Difficulty concentrating or attention disorder?

Everyone sometimes finds it hard to concentrate; children are no different from adults, and it is not always a weak concentration necessarily an attention disorder. The latter, for example, is present when your child has problems concentrating in different situations over a longer period. A concentration weakness, on the other hand, is present when your child has problems with attention during a specific activity or only on certain occasions problems with attention has.

To find out where your child's weaknesses lie, you should wait and observe: For example, if they can sit still while eating and playing and occupy themselves with their toy for an appropriate amount of time and do not fidget restlessly in their chair, then you should not worry about an attention disorder. Different causes, such as tasks that are too difficult or a distracting environment, can be the trigger.

The signs of concentration problems vary from child to child and cannot always be immediately identified. For this reason, you should consult a doctor to determine whether and to what extent these really result from an attention disorder.

Possible symptoms include, for example:

• Forgetfulness

• Motivation problems

• Confusion

• Lack of endurance

What are the causes of concentration disorders?

Distraction: 

If too many stimuli bombard the brain at once, it quickly becomes overwhelmed. Especially children must first learn to concentrate on something specific and filter out other stimuli. A running TV or siblings playing in the background can quickly become too much during homework. But an ever-changing workspace also confuses your child's brain.

Emotions:

Between sports class, friends and school, time to relax is often far too short. But these times are important so your child can sort themselves out. Not only the body relaxes during this time, but also the mind and emotions. Feelings and thoughts that occupy your child and are not processed lead to poorer concentration.

Physical causes:

Your child's body is fully focused on growth. This can cause hormones to get out of balance. This can also affect concentration. In addition, your child needs a physical outlet to compensate for sitting still. They need to romp around properly sometimes in between in order to be able to concentrate later. Additionally, your child's muscle strength has an impact on concentration. If your child has to exert too much effort to sit upright, there isn't as much strength left to concentrate.

What helps my child with concentration problems?

Workspace and time

Children need structured routines, to orient themselves by. That gives them security and calm. For this reason, make sure that your child always learns in the same place and, if possible, at the same time. You can try together to find out when the best study time for the child is. Some can concentrate best immediately after school, others need a break and distraction first.

Support

Especially younger children often have trouble getting a overview of many details to get and then quickly get lost in them. Help your child out and make a plan together for what needs to be done when.

Practice concentration

There are books or computer learning programs with which your child can train their ability to concentrate and can learn, through play, to focus on one thing.

Breaks

Rest between work periods is important so that your child can concentrate again afterwards. It is particularly helpful if your child goes outside for fresh air in between and takes a deep breath. Oxygen literally brings a breath of fresh air to the brain and helps concentration.

Image credits

Boy sits at a table with his head resting on his arm, on school notebooks © photophonie - stock.adobe.com)

Girl sits in bed, screaming and holding her hands to her head © nuzza11 - stock.adobe.com

Little girl sits in the lotus position © Надин Стокер - stock.adobe.com