Attention Skills
The ability to pay attention to a task and keep it there is known as attention. Attention can be influenced by motivation, self-esteem, sensory integration, practice, language difficulties and any existing diagnosis. Diagnosed conditions such as ADHD, Auditory Processing Disorder and Sensory Processing Disorder can often result in difficulty with attention and concentration.
How to Know If a Child or Person Has Difficulty With Attention?
A child or person with attention difficulties may:
Fail to attend to a task when required/requested to do so
Miss finer details in instructions
Make the same mistakes (due to not learning from past attention)
Find themselves unable to listen to all of the information presented or lose focus very quickly
Find it physically difficult to either calm down (as they are in a hyperactive state) or to ‘wake up’ when they appear sleepy and lethargic
Begins a task but quickly becomes distracted by something else and then ‘forgets’ to complete what was asked of them