Does your child struggle with staying focused? Does this inability to focus make your child frustrated and irritable? Are you at your wit’s end with your child’s focus issues? The solution may be simpler than you imagined.
The answer to this common problem is to take regular breaks. It is the little known strategy of many educators to break up a lesson into smaller more manageable sequences which make it a whole lot easier for the students. At the end of a each manageable chunk allow your child to take a quiet break. A break that is not stimulating in any way, you may find that afterwards they are re-energized and able to focus once again on the task at hand.
Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein, in his article for Psychology Today, writes, “This strategy is usually overlooked and underused. Distracted kids will feel more motivated by small successes versus big failures. Your child might need a break, or some help turning a big project into a series of small jobs.” When the task is presented in manageable chunks, the child can build their confidence up with tackling each chunk one at a time.
And when you give them a break make sure that the break is not too entertaining or stimulating. The child should not be allowed to play on their phones or chat extensively with other children. It should be a quiet time; a time where the children are encouraged to sit in peace or walk around the room considering things that may be on their minds.
A recent study has shown that children are not the only ones who benefit from breaks. All of us can lose focus while performing the same task for a long period of time. Psychology professor Dr. Alejandro Lleras from the University of Illinois headed the study. He claims that a drop in one’s “attention resources” is the cause of what is termed “vigilance decrement”. Vigilance decrement is the loss in focus we experience after doing a task for an extended period of time.
Llears claims, “Constant stimulation is registered by our brains as unimportant, to the point that the brain erases it from our awareness.” So the breaks help us to be more focused, it stops our brain from disengaging with the task.
Dr. Bernstein also states that, “Keeping your cool, stating clear expectations, and trying not to command these children is the formula for success.” When you can model bringing calm attention to a task, you child will also become calm. All the while don’t forget to explicitly relay the message that you believe in them and they can do this.
At Little Loudspeakers we engage your students with the calm, positive and supportive message. We break up our lessons into manageable chunks with purposeful breaks at the end of each manageable task. Build your child’s focus and self-esteem with classes at Little Loudspeakers Academy.
– Prof. Anju Vriksha