ADHD- lack of Selective Attention and sustained attention in children.

Children with ADHD are always thought to be easily distracted. It's as if adults think that they make a conscious effort not to listen to them and mess around instead. Sadly, because in terms of ADHD, we are talking about the main source of the attention being on the 'good stuff' why wouldn't you think that a child would rather have fun than work right!

What is selective attention?

• Selective attention – the capacity to prioritise the processing of one stimulus whilst there is another potentially distracting stimulus happening at the same time

What is Sustained attention?

• Sustained attention- the ability to remain working on a task for a long period of time without a decrease in performance or accuracy

Unfortunately, having ADHD results in a deficit in these functions. It is well known that ADHD disrupts cognitive functions in the prefrontal cortex. However, the superior colliculus, located in the midbrain, has been identified as important to the basis of ADHD and selective attention. One of the main symptoms of ADHD is related to attention and the inability to switch between tasks without impairing any task. Mueller et al. (2017) suggest that individuals with ADHD exhibit impairments in selective attention and sustained attention.

The superior colliculus processes sensory information and relays it to other midbrain regions containing dopamine neurons (Basso and May, 2017). The neurons in the superior colliculus have dopamine receptors (Montardy et al., 2021).

The superior colliculus is responsible for detecting important environmental cues and responding to them. In individuals with ADHD, this area may function improperly, making it challenging for children to differentiate essential information from a busy environment.

Types of selective attention:-

• Endogenous attention(top down attention) meaning that you are using the memories that are already in your head as stimulus, which can be memory from looking forward to the burger at tea time, the argument you had at school or the intrusive thoughts that won't let go.

• Exogenous attention (bottom up attention) that is where you gather from your senses, the phone rings or someone comes to the door. This may impact your child when there is something noisy happening outside the school room or a different class outside on the field playing games.-placing a child with ADHD by the window in a class room may not be ideal as increases distraction.

So how does this affect my child?

• Endogenous attention- This type of attention can be seen differently in the different types of ADHD. In inattentive ADHD, these children could be seen as daydreamers-seen in girls' ADHD presentation. The attention in their mind is more stimulating than what's going on in the room. You may find them not taking an interest in what is being taught or not listening to what you are saying as a parent. When I say stimulating this doesn't mean exiting. This could mean an event or intrusive thought process that makes the child extremely uncomfortable. If the child is hyperactive this could be plans for action-lead them running around playing out the game or overthinking, with combined having a mixture of the two. If children with ADHD are bored they can be inclined to rely on their endogenous thinking to keep them occupied.

• Exogenous attention - This is where attention can be outside of the child's brain, classroom noise, others playing in the school field or less subtle the trainers another child is wearing or a badge on the t-shirt of a teacher. This can distract the child so that their concentration is on these things and not what you are saying.

How can I help my child concentrate?

• Minimise another stimulus - if you are in an environment where there is a lot going on-class room- take the child out to teach in a basic room where there is no other stimulus.

• Just because there is no external stimuli doesn't mean they will concentrate. They have to be interested in what is being taught which is tough. Thinking about other stimuli might help - the sound of your voice, are you sounding exiting-examples that they can relate to so they can imagine it- can they touch relatable examples? This can also help in diverting attention.

• Focus is very minimal- (sustained attention) children with ADHD can't keep focusing on something for too long so plenty of breaks. However, it is s good idea to let them know what exciting thing is happening after the break has finished as initiating focus can be difficult.

• Stay calm- every time you become impatient or sharp toned this will them become a source of Endogenous attention and even though you will be talking to them they will be stimulated by your reaction

• Timers- egg timers are good, this is a visual cue for them to try to stay focused for the amount of time that it takes for the time to 'ping'.

• Rewards- small rewards like can you do X before the timer 'pings' and then you can have X. Big rewards-if you go all week doing X then you can have

  
  

  Try not to-

• Take positive things away for too long- the feeling will ware off and it will no longer be a consequence. Use the timer again- you can have X back when you stop doing X, I will give you 10 mins(start timer)

• Don't take away break times as this will only add to the stimulus. The child will feel punished and this will create Endogenous attention which can grow and become behaviour issues. The child will also get tired and no longer concentrate anyway.

• Belittle a child- issuing punishment out in front of others can create a huge amount of embarrassment and humiliation. The child will not only not be able to concentrate because of being told off, they will be impacted by how others now see them which can last for a long time. This can in turn cause resentment towards other children and lead to behaviour issues.

  
  

  There are many other ways to help your child's attention and if you hone in on the reasons behind the actions you may come up with some great ideas of your own

  
  

  I hope this has given you a small incite into selective attention in your child,

  until next week,

Tanya x