by There’s a lot of talk these days about attention and concentration.
Learning disorders like ADHD seem to be ever on the rise, while many now question the effectiveness (particularly long-term) of the usual ADHD treatments. Is this “crisis of attention” due to genetics or to our increasingly hurried and distracted culture? And if environment is part of the problem, what can we as parents do to help our children focus better?
Concentration is a skill that can be improved with practice, and Montessori provides the perfect environment for that effort. Montessori children have many opportunities to practice deep concentration every day as they work with the materials. Thanks to the three-hour work period, children are able to focus on a task for as long as they wish without external interruptions. As their ability to concentrate improves, the children also develop better self-control and self-regulation, all skills that are essential to success in further schooling and life in general.
But what about at home, or in the years before a child begins preschool?
There is a strong push today for parents to spend lots of “quality time” with our children. Many of us feel like we need to be actively interacting with our children every minute we are with them (or fearing boredom we give them video or iPad games to keep them occupied). Of course, playing with our children and interacting with them is an important part of bonding and their development. But just as important is the opportunity for self-directed independent play, even at very young ages. The best way to develop focus and concentration is to practice it, and the best way to let them practice is to not interrupt children (even infants) when they are beginning to pay attention to something.
When you see your infant or toddler looking or playing intently with a toy (or photograph/kitchen utensil/bug/stick/whatever it may be that’s holding his attention), resist the urge to join in. Don’t say or do anything. It can feel almost like neglect for some of us, especially if we’re used to always playing with/entertaining our children, but really this is an amazing opportunity to bond as you observe your child and get to know them better. Watch as they focus on that item (it really is amazing to see that look of intense focus on their face!). If they need you they will let you know, but until then give them that time and space to concentrate and explore.
At first, any particular thing may only hold their attention for a few minutes at a time. Children vary in their natural “starting point” ability to focus. I remember my first son, at just a few months old, would sometimes spend up to 10-20 minutes at a time simply watching his hanging toys without needing my attention, while my second had a much harder time entertaining himself through most of his first year. But if you give them time and space without interruptions, you’ll notice these periods gradually lengthening. My zero-attention-span second baby is now a fully-mobile 14 month old who is much more interested in the world and is often content with me simply being nearby as he plays independently with the pots and pans in the kitchen. My four-year-old often plays in his room all by himself in the morning after waking up, not needing another person or gadget to entertain him for as long as an hour or more before coming out to greet us. He sometimes even gets mad at me if I try to join him before he’s done. This sort of independent, focused play is wonderful for their development and creativity, and the more they can practice it the better and easier it will become.
As an aside, I’d like to say a word here about TV/”screen” time and its effects on concentration, based on our own experiences. We do not ban TV in our home, but I have definitely noticed a need for balance.
Moderate amounts of screen time (no more than 1-2 hours a day, a few days a week) seems to work well for us without noticeable ill effects. However, if we go above that—perhaps getting up to daily watching—I notice a difference. Suddenly my 4 year old will have a much harder time playing independently, instead asking to watch TV more and more frequently as if he has a hard time thinking of other things he wants to do. When he does play it’ll be imitations of whatever show he’s been watching rather than his own creation. So I also feel that a component of fostering concentration is to limit screen time, especially at these younger ages. I can’t say what that “attention threshold” may be as I’m sure it’s different for each child—some may be able to have more screen time and others may feel the effects with less. Try to figure out what that threshold may be for your children, and stay below it. I know all too well how crucial that “TV break” can be as a parent, but if you can help your children develop their concentration so they can play independently for extended periods of time, that is a much more rewarding “break” for everyone involved.
This is such an important subject, Marcy. Parents need more encouragement and information about supporting the skill of concentration in their children. Thanks for writing this and sharing from your own personal experiences. I’ll be using this piece as a resource when I talk to our parents with children who have a difficult time focusing. There are some important things they can do and not do that can help their child and you have framed it in a very effective way.
Environment is a key component of development, to be sure, and many good points are made in this post. However, the path to self-regulation for a child with AD/HD is complex and requires a combination of strategies and a lifelong search for best practices. A good Montessori environment with supportive teachers who understand the challenges faced by a student with AD/HD can be a piece of the puzzle, but perhaps this post would be better titled as “Developing Attention and Fostering Concentration”.
Thank you, Marcy. Such an important subject! Heartbreaking to see whats happeningg to our children whether through parents’s laissez faire or misinformation or fear of their children and their friends. Decades ago when our school set strong policies about screen time, research, articles and experts were few. Now they are accelerating and proliferating. Many of our families keep children off screens altogether till they read on a third grade level, keep time to an hour combined of screen time on Fridays and Saturdays during early elementary years, two hours in upper el and so on into adolescence, during which time they burst into advanced use. Still the computer is only Keizer in the room with their parents. .
http://www.educationnews.org/parenting/julia-steiny-the-jurys-in-screen-time-hurts-little-kids/
Used in the room with their parents
Cool & great article 🙂
But though they are engaged with such, I think it’s worth a hug & a good bye before the parents off to work…
?????
Will the seconds & hug of “GoodBye be effected negative or will it be harassing ?????
Need to make sure…. Pls 😉
Olynda– You may be right. This post was meant more to address children who may be misdiagnosed with AD/HD (a not insignificant group, in my opinion) rather than those who truly do have a developmental disorder. I didn’t make that very clear in my writing, though.
Maldives– Definitely, if you are about to leave for work, etc, I feel it is important to say a proper good-bye to your children. It’s not that we need to NEVER interrupt if they’re engaged in something, but just try to allow room for their uninterrupted exploration as often as reasonably possible.
I agree with the Marianne, this is an important topic to discuss. It’s incredible to think, but so many of our actions (or inaction) contribute to the rise in inattention that we see. It is hard not to join in. I will have to pay more attention to this in the near future and see how often I am letting my son, and my play therapy clients, engage in creative independent play. Thanks for sharing!
Children are free to move about in Montessori classrooms and to work in many different positions. They are free to get a drink and to go to the bathroom. They choose their work and determine its duration. They can choose to work indoors or outdoors. The work involves large and fine motor activities. They can learn to practice maintaining focused attention for longer and longer periods of time. They learn to help one another practice extending focused attention. For details see my book, “Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1889178,00.html
I would recommend that you change the title of this article– Attention Deficit is a medical diagnosis that wrecks havoc on the families that deal with it on a daily basis. What you are talking about is increasing a child’s ability to focus and concentrate on a task, aiding a child is reaching Normalization or in current research terms “Flow”.
I am AMI Montessori trained at both the elementary and infancy levels and work as a principal at a Montessori school that serves 470 students (Primary-Upper El). I am also a mother who raised my children the Montessori way from birth and does not have a television in the house. I have supported and prepared my children in ways that allow for focus and deep concentration and attention. Yet, when my son was 4, I determined that none of this was working for him. He was diagnosed with “severe ADHD” that have “significant impacts” on his life (in all aspects). No matter how many behavioral modifications and lifestyle changes we made, medication was the ONLY option and it has been positively life changing not only for my son but for the whole family.
Thank you KM, I have worked with families with ADHD and without and your comment brings an important balance to the comments and article. As I am sure you know, there are strategies that will support children to deal with the impact that ADHD has on their lives and very often medication can be an important part of those strategies.
If the excellent ideas in the article work for your children you are blessed, and they probably don’t have ADHD!
I don’t think that you know what you are talking about.
ADHD has been researched and discussed to the nth degree by Neuropsychologists, Neurologists, psychologists and scientists the world over (including counsellers). There is no reference to any of this research in your article/blog. There are many brain science institutes around the world that all agree that ADHD is a genetic disorder. The American academy of pediatrics has successfully recently fought to get Neurofeedback onto the PBS as a treatment for ADHD. (this is a treatment based on the genetics of the brain and its platicity)
If a child without ADHD, watches too much television and is affected by too many hours in front of the screen sitting passively. Then the effect will be nothing like the 12-16 symptoms a child must exhibit to be classified to fit into the DSM iV manual definition for ADHD!
Please do not use the term ADHD lightly. Television alone is not a cause of ADHD.
On the topic of too much television to inform yourself, you should google for the UK NHS study on TV. They found no correlation. But intuitively they would restrict screen time to less than 2 hours per day. If only to ensure the child is participating in other important activities. But not because of TV itself.
See Russell Barkley for an explanation of ADHD – he has many youtube videos of him posted by others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZpF2_IelWo
I don’t think the article is denying the existence of ADHD. The understanding I got from it was more a belief in over-diagnosis of children who don’t fit the DSM4 definition of ADHD, but are simply easily distracted and/or restless. I think we can all agree that putting these children on strong drugs that they do not need because they don’t have a genetic problem is wrong.
What I understand the article to say is that, in Montessori terms, the child simply has deviations that can be normalized through, among other things, participation in a Montessori classroom, something that has been evidenced since the first Children’s House over 100 years ago. But even back then, Montessori understood that if I child was not normalizing in the classroom, then the classroom wasn’t for them and they possibly needed more directly medical attention such as medicine or non-medicinal therapy.
As for whether TV can lead to these pseudo-ADHD symptoms, I personally only know of anecdotal evidence, but I have not made an effort to examine the literature for myself.
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When my now formally diagnosed (thrice) ADHD-C / odd / cd was younger I would of given anything that he could actually be able to watch tv long enough I could even go to the toilet. We had a exercise tramp instead of a couch that he could jump on to be able to focus on the tv. It was on up to 3 hours a day but he wasnt 4 until he would watch over half a dora episode.