Resources for Workshop: How Can I Teach My Distracted Child to Focus?

As parents, we want our children to thrive in their learning environments, but distractions can make it feel like an uphill battle. If you’ve ever struggled to get your child to stay on task, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there are ways to support focus and learning without resorting to medication. At The Learning Gardens, we believe that understanding how children process information is key to improving their attention and cognitive skills.

In our recent convention workshop, How Can I Teach My Distracted Child to Focus: Alternatives to Medication, we explored practical strategies for helping distracted children build focus and self-regulation skills. Below, we’ve outlined key takeaways from the session and provided access to the workshop slides and handouts.

Understanding How the Brain Learns

One of the most important insights from our workshop is that focus is a skill that can be developed. Using frameworks from Dr. Reuven Feuerstein, like Mediated Learning, the Three Phases of Thinking, and the Cognitive Functions, we can better understand how children receive, process, and express information. These phases are:

1. Input: How a child takes in information (visual, auditory, written, spatial, etc.)

2. Elaboration: How a child organizes and processes that information

3. Output: How a child expresses what they have learned

Many children who struggle with attention and focus have difficulty in one or more of these phases. By identifying where the breakdown occurs, we can implement targeted strategies to improve learning and retention.

Practical Strategies for Improving Focus

Here are some of the techniques we discussed in the workshop:

• Adjusting Information Formats: Some children struggle with auditory instructions but do well with written or visual cues. Experimenting with different presentation methods can help children engage with learning more effectively.

• Breaking Tasks into Small Steps: Large assignments can feel overwhelming. Chunking information into smaller, more manageable pieces helps reduce cognitive overload.

• Using Active Learning Techniques: Hands-on activities, movement-based learning, and interactive discussions can keep children engaged.

• Building Self-Regulation Skills: Teaching children how to set goals, monitor their progress, and self-reflect on their learning fosters independence and focus.

Download the Workshop Slides and Handouts

We covered much more in our workshop, including real-life case studies and exercises that you can try at home. You can access the full set of slides and handouts here for free.

If you missed the workshop or want to review key points, we also encourage you to watch the recorded session (link coming soon!).

Check Out Our How to Build a Neuron Video and  Handout

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