Attention is a very important skill that a child needs for so many activities. From doing homework to tidying a bedroom, a child has to concentrate throughout the task to be successful. For many children, this can be quite challenging. Some children with attention difficulties may have a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder), but many will not. Many factors can influence a child’s attention, including:

• Motivation/interest
• Distractibility to information in the environment
• Lack of skill/frustration at task

A child needs to be able to concentrate for a specific period of time (3-5 minutes per age) and needs to have a good quality of attention during that time (not make too many mistakes).

Attention is a skill that occupational therapists are very experienced at improving. They have many tools to use to improve attention, many of which will be movement based activities because of the importance of sensory processing on attention. Another tool some occupational therapists may use on older children is the Interactive Metronome™ a computer based programme that improves a child’s attention.

The because of the many factors that can influence attention, it is important that the occupational therapist works as part of a team in improving a child’s attention skills.