Concentration is the be-all and end-all for learning success. Many children today are unfocused and sometimes have massive concentration problems. But right away: Not everything is equal to the attention deficit syndrome, in short also called ADS! This is very important to know. This diagnosis is simply made too quickly and too often, so please have your child tested carefully before you start any therapies. Concentration problems are very common at first. Especially when starting school, children are not yet used to sitting for a long period of time. Therefore, it makes sense to prepare the child gently for this. Even before the start of school, practice drawing a nice big picture, for example, taking your child’s time. As parents, make sure that the child sits for the same length of time as he or she will later sit in school. Explain to your child that he or she is welcome to take a fifteen-minute break afterwards, when the time is up. This way, he or she is prepared early on to have to concentrate, but also has the prospect of a break. Just like in real life.
If your child first comes to attention at school because of a concentration problem, that’s no drama either. Practice makes perfect. Above all, pay attention to fixed routines at home. Because children often don’t know what you mean when you say, for example, “Go out and play for a while and then study a bit more. Please make sure that you create fixed frameworks. This could look like this: “You can go out for another half hour, but then you will please study for another quarter of an hour. This way it is clear what is going on. The child can do something with it.
Talk to your child, no matter what age. Concentration is important at school and throughout life. Even if the school material is boring, it is still valuable. Spark healthy interest in your child and he or she will focus on school material on their own. Here you get some effective concentration exercises, which are also fun. They are also perfect as a family game.
Because, don’t forget, playing is the best way to learn:
Write mirror-inverted: The name is written completely backwards. Extension: Have short texts written backwards.
Counting letters: Select a passage from any book, or an article from a newspaper. From this text, for example, all “e” are counted. At the beginning you can carefully outline the letter with a pencil, but later please count only with your head. Extension: For example, all “e” and “u” are counted.
Let’s tell the story: How was your day? Sounds banal, but you really have to concentrate to be able to reconstruct the course of the day. Also promotes visual imagination to a great extent.
Include foreign languages: If, for example, English is being learned at the moment, it is a nice learning and concentration exercise to have the children count backwards from 100, for example. Of course in this example the whole thing in English. Extension: Counting in steps of 2, 3, 4.
Listen carefully: Turn on the radio. As soon as the speakers start talking, have them listen carefully. Then turn the radio down and have the child tell what they heard. Can become a fun game! Extension: record the broadcast! And afterwards compare exactly how much who knew about what they heard.
There are many more exercises, so come up with your own. Learning to concentrate is not that difficult. Real disturbances can be recognized when really no effort at all is fruitful. This is rare. And as I said, most of the time learning good concentration, as with almost everything, is purely a matter of training.