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A Time on Task Incremental Program 1) Determine the average time the child can stay on task for each type of activity of interest, such as reading, doing math, paying attention to a conversation, or even watching movies. To measure the average, have the child perform the task 5 to 20 times, depending on how easy it is to get her to do that task and on how long the task itself takes. A task that takes two hours can’t be done 20 times! Indeed, the tasks you want to increase are the ones in which the child only does for a very short time. Measure from start to finish, exactly how long the child stays on task, without more than a few seconds of distraction. Keep in mind that we all get distracted for a few seconds every so often. If you expect that the child will be glued to the task, you will never get any where. We all make short breaks. If the child reads for 1 minute, lifts his eyes for 5 seconds, and continues reading for another minute, you record the two minutes If the stopping is long, and/or it makes the child forget the placement, then you record the stopping point. If you have a stop watch you will be able to measure this in precise seconds. For young children who can only attend for under two minutes, having a stopwatch to measure the time is particularly helpful. Make a list of all the recorded times. When you have at least 5 recorded times, add them all. Then, divide the total by the number of recorded times (items added from the list). That is the average time the child stays on that task. For example, if the child does the task 6 times for a total of 30 minutes, then the child pays attention for an average of 5 minutes.
2) Require that the child stays on task for a period slightly longer than his or her average. If you measured that the child could listen to an explanation for about 2 minutes average, now require that he listens for two minutes and ten seconds. The added time should not be too much more than the initial average. This lengthened time is your new criterion. When the child meets your criterion, reward him or her with some small reward he or she really likes - cheering the child’s effort normally works. Each time the child tries hard to meet the criteria or succeeds, give the child a quick break. For a 2 minute task, I give about 30 to 45 second break.. This break is ESSENTIAL in order to refresh the attention. Then have the child perform the task again.
3) Every day or every two days, have sessions to follow this procedure. During each session, record the times the child managed to stay on task. Average them again just as you did the first time; then, add the averages and divide the total by the number of recorded times. This is the new minimum paying attention time required in the next session. After each session, repeat this procedure so that the child is required to pay attention a little bit more every time. Add a few seconds more to the minimum required every time that minimum becomes easy. You know it is easy when the child can meet it almost every time. But if the child can meet it only less than half of the time, it will be very discouraging. In that case, reduce the requirement by a few seconds. Once the child is capable of concentrating for half an hour, he should be fine. Most of us have difficult concentrating for over 30 minutes any way.
4) Often, you may find that the child increases time on task and performance in your training sessions, but not when you are not there. There are several reasons for this. The main one is that the teachers may continue using methods that are totally uninteresting to the child. Observe the child at school when he or she has a problem with paying attention Watch to see what the teacher is doing when your child stops paying attention to the lesson. Is the explanation too long? Is the teacher using a droning voice? Is the teacher being impatient? Is the teacher only talking to the blackboard? In my experience, too many teachers will do any thing, rather than changing their methods. As we know, it is easier to complain, expel, drug, etc than to adapt to the child's needs. However, you will not be observing the child and teacher in order to complain to the teacher. You are there only to find out what the problem is your child is having. Once you have found out what the problem is, use some of the teacher's uninteresting methods in your sessions. You will probably notice a reduction of your child’s ability to pay attention in your training session. You must increase the child's attention time again, but using the teacher's uninteresting techniques. Remember, you will also find that many teachers are doing a wonderful job, and it is only your child that is having a problem. Your child already knows this and will be very unhappy that only he or she can’t “get it.” In this case, encourage your child. Tell him or her that we all have small things that give us trouble, and you are going to work with him or her to overcome those little things.
5) You may have to repeat the same procedure with other tasks. After the child has increased the time in which he or she concentrates in several tasks, he or she will start concentrating on most things with less difficulty.
Let’s summarize the time on task incremental program.
1) Determine the average time the child can stay on task for each type of activity of interest: a) Have the child perform the task 5 to 20 times b) When you have at least 5 recorded times, add them all. c) Divide the total by the number of recorded times.
2) Require that the child stays on task for a period slightly longer than his or her average. a) When the child pays attention for the new longer time, reward him or her with some small reward he or she really likes. b) Each time the child tries hard to meet the criteria or succeeds, give the child a quick break. Essential!
3) Repeat steps 1 and 2 in daily or every- other-day sessions until the child can attend for half an hour.
4) If the child increases time on task and performance in your training sessions, but not when you are not there observe the child at school. a) If the teacher’s methods are the problem use them during your session so your child learns to pay attention even in uninspiring circumstances. b) If the problem is only the child’s, encourage the child.
5) Repeat the procedure with other tasks.
As you have probably understood, frequently attention deficits are caused by different priorities, boredom, and despair. Children do have their own individual interests and so they simply may be interested in something other than what they are being asked to pay attention to, or are paying attention but not to the details they should be paying attention to. Boredom occurs in uninspiring environments and/or when the child already has grasped the information and is ready for new. Despair occurs when the child is required to do tasks which he or she does not have the skills to do, and so their attention lags. For some children and adults, their inability to pay attention to one specific thing is caused by their being hyperactive and needing to change tasks often and to multi-task. For some children, the lack of attention is caused by the inability to process the information fast enough to continue with the flow of the activity. In other cases, the lack of attention is caused by the inability to process the complexity of some of the information being presented. For anyone missing portions of relevant information is enough to halt their attention. Whatever causes the lack of attention, very often, the problem can be solved with the above procedures. |
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