Tips for Increasing a Student's Attention Span

It's hard enough to keep a child's attention when they want to pay attention. It
can be nearly impossible to keep a child's attention when they're completely
uninterested in what you want them to focus on, or they find the task too
challenging. Nowhere is this more evident than the classroom. Young
students will fidget, play with their pencils and look at everything except the
task at hand.

Some child development experts suggest that the average child should be
able to concentrate on one task for 2-5 minutes multiplied by their age. So an
average 6-year old should be able to focus on a given task for up to 30
minutes. Of course, whether a 6-year old is able to focus 30 minutes or 12
minutes will vary by child – and of course by task. Attention span is also
elastic and will tend to wane as the school day progresses.

If you're the parent of a child, or teacher of a child, who regularly loses focus
during class, or when faced with a challenging task, the following are some
tips and strategies that can help increase attention span and improve overall
task performance.

Give kids a reason to pay attention – be creative.

For the most part, all summer long your child (or student) has been able to
pay attention to what he or she wanted with limited input from parent or
teacher. They may have had to complete a few daily chores, attend church on
Sunday, or do a little studying, but for the most part they controlled what they
would focus on and pay attention to. Now little Tommy is back in school and
can't sit still long enough to write his name, when just the day before he spent
2 hours laser focused on playing with his Lego toys. What happened? Well,
for starters playing with Legos is intrinsically motivating, where writing on a
piece of paper with a pen is not.

We suggest taking traditionally mundane and boring tasks like writing a name
on a piece of paper, or writing letters in a workbook, and getting a little
creative. Consider having your child write his name using Legos, or maybe
even Play-Doh. Instead of having your students write letters in workbooks,
have them create their own ABC book using pictures of letters they find and
cut from newspapers or magazines. A little creativity (and flexibility) will go a
long way to getting and keeping a child's attention.
Practice attentive behavior.
You'd think that paying attention is an intrinsic character of all human beings,
but it isn't. Paying attention is something that is learned. It can also be taught.
Parents and teachers should take time to teach children what it means to pay
attention and what it looks like. Throughout the day teachers should take
breaks to practice attentive behavior. Use an electronic timer, stopwatch or
hourglass and have your child or students practice focusing on an object,
discussion or other activity exclusively for just a few minutes. Then have the
students ask themselves if they were able to pay full attention during the time.
Having attention breaks where students focus on paying attention is a great
exercise that will help improve their ability to focus and attention span.

Adjust the task.

If you've tried just about everything, and you're finding that your child or
students still can't stay focused on the task at hand, you may want to break
the task down into smaller parts – ones that can be completed independent of
each other in less time. For example, if the task is to put together a visual
report about the state of Texas that includes economy, geography, culture and
history components, you may want to have the child focus on one component
at time. Only when one component is finished are instructions given for
completing the next component. Once all component parts have been
completed, instructions are then given as to how the individual parts are to be
combined to create the visual report.

It's also important to recognize that attention span for children develops at
different rates for different children. It may be necessary to adjust a task only
for certain students who have a short attention span. You may also consider
providing students who have attention deficit disorder set intervals to complete
work. For example, a student with a short attention span may be given 5
minutes to complete however much work he can. After his 5 minutes are up,
he is given a 5 minute break before focusing for another 5 minutes on
completing the task. Breaking up a task provides children struggling to pay
attention the opportunity to decompress and then re-engage with the task
feeling refreshed and renewed.
Eliminate distractions.
Education experts agree that creating the right environment fosters learning.
This holds true for both the classroom and the home. However, it's important
to strike a balance between what contributes to the learning experience
versus what distracts a child from being able to focus long enough to learn.

Children are very adept at finding enjoyment and entertainment with the
littlest, most unassuming, objects. A paperclip can quickly be turned into a
bouncy toy. A piece of paper can be rolled into a spying glass. A plastic bag
can become a balloon. At both home and at school it's important to remove
clutter and other visually enticing items from a child's direct workspace. This
gives a child less cause not to focus on the task at hand.

Designing learning friendly environments can turn dull, boring classrooms into
student-friendly havens of learning. From seating arrangements to enhanced
lighting, to creating discrete learning zones with different themes and
purposes, a learning friendly classroom can greatly enhance the learning
experience for students. However, if taken to the extreme, what started out as
a learning friendly environment can become one big distraction. Make sure, if
and when you decide to create a learning friendly classroom environment, you
don't over do it.

These days, students spend a fair amount of their time after school at home
working on projects, studying for tests, and otherwise completing homework.
Having a distraction free environment and routine is key to allowing your child
to have a productive at-home learning experience. We recommend having the
TV altogether turned off during study time. This is especially important if you
have more than one child completing homework. It's difficult for one child who
does have homework to focus when their sibling is in the next room enjoying a
popular kid's show. Remove all distractions from your child's study
environment and routine.

Turn it into a game.

There isn't much that keeps a child's attention better than a good game. The
same child that can only focus for a minute or two on math, will have no
problem staying fully engaged for 15 minutes with a game they enjoy. When
possible, and appropriate, turn a task into a game. Games are most effective
when played with other children. In a classroom setting, sometimes it's most
effective to create small groups of students who play a game together, rather
than with the entire class. For example, students can work in small groups to
complete math assignments. Each group competes against the other groups
in the class. Each student in the group is assigned a math problem. While
each student is primary responsible for completing their assigned problem, the
other students in their group can assist with the problem. The group that
finishes their math assignment first wins a prize.

Break the tasks down.

Complex tasks can become overwhelming really quickly for children,
especially for those who struggle with attention span. Breaking a task down
into smaller chunks can be an effective method for helping your child or your
students pay attention long enough to learn and make academic progress.
Students who struggle with attention often complete tasks faster when they're
broken down into many parts than if they were to try and complete the entire
task all at once.

Paying attention sounds easy. But is it really? How many times have we reprimanded
students for not paying attention?

Attention is the ability to focus on information and tasks while ignoring distractions. We
know that fluent reading requires sustained and focused attention, yet attention spans
are declining. A 2015 study by Microsoft reported that, since the year 2000, the average
attention span dropped from 12 seconds to eight seconds. Researchers theorize that a
weaker attention span may be a side effect of the mobile revolution and an increasingly
digitized lifestyle. Many of these distractions begin long before adulthood. Consider
these statistics about smartphones:

 The average age for a child to get a smartphone is 12.

 More than half of children under the age of 12 have a smartphone.
 21 percent of children under the age of eight use smartphones.
How does this impact students as they come to school? How do they feel when they
have to turn off their phones and other electronic devices and pay attention for 40, 50,
or 60 minutes at a time?

It’s virtually impossible to imagine a classroom where paying attention to the teacher for
sustained periods of time is not critical to academic success. According to
the International Listening Association, 45 percent of a student’s day is spent listening,
and students are expected to acquire 85 percent of their knowledge through listening.
Fortunately, attentional skills are amenable to training. Here are a few different ways to
increase your students’ attention spans in the classroom.

1. Practice mindfulness.
Ask students to be aware of their breathing. Sounds simple, right? But how many of us
actually take the time to notice our breathing and how we feel in each moment? Helping
students get grounded in their bodies can help with paying attention. Using an
expanding sphere ring to help students pace their breathing is a great way to calm
everyone after a strenuous activity or at the beginning of a class period.

2. Power-up the brain.

Make sure students are alert and ready to take in information. If students don’t seem ready to pay
attention, try a series of quick physical activities to help the body “wake up” so the brain better is able to
focus. Even a quick game of Simon Says can help build focus and attention without creating chaos.

3. Break tasks into smaller chunks.

Some children can’t pay attention to multi-step directions and may need tasks broken down into
individual steps. For example, instead of providing a set of several instructions at once. Instead of “Pull
out your workbook, turn to page 8, and read the passage. Then answer the questions on this worksheet
and turn it in to me for grading,” pause after each individual step and give students time to complete
that step. This helps build students’ confidence while lowering their frustration.

4. Build underlying cognitive skills.

Attention is a major cognitive skill necessary to become a successful learner. Many children who have
trouble with focus and attention don’t process information efficiently, which is an impediment to
accurate listening and reading. Neuroscience-based interventions such as the Fast ForWord program
target cognitive skills such as memory, attention, and processing speed, as well as language and reading
skills. By working from the bottom up, using the principles of neuroplasticity, this type of intervention
can remediate the underlying difficulties that keep children from paying attention and making progress.

5. Make time for recess.

Give more recess time to students, especially younger ones. Several schools have found that increasing
the amount of time for recess and unstructured play results in an increase in students’ focus, decreases
in distractions and behavioral interruptions, and improvements in test scores. While it might seem
counterproductive to add more play time to the school day given everything that students are expected
to learn, students who get more recess time have been shown to have an easier time focusing in the
classroom.

Learning of any kind requires good attention skills. When students can attend carefully to a task and
stick with it, they understand more. They ignore distractions. They don’t become frustrated or lose
interest. They don’t disrupt others’ learning. When students pay attention, teachers can focus on
teaching and students can focus on learning. That’s a win-win in anyone’s book!

PROFESSIONALS

No matter your line of work, a short attention span can be deeply problematic.

Imagine a situation in which your boss is outlining expectations for a new project, and your
mind is wandering the whole time, causing you to miss key information and potentially
underperform. Or, imagine a meeting with a client or customer in which you have a hard
time focusing on the conversation at hand, preventing you from delivering personalized
results. Such episodes are far from unlikely, especially with studies showing us that the
human attention span has fallen from 12 seconds to eight seconds just since the year 2000.

Even if your job is mostly solitary and involves solo work at a computer, a short attention
span may prevent you from being as efficient, as productive or as judicious with your time
as you could be.

Short attention spans are often associated with children, but the reality is that many working
professionals suffer from attention deficits. A number of physical and mental health issues
can contribute to abbreviated attention spans, including poor diet, lack of exercise, and
conditions such as depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Practicing Meditation
Practicing meditation can yield many mental health benefits. One such benefit is an
increased attention span. For those who are inexperienced in meditation, it’s important to
familiarize yourself with a few key concepts and strategies.

The Benefits of Meditation for Focus and Attention

Researchers have long confirmed the attention-boosting value of meditation. A study
published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience notes that meditation training “improves
executive attention,” even without a long-term commitment. Brief meditation sessions can
have a demonstrable effect on improving attention spans.
Just as a session with free weights can help develop and tone muscles, a brief meditation
session trains the mind to stay at attention by building resilience and discipline.
 Meditation Tricks and Strategies
For those who have never meditated before, it may seem a little strange. Where to begin? A
good place to start is by taking a moment for meditation before tackling any new task. Close
your eyes, slow your breathing, and count your breaths. Simply concentrate on your breath
going in

and out, your lungs contracting and expanding. Even three or four minutes of this can
prepare your attention for the task at hand.

An alternative is to let your senses guide you. Take a few moments to be still and to focus
on sensory input all around you. What do you hear? What do you feel?

Finally, look for ways to fold small acts of meditative awareness into your day. This is a form
of meditation you can practice almost anywhere. For example, at your lunch hour, take just
a few seconds to actively consider the texture of your food, the air around you, and the taste
of what’s in your mouth.

Meditation Digital Resources

As you look for more guidance on how to increase attention span through meditation,
consider these resources.

Approaches to Improve Attention

Span
Meditation is one answer to the question of how to increase attention span, but there are a
number of approaches to consider. Here, the important thing to remember is that there isn’t
necessarily one answer for everyone. Rather, it’s important to find the daily routines,
including both mental and physical exercises, that work for you.

Practicing Attentive Listening

One way you can stretch and hone your attention span is to practice active, attentive
listening. This helps focus the mind’s ability to receive and absorb information. The results
may be evident in your improved ability to listen to your boss, clients or coworkers.

Some tips to practice attentive listening include:

 Practice “whole body listening.” The next time you’re in a meeting or a conversation,
make an effort to keep your body language still and controlled.
 Challenge yourself to listen without interrupting. Focus on what the other person is
saying, not just on what you’re going to reply.
 Spend time just listening to something. Devote half an hour to sitting and absorbing
either a piece of music or a podcast, without a TV, tablet or phone anywhere nearby.
 Devoting More Time to Reading
Another way to hone your mind’s ability to concentrate is by attentive reading. There aren’t
necessarily any “tricks” to it beyond carving out time every day to read. Develop a routine of
20 to 30 minutes of reading during your lunch break, before work or before bed.

Muscle Relaxation Techniques

One other way to increase your attention span is to get moderate levels of exercise.
Physical activity has been proven to improve cognitive control, and there are a number of
ways to pursue this kind of exercise:

 Go jogging
 Ride your bicycle
 Take a brisk walk around your neighborhood

Reducing Distractions
Improving your attention span requires you to improve your mental clarity and focus. It’s
also important to remove any needless distractions. Create a work environment in which
you don’t have a million things competing for your attention.

Focus on Single Tasks

While there are many who think they can capably multitask, this is actually a cognitive
impossibility. The brain can’t handle multiple tasks at once, but rather it switches rapidly
between them. Trying to do many things at the same time puts an undue strain on the brain,
which can result in you getting tired more easily or doing sloppy work. Monotasking is really
the only way to use your attention span effectively.

Maintain a Planner and Work Calendar

Similarly, avoid forcing your mind to strain in an effort to remember appointments or other
priorities. Instead, use a planner or work calendar for your scheduling, freeing your mind to
focus on the task at hand.

Limit Social Media Usage and Discussions

Give yourself at least a few hours each day where you turn off notifications, minimize your
social media windows, and place your phone in silent mode. Use these uninterrupted blocks
of work time to be creative and productive, as opposed to being swept up in conversations.

More Resources to Help You Relax

Also, take note of these additional resources.