Improving Focus And Concentration

[Funz]

hardworking_mom:

Actually I find that when my boy attention and focus runs out after an hour of work, I need to switch to do other things before returning and continuing. Else he starts to throw tantrums and refuses to cooperate. Once he is in the wrong mood, it is hard to continue. No scolding or punishing him works. It is wasting our time. So sometimes I wonder if he misses what the teacher says if he is no longer focusing. And I need to think of ways to 'extend' his attention span and focus. Else he has limited time to finish his homework, no need to think of doing additional work(enrichment class) when he can't complete his own school work. I wonder if I am the only one having such problem...... :?

1 hour of continuous work for a young kid is actually pretty long. I am assuming that you are referring to sit down written kinda work.

In school, it is different. In that 1 period, the children are doing may different stuff. Teacher explaining, discussions, reading, hands on activities, reflection, then written work. According to DD, the written work portion is usually only the last 10mins or so.

[Luvkid]

lovekidsverymuch:

....... for me he will sit for 15 mins then say wanna go toilet or drink water etc etc

same here.....to DS1 After \"working\" for 15 min or so, \"i want to pass motion, pass urine, drink water.....\" :rant: Before \"working\" together, he will just jolly well idling, play with DS2, BUT did not carry out pass motion, pass urine, drink water..... :rant:

[mrswongtuition]

jesschan:

Through some chit-chats with my boy, I realise that this teacher is special because she answers all the children's questions unlike many other teachers who simply brush them off. And she is very generous with praise and rewards for any child who does well. Hence, the children including the \"naughty\" but bright ones will try hard to behave well in her class. Just some food for thought for teachers reading this forum...

Not all teachers are generous with praise because some of them grew up in an environment void of praise and it feels 'unnatural' for them to praise the kids for even the smallest effort. I know of teachers who make effort to praise, but their praises sound so 'half-hearted'.

I grew up with lots of praises (thanks to my highly educated aunt who told my parents that kids thrive on praise & rewards). My aunt even praises me when I flush the toilet and wash my hands when I was in Primary school. Imagine how good it felt!

I love praising the kids because you can see the pride in their attitude after that. They'll take more pride in their behaviour and work.

Not only teachers, parents must also be generous with praise. Work may not be well-done or up to expectations, but if effort is put in, praise is definitely due

[Luvkid]

lovekidsverymuch:

..............Yeah same here same here.... difference between my DS1 and DS2 is also 4 yrs :celebrate:

:celebrate: LKVM. And do u notice our nick is almost like \"TWIN\"??
In another 2 or 3 decades, we MIGHT be MIL to someone else daughters :evil: We will be understanding & reasonable MIL?? :?

Cheers!! :celebrate: Have a good day ahead!

[atrecord]

I didn’t imagine that DD who went to P1 this year, would fare so badly in class. While she would do ok for the spelling and 听写 as DW and sometimes myself would coach her on them, she just showed us last Fri that she scored only 11.5 out of 60 for a test…


Basically, we find the problem being two-fold:

1) She has extremely poor focus and concentration span, and would not focus on what she is supposed to be doing: when telling her story, she would be distracted by the TV; when playing PC, she will be looking at DS (2 yr younger) who is playing with his toys; when eating, she would take her time even after DS, who eats more, has finished brushing his teeth and starts bathing; when it comes to bed-time, she would take close to an hour to get to sleep… and the list goes on.

2) We sent her to a CCC which did not give much emphasis to academic preparation, but adopts this Waldof approach, which stress on developing the self-esteem of the kids, so they were playing, singing, telling stories most of the time. As a result, her English is quite poor and she cannot understand what the test paper asks of the students, so did terribly.


DW has tried coaching her closely these last few days, and is at her wits’ end, as DD cannot pay attention for long, and will throw tantrums when she feels uncomfortable as DW loses patience due to her (DD) not paying attention. This is made worse when she could not follow/learn and do the tasks as taught, and she’ll shut off…


we are thinking of sending her to tuition to try out. Hopefully a group setting will pressure her into paying more attention. the first to try out is English tuition.

Does anyone have any good recommendation on good English tuition centres near to Serangoon?

Has anyone tried or heard of Morris Allan? Is it any good?

tks…

[MMM]

atrecord:

1) She has extremely poor focus and concentration span, and would not focus on what she is supposed to be doing: when telling her story, she would be distracted by the TV

Hi Atrecord, Good to see you again after NEasterner tread.

If you observe the distraction, does it help if your DW could read to her in a quiet place free from TV and other stuff? Also keep it short and make sure the story is interesting for her. Gradually try to increase the length. I am not sure about your TV rules at home. I would usually ensure that the kids are far away from TV distraction when doing homework or study. We would switch off the tv (especially if it is not PILs that are watching).

atrecord:

As a result, her English is quite poor and she cannot understand what the test paper asks of the students, so did terribly.

Is she able to read independently? It appears that she might not be able to do hence she is unable to understand the paper? Did the teacher have any feedback eg. does the school have learning support program that you can put her on? My niece who didn't learn phonics had the same issue when she entered P1. Was put on learning support and now she is doing fine at P3. But of course depending on school only might not be sufficient, so you probably need to provide more home support.

atrecord:

DW has tried coaching her closely these last few days, and is at her wits' end, as DD cannot pay attention for long, and will throw tantrums when she feels uncomfortable as DW loses patience due to her (DD) not paying attention. This is made worse when she could not follow/learn and do the tasks as taught, and she'll shut off....

I think it's important to set realistic expectations. The child will not be able to change after coaching for few days. I also observed that children strive on consistency and discipline. So probably get your DW or yourself to set a time everyday to sit down with her to revise,etc.... I implemented this for my kids last year. It was a big challenge for all of us initially but they gradually get used to it. Eg. no shopping/tv time for mummy & daddy after work and for the kids no channel 8 drama in the evening. Probably you could take turns with your DW. If you DW is a FTWM, it's frustrating actually as after work, still must come home to face a child who don't listen to her. It's just frustrating so this led her to lose patience. It's the same for me too. So daddy do need to take over sometimes.

[mummy of 2]

[quote="MMM]I also observed that children strive on consistency and discipline. So probably get your DW or yourself to set a time everyday to sit down with her to revise,etc… I implemented this for my kids last year. It was a big challenge for all of us initially but they gradually get used to it. Eg. no shopping/tv time for mummy & daddy after work and for the kids no channel 8 drama in the evening. Probably you could take turns with your DW. If you DW is a FTWM, it’s frustrating actually as after work, still must come home to face a child who don’t listen to her. It’s just frustrating so this led her to lose patience. It’s the same for me too. So daddy do need to take over sometimes.[quote="MMM]


I agree. I started setting aside time after dinner to do work with DS1. At first he was easily distracted and I was quite frustrated. Over time he became used to this routine and his concentration improved. I noticed this after a period when DH took over coaching as things were mad at work. He’s so used to it now that he would remind us if we do not ask him to take out his books to do work. There was once I worked late and DH was also not at hone to coach him. He suddenly said He hasn’t doen his work for the day. I said it’s ok, since it’s quite late, we can do more the next day. He refused, and insisted that we must do it. So i told him we will do less. Setting a routine is important and will take time. So do persevere.

[MMM]

mummy of 2:

I agree. I started setting aside time after dinner to do work with DS1. At first he was easily distracted and I was quite frustrated. Over time he became used to this routine and his concentration improved. I noticed this after a period when DH took over coaching as things were mad at work. He's so used to it now that he would remind us if we do not ask him to take out his books to do work. There was once I worked late and DH was also not at hone to coach him. He suddenly said He hasn't doen his work for the day. I said it's ok, since it's quite late, we can do more the next day. He refused, and insisted that we must do it. So i told him we will do less. Setting a routine is important and will take time. So do persevere.

Yes, this is so true. The same applies to my kids. If we are not home by 8pm. I will receive a phone call from them asking what should they do today besides their homework. It becomes a routine that they are so used to. They also stopped having \"withdrawal sympton\" for tv programs.

This week is school hols and they are packed off to my mum's place on sunday and back tonight. So hubby and me had time to go for dinner and shopping yesterday. Very basic thing in life but due to focus on the children, we weren't able to do it as much as we like to as we need to be home by 7.30pm everyday. It was funny.... when he fetched me from work, we were like... where should we go today???? Suddenly we were aimless as we didn't have the 7.30pm target to meet :lol: We also enjoyed watching TV. I really LOVE school hols :lol:

But on a serious note, I believe that our efforts will not go to waste if we ourselves are discipline to do that. The kids can see how committed we are in their studies. I told hubby just yesterday that I hope with all our efforts, they will be successful one day. If they don't, at least we've tried our best. I don't want to be in a position whereby they don't do well and that's because we didn't try our best and put in our effort. Over the weekends, I also come to a conclusion on what I want in life.... The children's future success are more important than mine.

[mummy of 2]

[quote=\"MMM]But on a serious note, I believe that our efforts will not go to waste if we ourselves are discipline to do that. The kids can see how committed we are in their studies. I told hubby just yesterday that I hope with all our efforts, they will be successful one day. If they don't, at least we've tried our best. I don't want to be in a position whereby they don't do well and that's because we didn't try our best and put in our effort. Over the weekends, I also come to a conclusion on what I want in life.... The children's future success are more important than mine.[/quote]


Totally agree I think they do sense our interest in their learning. It may not bre restricted to only school work but other areas of learning. DS1 can tell me he likes to do Chinese as he knows how to write charcters. I can see that he derives pride from his ability and accomplishments. That makes all my scarifice worthwhile.

[atrecord]

MMM:

Hi Atrecord, Good to see you again after NEasterner tread.

Yup, hi there again.

MMM:

If you observe the distraction, does it help if your DW could read to her in a quiet place free from TV and other stuff? Also keep it short and make sure the story is interesting for her. Gradually try to increase the length. I am not sure about your TV rules at home. I would usually ensure that the kids are far away from TV distraction when doing homework or study. We would switch off the tv (especially if it is not PILs that are watching).

Well, she would basically find other things to distract herself from the main objective, like play with her clothes, or stationery, the table, chair, etc...

MMM:

Is she able to read independently? It appears that she might not be able to do hence she is unable to understand the paper? Did the teacher have any feedback eg. does the school have learning support program that you can put her on? My niece who didn't learn phonics had the same issue when she entered P1. Was put on learning support and now she is doing fine at P3. But of course depending on school only might not be sufficient, so you probably need to provide more home support.

Indeed she might not be able to read, so can't do the paper. The problem is she doesn't pay attention and so will be slower than most in learning the words... I'll check on whether the school has any learning support.

MMM:

I think it's important to set realistic expectations. The child will not be able to change after coaching for few days. I also observed that children strive on consistency and discipline. So probably get your DW or yourself to set a time everyday to sit down with her to revise,etc.... I implemented this for my kids last year. It was a big challenge for all of us initially but they gradually get used to it. Eg. no shopping/tv time for mummy & daddy after work and for the kids no channel 8 drama in the evening. Probably you could take turns with your DW. If you DW is a FTWM, it's frustrating actually as after work, still must come home to face a child who don't listen to her. It's just frustrating so this led her to lose patience. It's the same for me too. So daddy do need to take over sometimes.

ok. we'll try out for the whole of this week, to see whether there is at least some signs of improvement. yup, DW is working too, so i do take turns with her sometimes...

we're quite helpless about the situation, as DS is much more focused in comparison, in everything in fact.

And we thought previously that DD was a faster learner than DS, who initially refused to learn writing. He threw tantrums whenever we made him write the alphabets, which DD was able to do so much better when she started.