Poor concentration

[Foogirl]

Abby is loving school and so far it seems to be going well, but I'm concerned about her concentration.

I watched her at Rainbows the other day, there was a colouring in task. She started well but spent most of the allocated time looking around at the other children, watching what they were doing instead of working on her own thing. as a result, one of the leaders had to help her finish. The other children were complaining that she was hogging the red pen and they couldn't use it. She mentioned the teacher at school had to tell her to hurry up with a colouring in task.

She is only five and I know will mature, but she's been like this from the day she was born and I'm worried if it doesn't get better she won't achieve her potential at school. The is a bright, articulate child and could do really well. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on things we can do to help improve her concentration.

 

[rosie272]

Does she like jigsaw puzzles or memory games like snap or match the cards? I've found with Charlie (who doesn't have the best attention span at times) that doing a jigsaw or playing a game with an outcome (ie a finished puzzle) really helps him to concentrate. My thinking is that at 5 and just started school, it's quite a big task learning to concentrate! We have parents evening next week and I'm fully expecting to be told about his concentration levels (and chatterbox tendencies). There's quite a few good apps with matching and memory games if you're willing to try that? As for other kids saying she's hogging the pen, then they still have patience to learn!

 

[Foogirl]

Does she like jigsaw puzzles or memory games like snap or match the cards? I've found with Charlie (who doesn't have the best attention span at times) that doing a jigsaw or playing a game with an outcome (ie a finished puzzle) really helps him to concentrate. My thinking is that at 5 and just started school, it's quite a big task learning to concentrate! We have parents evening next week and I'm fully expecting to be told about his concentration levels (and chatterbox tendencies). There's quite a few good apps with matching and memory games if you're willing to try that? As for other kids saying she's hogging the pen, then they still have patience to learn!

Patience yes, but asking five and six year olds to wait 30 minutes was a big ask

I know she is young yet, but it's been there from the start, I worry we won't get her out of it. She can't do jigsaws because of her CP but I will try the other suggestions. I might start setting a timer for tasks too.

 

[OmarsMum]

Other than doing a task, how is she in class? Does she concentrate when they teach them something? Omar is more interested in what's going around , he notices small details which distract him from completing something he's not so into it. If he's doing something challenging according to his standards he gets fully accupied & he gives it full attention.

 

[Foogirl]

I haven't spoken to the teacher yet so I'm not sure generally, although I know she's been told once to hurry up. She did complain about the amount of colouring in she has to do so maybe it is a bit of boredom.

 

[WW1]

Rebecca is exactly the same so I watch this thread with interest. Getting her to do her first ever homework assignment was a challenge that's for sure!

 

[lindseymw]

I would have a chat with her teacher and see if they have any concerns first.

Joshua is a swine for lack of concentration at home. Whatever activity he is doing, it's generally about 5th on his list of priorities. Swimming lessons are the worst, he usually doesn't listen to the teacher, dunks his head under the water, plays with the floats, splashes the other kids.....but he can swim perfectly fine (without armbands) when he actually concentrates on swimming!

At School he is fine however. They are able to keep him engaged for long enough. I have noticed a difference in is concentration since he started School (last year) and this year, albeit a small improvement!

 

[RachA]

It will be interesting to hear what her teacher says about her generally. It may be that she's bored of colouring and therefore doesn't concentrate.

My son is very bad at concentration. At 7 it's still a big challenge getting his homework done.
We've found that he will quite often work slowly but when he does he gets much more right than if we try to speed him up.

I think it will come over time so don't push it but encourage her with games like PP wrote.

 

[missbabypo]

My son can be like this but only with colouring/drawing. He absolutely hates it. He will take ages and then just start writing numbers or reading something instead. I was worried until I realised it was purely that he hated drawing lol x