Explaining Play Attention to your child or client. Part 1: Why are we doing this?

Even children with severe attention challenges can pay attention to things they like, or activities they enjoy, or endeavors they find exciting.  Those activities are not difficult for them. But things that are lower in stimulation, like homework or classwork, are often infinitely more difficult. You can use the former to help provide a relatable reason for beginning this type of training.  The conversation may go something like this:

Parent: “You know how you really love Minecraft?  And you can play it for hours without getting bored?”

Child: “Uh huh.”

Parent: “That proves that you can concentrate really well.  I see you do it all the time! But it’s not the same as when you're trying to concentrate on your math problems, is it?”

Child: “No, because math is boring!”

Parent: “It can be, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it.  That’s where Play Attention comes in. It’s going to teach you to be able to focus just as well on your math homework, as you already can on Minecraft.  And then math won’t feel as boring or be nearly as hard. Is that something you think you’d like to be able to do?”

Obviously your own conversation won’t be verbatim, but definitely, use your own child’s “Minecraft” to demonstrate to them that they already have the ability to pay attention.  They can already do it! It’s the target that provides the difficulty. If the target is high in stimulation, like their favorite video game, (or sports program, or comic book, or television show, etc), it’s easy.  If it’s low in stimulation, it is far more challenging.  But you can learn how to do it through Play Attention.

ADDitude magazine had an excellent article describing this phenomenon. Please click here if you'd like to learn more.

Your child and clients want to be successful!  Play Attention is going to teach your child/clients the ability to direct and sustain their attention at will.