9 Types Of Attention You Should Strengthen In Children

It can worry parents to have children who are very easily distracted, as their lack of attention prevents them from focusing on certain tasks. This can lead to them performing poorly in school, as they have difficulty paying attention and staying focused on their school work. In the following article, we will look at the different types of attention available.

We will also go into what you as a parent should work with if your child seems to be absent or very easily distracted. Do not miss this article!

Different types of attention to identify in children

One of the most difficult functions that our brain can perform is the attention process. Below we will look at the different types of attention that exist and how they can be combined. By knowing this, we can help individual children depending on which area they need the most support in.

Shared attention

When we talk about shared attention, we refer to the brain’s ability to be aware of several stimuli or tasks at the same time and thus respond to different demands from the environment. For example, writing what is on the board while listening to the teacher.

Changing attention

Changing, or alternating, attention refers to the capacity we have to shift the focus of our attention from one task or stimulus to another. And to also do this in a smooth and easy way. Take for example that someone calls you when you are sitting and performing a task to ask you something. You take the call and when you are done, you continue with your tasks with ease.

Selective attention

Also called focused attention. This is when we can focus our attention on an exact task or stimulus, even when other environmental stimuli are present. For example, reading a story in a noisy place.

Continuous attention

Continuous attention is the ability to maintain our attention over a slightly longer period of time. When you study, for example, you keep your attention focused on the material and your notes for a long time.

How does our attention work?

The different types of attention mentioned above do not tell the whole story. There are more types that can be combined with other types of attention:

• Visual and auditory attention: Specifically when we take into account the sensory modality.
• Open attention: When we focus on the source of our attention.

• Hidden attention: We perform a task, but our attention is focused on something else. These two types of attention are most common in motor areas.
• Volunteer: We consciously turn our attention to something.
• Involuntary: We do not consciously direct our attention. We can categorize these last two types of attention if we focus on the person’s attitude.

Now that we have addressed some of the types of attention that can occur and how they can be combined, we should also note that the ability to pay attention develops as children grow up. In addition, the attention also depends on other factors such as motivation, environment, how the child works, etc.

Types of attention you should reinforce in children who are very easily distracted

We have now looked at a few different types of attention, because it is not so easy to talk about attention if we do not know what type we are referring to. In ordinary cases, when parents worry about their very easily distracted children, we focus mainly on their continuous and selective attention, without realizing that the other types of attention are also important, such as changing attention.

Let’s look at an example: It is not effective to focus on a text if we cannot read it and work with the text at the same time. We should help the child train to improve this lack of flexibility. If we do not practice this ability, it can cause problems when the child wants to perform more complex tasks, such as writing an essay.

Another type of attention that is very important, in addition to continuous and selective attention, is shared attention, as this type is necessary in many situations in our daily lives. Without shared attention, we would not be able to pour a glass of milk and toast at the same time.

For this reason, all types of attention are important. We must take them all into account when trying to help children who are easily distracted. It is true that continuous and selective attention is easiest to identify for parents who are concerned about their children’s inability to focus. However, the truth is that we need to work with all types.

About working with different types of attention…

As we can see in this article, there are many types of attention. In very easily distracted children, it is important to discover what kind of attention they really have a hard time working with and reinforce it or them.

With the information we now have, we can more easily identify our children’s attention problems. This helps us to be able to strengthen specific abilities with different activities.

It is also important to realize if our child needs more help than we can give them. We can then contact a specialist in the field. This specialist can guide us on how to deal with the problem and improve the situation for our child.