We've both had some experience with this. Vicki, I know you have. How do you improve
a child's concentration? We'll get into that. We've got a number of ideas for you.
First, maybe a disclaimer. Concentration can be affected by a lot of different
factors. -And it's kind of hard to figure out just what's affecting your own child.
-It really can be. And we're going to share some ideas with you. Be open to any
of these ideas but also be open to some other solutions. Sometimes you need to
get a little extra help. I've felt as a psychologist working primarily with
children and families that we tend to over diagnose conditions like ADHD for
example. Sometimes when a child is having a hard time concentrating, it's really
easy to jump to the diagnosis. Well, it may or may not be a true diagnosis of
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. So, let's just put that on a shelf for a
little while while we talk about different ways to improve a child's
concentration. And then we'll remain open to the possibility. Maybe there's
something else going on there. -Right. -So, before we leave that topic, Vicki, I know
you've encountered this as you work to the people in the schools as well. Have
you seen some resistance sometimes? -Yeah. Sometimes parents just a really against
putting their kids on any medication. And I understand the caution of that. However,
if you've tried to manipulate the environment and you've implemented a lot
of other strategies and haven't seen the progress you were hoping to see, it is a
very valuable option to consider medication. It's kind of like the
difference between... You know, if I need glasses it doesn't matter how much
harder I squint. I need the glasses, I need the glasses. So,
I'm not going to see better just because I'm squinting harder. And so, there are
times when medication is the answer. I think it's great to really explore as
many options and natural options as you can. Then some of those factors are sleep,
diet and exercise. -Right. Just taking care of the body. -Right.
-And we've seen through research and just practical experience with kids that
sometimes what they're eating can have a big impact on their behavior. Too much
sugar, high in carbs. Those kinds of things tend to give an energy rush to
the body without providing really sustaining nutritional value. And so, if
your kids eating a lot of high sugar, high carbohydrate kind of things, you
might see a little less ability to concentrate and that's something that
could be addressed through the diet. But also like you said, exercise, making sure
that you get enough sleep. This is what we refer to as brain maintenance. -Right.
-And quite frankly... Vicki, when we were talking about the medication earlier, the
medication of choice for a true attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
is stimulant medication. That doesn't make sense to a lot of parents.
"Stimulants? What the heck?" But really there's a lot of reasons
why that is the case. And we found that if it's not properly treated, it can lead
to further risk factors in the future. Especially as they get into their
adolescence and teenage years. We find a higher incidence of drug use for example.
-Yeah. It's kind of a self medication because they know they're not
concentrating. You don't they can concentrate better when they're
stimulated. So, then if we're not providing them the right medications,
they'll often self-medicate. -Right. Now, usually when people find this kind of a
video, they're looking for, "Okay, how do I help my kid with concentration in some
particular context?" For example, doing homework. -Right. -Or fulfilling assignments
or paying attention to a task. And it's very contextual. So, there's a lot of
environmental factors that contribute to that. Vicki, I know you've worked with
some parents who didn't even realize that "Maybe I should turn off the TV". -When
your child is doing homework, you want to set them up for success. -Yeah.
-Right? -So, you're going to reduce as much of the noise around them. And I'm talking busyness
noise as well. So, maybe a quieter place. I have seen a lot of children have a lot
of success using sound-canceling headphones. -Yes. -That's very helpful. So,
turn off the music. -There's also visual noise, VIcki. -Yeah.
-And by that, I mean is there a lot of things going on visually? Having the TV
off is a really strategic move for you. Because even if it's muted or even if
it's low in volume, there's this visual noise. We go after the restaurant
sometimes. Do you remember the one that we like to last week? And there were TVs
literally every 3 feet on the wall there was another TV. And there were
sports going on and infomercials and just all this visual distraction even
though there wasn't any noise. -Right. -If you're putting your child in front of a
big picture window for example and there's kids out there playing in the
cul-de-sac and there's there's birds flying by, and squirrels
running fast. Squirrels. Just be aware of that. It might be better to position the
child's study area in a place that doesn't have that kind of visual
distraction. Maybe something that's a little more muted would help them with
their concentration. This is very practical. -Yeah. We said to reduce sound
distraction but sometimes classical music playing softly in the background
could actually help them concentrate. So, do consider baroque period music. The
research has shown it to be very helpful for concentration and completing a task.
-This actually ties into brain studies that have been done. It stimulates
different brain waves in different kinds of music have different effects. -Right.
You mentioned baroque also some of the classical or Romantic period music. The
stuff kids would normally choose to listen to. And it's stuff that does not
have words attached to it as well. It's just the music. And so you can experiment
with that a little bit as well. We also want to create a contextual environment
that is brain friendly. Have you noticed, Vicki when you're doing a
task and trying to concentrate for a long period of time, it gets harder as
you go on? -Right. -So, give time for breaks. -And you know your child. You might
need to be more frequent with your breaks for one child than you do
the next child. -And during the break, we want to be doing things that stimulate
brain activity. Taking a complete break from the material that they're
concentrating on and getting physically active will help them to concentrate
more when they come back to the task. So, keep that in mind as well.
Breaks with physical activity. -A really great strategy for timing the breaks is
to use some sort of visual schedule. And that helps the children a lot of the
times know how long they're going to be concentrating? When the break is coming
up? What are the next steps I have to do? It just helps to give them chunks. So
you're taking the task in chunks. And it helps kids concentrate during the
chunk. -Vicki, when you say a visual cue, what are you referring to them? -Like
maybe there'll be a picture or you might write it up on a board. Say, "From 2:00 to
2:15 ,you're going to be working on math homework." That's sort of thing. Then we're
going to have a break. We're going to have a snack. -And it could be an actual physical
timer then too. -Yeah. -That shows how much time is remaining in the break or
whatever. -Yeah. And I've seen a lot of kids responding really well to timers.
-Yes. -Especially the ones that countdown. They like those. -You know, any time we get
into this discussion about how do I help my kid to concentrate more, that's always
based on the parents' motivation to help them concentrate. I think it's
helpful to go down to their level. So, just put yourself in the kids head for a
minute. Why should they concentrate? Yeah. You've got10 reasons as a parent why
this would be important. But they might not have a single good reason to do it.
So, we have to help provide those reasons for them.
We've got other videos here about consequences and the use of effective
and positive consequences. All that does really is give them a good reason to
concentrate. And you may need to do some behavioral planning with some effective
consequences that allows you to assist them in their
concentration. -If you enjoyed this video, look at the next video coming up which
is how to get kids to focus better. -And we're here to support you in your
positive parenting. The very first step to that is to get a copy of this book.
Being positive isn't the core of positive parenting. And we'll start you
off by giving you a free copy of this book. You picked up the shipping, we'll
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