the positive impact that organization and preplanning will have on the completed project or assignment.

Encourage self-grading. Set a standard of work quality or criteria for success for your child to follow, and allow him to self-assess the quality of his work before turning it in. If the grade matches your child’s appraisal, give extra incentive or a reward for good self-assessment.

Provide consistent feedback. Create a feedback system so your child understands which behaviors, actions, or work products are acceptable and which are not. Use specifics to praise good work and recognize when your child uses strategies effectively. For example, “I like the way you elaborated in this description,” or, “Asking to take a break really seemed to help you come back and focus.”

Create a visual reminder to “hold that thought.” For instance, your child might draw a bulls-eye to remind her to “stay on target” or a stoplight to represent “putting on the brakes”. This strategy might keep her from commenting on the many thoughts that flow through her mind.

Discuss the lesson or assignment. Take time for your child to talk to you about the facts or skills he is learning, such as what strategies he is using to complete an activity.

>	Explore more ways to strengthen the Production Controls

Attention Strategies – Processing

Excerpted from All Kinds of Minds – www.allkindsofminds.org

Processing
(For an explanation of Processing see the Attention: Difficulties section.)

Teach scanning or skimming techniques to pull out important information efficiently. For example, first scan to get the gist. Next read carefully for detail understanding. Then skim as a quick review.

Draw focus to important information. Have your child practice underlining or highlighting key words. Use color-coding to organize key information (for example, green for main idea, red for details in reading, blue for essential information).

Provide a clear ruler to help your child keep her place while reading. If she skips a line, help her to notice that what she is reading does not make sense.

Use subvocalization. After determining a key piece of information in a lesson, have your child repeat it to himself several times under his breath. Model the strategy for him.

Connect new information to prior knowledge. Pause during the presentation of new information and ask your child how the new information relates to previously learned material or a personal experience.

Make new information relevant. Discuss how the particular topic at hand relates to real world events and how it might apply to your child.

Encourage eye contact and repetition. Have your child practice making eye contact with speakers. Remind her by pointing to your eye or quietly stating, “Look at me.” Ask your child to repeat information, explanations, and instructions. For example, have her repeat the directions that have been given for an assignment to check for understanding and retention.

Teach your child to prioritize. Have your child complete the most difficult parts of a task. Then allow him to take a break before beginning again.

Teach and model internal standards. Teach your child how to use internal dialogue, or self-talk, when she is working on tasks that are not particularly interesting or gratifying to her. Ask her to brainstorm about rewards that will motivate her to work during periods of low interest and excitement.

Reflect on successes. When your child performs well on a test or assignment, have him reflect on how he feels about his performance and the effort that he put into the preparation.

Cue children to upcoming transitions . Let your child know when a task is about to change and his focus will need to be adjusted. Say, for example, “In five minutes it will be time to put your game away and set the table for dinner.” Keep a schedule of activities for your children to refer to.

>	Explore more ideas for Strengthening the Processing Controls

Attention Strategies – Mental Energy

Excerpted from All Kinds of Minds – www.allkindsofminds.org

Strategies to Strengthen Mental Energy
(For an explanation of Mental Energy see the Attention: Difficulties section.)

Praise attention efforts. Praise and/or reward your child anytime you “catch” her attending during times when it may be hard to concentrate, such as when she is reading a book in a noisy environment.

Encourage physical activity. Physical activity helps children sustain their attention during homework and quiet times. Doodling, squeezing a ball, rolling clay, tapping a pencil, or moving to a rocking chair can be helpful activities.

Give advance notice. Tell your child in advance how long he needs to pay close attention. For instance, say to him, “during the next five minutes I want to talk to you about something really important. Then you can go back to what you were doing.

Break up studying into manageable chunks. For example, studying for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening may be more effective than studying for one hour in the evening when your child is tired.

Recommend a bedtime routine. Talk with your child about the importance of having a consistent bedtime schedule to help her get a good night’s sleep. The use of “white noise” or background noise (such as soft music) to help filters sounds that might interfere with relaxing can sometimes be helpful to children who have difficulty getting to sleep.

Provide intermittent breaks that involve physical activity during a structured homework schedule. For example, your child could be allowed a 15-30 minute break after arriving home from school, followed by 30 minutes of homework, then 15-30 minute exercise break, etc.

Help your child get started on homework. Support could include: providing the first sentence of a paragraph, starting one or more math problems, reading the first paragraph of text, and/or checking for understanding of directions.

Identify your child’s high mental effort periods. Schedule important or difficult homework tasks during these periods.

Monitor performance inconsistencies. Keep track of the factors that seem to affect your child’s mental energy. Help your child recognize the time of day and circumstances when he is most focused. Provide guidelines on how to use, as well as compensate for, these highs and lows through the day.

Use a dry-erase board to organize homework time. Help your child make a list of all the tasks she needs to complete each evening in the order she plans to complete them. She should also list the amount of time she expects each task to take and any breaks she plans to take.

>	Explore more ideas for strengthening Mental Energy

5 Simple Concentration Building Activities

As found on Ned Hallowell’s ADHD Blog: http://www.drhallowell.com/blog/category/adhd/

To read this article go to: http://empoweringparents.com/Five-Simple-Brain-Exercise-Activities-for-Your-ADHD-Child.php