How to increase attention and concentration in a student

Ecology of life. Children: Bad memory in children is very rare, most often it is simply not developed enough, and to cope with this problem ...

The question of how to improve the memory of a child is sooner or later asked by any parent. Most often, this moment comes when the baby goes to school, and a huge amount of information falls on him at once. However, there are simple ways in which you can not only improve your child's memory, but, perhaps, get rid of forgetfulness yourself.

It is worth remembering that bad memory it is very rare in children, most often it is simply not developed enough, and it is not so difficult to cope with this problem.

Method 1: Ask about your child's day

Every evening, ask your child to share how his day went. With everyone minute details. This is a great memory training. Such monologues will help your child learn to build a chronology of events, analyze them.

At first, the child's story will be inconsistent, but over time, his speech will become more coherent, he will remember more and more details and small details.

To help the baby, you can ask him the questions “What did your girlfriend Katya do when you played doctor?”, “What color was her dress on?” etc.

Method 2. Read books with your child

While the child is still small, read to him, for example, interesting memorable fairy tales or poems before going to bed. Try to study together small quatrains by heart. This will have the most beneficial effect on vocabulary your baby. And when he learns to read on his own, try to instill in him a love for this business.

Let the book become good friend for a child. Even if the child does not really want, let him binding rule will be reading a few pages a day of some book. And be sure to ask him to retell what he read and express his attitude.

Method 3. Play words with your child

• Call your child 10 words and ask him to repeat them. You can choose words of a certain theme (fruits and vegetables, food, toys, trees, flowers, what items are in the room, etc.). All the words that the child did not name, he must be reminded. It is believed that if a baby of 6-7 years old can repeat 5 words out of 10, he has a good short-term memory, and if he names 7-8, his long-term memory is also well developed.
• For development visual memory you can put pictures in front of the baby(for example, 5-7 pieces) and ask them to remember. Then you can remove one or two and ask what is missing, or shuffle all the pictures in places and ask the baby to lay them out in their original order.
• With older children, you can play this game a little differently. Put a photo or picture in front of them with lots of detail. Let the child look at it for 15-20 seconds, trying to remember as many details as possible. Then remove the picture and ask him to write on a piece of paper a list of everything he remembers.

Method 4. Train your child's mindfulness

Remember, in the magazines of our childhood like "Murzilka" there were tasks in which it was necessary to find how one picture differs from another. Such tasks can now be easily found in books on child development, of which there are a great many. These exercises are not only very exciting, but also perfectly train memory, attentiveness and imagination.

Method 5. Master the Cicero Method

The essence of this method is to mentally arrange the objects that need to be remembered in a well-known space - this can be your own room, an attic, or any room that the child knows well. The main rule of this principle of memorization is that we mentally reduce large objects, and increase small objects.

For example, a child needs to remember 5 words - umbrella, bear, orange, hippopotamus, sea, chair. All these words must be mentally placed in the room: hang an umbrella on the doorknob, put a large orange on the windowsill, put a chair in front of the bed, send a tiny bear to walk under a flower on the window, and a small hippopotamus to sleep on the bed, and the sea - rage on TV. After some training, the child, in order to reproduce the chain of words, will only need to restore the interior of his native home in his memory.

Method 6. Teach your child the method of associations

This method will perfectly help to remember information if a chaotic set of facts does not want to fit into a coherent classification. Teach your child to build relationships between the memorized word and something very familiar and understandable to him. Ask your child what he or she associates with this or that word, or think of it together. Associations can be familiar or funny, familiar to everyone or understandable only to you and the baby.

Method 7. Learn a foreign language with your baby

This is great memory training, just like any new skill, like playing the keyboard. musical instrument or even dance lessons. 10 new foreign words a day or a couple of simple phrases - remembering them will not take much time, but it is very useful and in the future this skill will definitely come in handy for a child. And be sure to repeat what you learned the day before the next day.

Method 8. Give the child to sports

Make friends with sports. It would seem, where is the connection with memory? However, any physical exercise, especially on fresh air, stimulate blood flow and contribute to a better blood supply to the brain, which, in turn, has a positive effect on memory. Do not neglect walks with the baby, ventilate his room more often, especially before going to bed.

Method 9. Teach your baby to strain memory

by the most in a simple way memory development is training. Sounds trite? Yes, but without regular loads, nothing will work. And in our age of tablets, smartphones and the Internet, it is becoming increasingly difficult to strain your memory, because the easiest way is to look for something forgotten on the World Wide Web. And children master these skills almost from the cradle.

Therefore, it is so important to teach a child, if he has forgotten something, let him first try to remember on his own, and only if nothing comes out within a few minutes, let him climb into a dictionary or the Internet.

Method 10. Make the right diet

Of course one proper nutrition a child cannot develop a good memory, but there are basic products that contain substances necessary to improve brain activity and hence to improve memory.

That's why Include in your child's diet:

• oily fish,
• bananas,
• walnuts,
• carrot,
• spinach,
• broccoli

- yes, children are not enthusiastic about some of these products, but they should be present at least in small quantities on the child's menu. published

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Many children have difficulty concentrating. However, when your the child will go to school, his ability to concentrate will begin to play extremely important role– and, by and large, will remain one of the key skills required in life. If you want to help your child develop the ability to pay attention, start with the first step.

Steps

Part 1

Start as early as possible. You can help your child develop the ability to focus on one thing long before they start elementary school. Toddlers and preschoolers can be encouraged to look at the book a little longer or to finish coloring the started picture each time. Praise your children when they concentrate well or finish the work they started without distractions.

Read aloud. Reading aloud to young children has a number of benefits, including learning to listen and concentrate. Choose books that are appropriate for the age and level of development of the child and try to choose stories that attract his attention - they are usually entertaining, surprising and inspiring (stories are more suitable than primers and other first books).

Play mindfulness games. Puzzles, mosaic, Board games and games for the development of memory - all of them help the child develop the skill of concentration and see the goal of the activity in front of him. It's fun and interesting activity and is not perceived by the child as work.

Minimize screen time for your child. When young children spend too much time in front of TV screens or computers, or playing video games, they often begin to have trouble concentrating. This is partly because their brain gets used to this particular form of entertainment (which is passive entertainment) and then has a hard time concentrating on anything in the absence of mesmerizing graphics and flashes of light.

• Experts recommend completely avoiding screen time for children under the age of two and limiting screen time to one to two hours a day for all other children and teens.

Part 2

Help your child focus at home

1. Organize your child's home workplace. The child should have a certain place for classes and homework. Ideally, he should have his own desk in his room, but you can just set aside a separate corner in the common room for classes. Whatever the place, try to make sure that there is a quiet, peaceful atmosphere, protected from possible distractions.

   • Let your child decorate this place to make it cozier.
   • All necessary materials for classes should be stored at the workplace. The child may lose focus every time he needs a different color pencil, extra paper, eraser, etc.

2. Work out a certain mode. Classes at home should take place at the same time according to a specific schedule. Once you develop a schedule and stick to it on a daily basis, your child will be much less resistant or complaining.

   • All children are different, and the schedule can be set differently too. But ideally after schoolwork Give your child some time to rest. If he comes home at, say, 3:30 pm, take a break before 4:30 pm. This will give the child the opportunity to have lunch, tell you about how his day went and get rid of excess accumulated energy.
   • IN last resort, give your child a chance to have a snack before he sits down for homework. Otherwise, his attention will be distracted by the feeling of hunger or thirst.

3. Set realistic goals for yourself and your child. If the child is old enough to bring home a large number of homework assignments, it is very important to break them down into parts and set a time frame for completion. Larger projects should be completed regularly and in phases without waiting for deadlines. Kids get lost too easily when they see too much work to do, so encourage your kids to set smaller goals for themselves and hit them one at a time.

   Take breaks. If your child has a lot homework breaks are essential. If the child works for an hour on a specific task (or even twenty minutes if the child younger age), invite him to take a break. Let him eat fruit or just talk for a few minutes before the child returns to work.

   Eliminate anything that might distract your attention. You should not expect concentration from a child if the TV is on nearby or his cell phone is in front of him. Let during the execution of tasks (unless they require a computer) there will be nothing electronic next to it. Also insist that everyone in the household contribute to the child's concentrated work.

   Remember also about individual characteristics your child. There are no one-size-fits-all rules for focusing on homework. Some children study better with music (classical is better, as lyrics can be distracting); others prefer silence. Some people like to chat at work; others require privacy. Let your child choose the format that works best for them.

How to teach a child mindfulness? Distracted children not only upset their parents and teachers, but they themselves are not happy with their weakness. good memory can and should be developed, but not everyone knows when to start doing it and what methods exist for this.

When to start developing mindfulness in children

Happens, school teachers they say that the student is catastrophically inattentive, irreparably behind in his studies, and the moment when it was necessary to improve memory and attentiveness was missed. It's embarrassing for parents to hear, but main question When should you start exercising before it's too late?

The human nervous system is formed approximately before puberty, that is, up to 12-13 years. By this age, the brain completes its organic development, which means that the opportunities for improving conscious functions are reduced.

Then you have to work with what you have - to keep your memory in good shape, not to let your concentration fall below a critical level. the lion's share parents should direct their efforts to education at the age of 12, and the earlier you start, the better and the easier the learning process will go.

To enter primary school, the kid already needs to develop the minimum skills of concentration and logical thinking. Another important moment for a first-grader is the stress from the flow of knowledge that falls on him in the first grade along with an avalanche of impressions.

The process of adaptation to the school environment takes a lot of effort, including mental. It will be much easier for a first grader to learn if his attention is well developed already before school.

Use the simplest techniques from the first years of life, deepen concentration and memorization skills at 3-4 years. At the age of 5-6, learn with your future student as many poems, riddles and proverbs as possible by heart. In junior school age help them cope with the pressure of the classes and support their desire to learn and use new knowledge.

Memory and attentiveness: how to develop them in a child

The development of mindfulness is closely related to memory. For memory to work well, three factors must be included in the process: a vivid impression sufficient to remember, then repetition, and finally, the emergence of a simple and understandable association that will start the process of reactive recall.

In practice, it looks like this. If you need to learn a poem, first read it aloud, try to do it emotionally and expressively, as much as you can. Then discuss what you read, ask questions about the text, ask what you liked, pay attention to unusual words and interesting expressions - this will turn on logical thinking.

Repeat the verses several times. Then, when you check the student, use clues: facial expressions, gestures that help you remember the text.

Memory works better through one or two channels of perception - auditory, visual, motor. How to increase child's attention? Your task is to find out in what way he remembers information better - when he reads, listens or pronounces the text. Of course, for greater effect, you need to use all three channels, but focus on the leader.

How to memorize information for distracted children

An interesting method to increase the power of memorization is to repeat information at certain intervals. Ask the student to say what they heard after 1 minute, then repeat it after 5 and 20 minutes. Remind and check the text again after 4 hours, then after 1 day and after 3 days.

This technique works not only with school assignments, but with any set of information - words, pictures or actions. Adults can also use this mnemonic device to remember important things.

The scientists who developed this method claim that if you add a few more repetitions to the cycle - after 1 week, 1 and 3 months, then you can remember the information for life! Do not disdain in this way and in the case when you want to teach the baby something or so that he remembers your requirements, advice and instructions.

How to instill mindfulness in everyday life

Good concentration and memory power is needed not only for studying. Absent-mindedness makes the life of a person and everyone around him more difficult. Often their own inattention and its consequences - mistakes, forgotten assignments, lost things, misunderstood instructions from parents - upset children and take away their self-confidence.

Severe absent-mindedness can even cause persistent low mood and childhood depression. Only you can correct the situation and support the forgetful kid by showing him how to deal with the problem and teaching him to respect himself even after serious mistakes.

Be sure to use your own example to show how to use reminders (notes, notes, ticks in a notebook), teach you to put the right things in a conspicuous place, carefully check your portfolio, count the change in the store, go out to turn off the lights, check whether household appliances are turned off and so on.

Such simple and vital habits will help instill the diligence that is so lacking in inattentive children.

If you want your son or daughter to grow up organized and collected, then efforts are required not only from them, but also from you. Children do not know how to take care of how to better remember what adults tell them - this is in this moment your task.

Try to give instructions in such a way that they are easy to take into account:

• before you say something important, make sure that the baby happens - looks into your eyes, is not distracted by toys, does not turn away, does not run out of the room;
• never shout after - this guarantees that he will forget about what you said;
• speak in simple terms, constantly check whether the baby understood you, let him repeat what you said, perhaps even explain in his own words;
• do not raise your voice and do not speak in an annoyed tone - negative emotions“turn off” consciousness, and the child, most likely, will not remember anything;
• after what has been said, add motivation: explain in simple words that this is very important for you and must be done.

If all the points are followed, this will greatly increase the likelihood that the child will remember your requests and do everything right. In addition, favorable mental attitude has a positive effect on self-esteem, so that the baby will be comfortable and calm after talking with you, and he will not make mistakes because he is nervous.

Health care increases mindfulness

An integrated approach solves the problem of how to develop mindfulness in a child.

Don't limit yourself to memory improvement tasks alone, use as many of the following as possible useful tips so that children's ability for good concentration quickly consolidates and grows:

• use exercises to improve all types of memory that are now available to you and are suitable for your age: reading children's and simple adult poems from memory, solving children's crosswords, labyrinth pictures, all kinds of puzzles, etc .;
• regularly include in children's diet natural sources of antioxidants - tasty and healthy juices, especially grape, in which there is also a lot of glucose, which perfectly nourishes the brain;
• provide the baby with a motor load that suits him in terms of temperament and health reasons - Sport section, dancing, fitness for children, swimming;
• teach him to use mnemonic techniques (start by repeating aloud), first the simplest ones, then you can master the more difficult techniques;
• help to keep a sleep schedule, consult with the school nurse or pediatrician to determine how many hours your baby needs;
• relaxing massage sessions are especially good for lack of attention in combination with hyperactivity;
• Discuss with your doctor whether you need to take a course of multivitamins.

These simple and perhaps obvious tips will help develop your baby's attention not only by motivation, but also through improved physical health.

The problem of many modern children- inattention. If your favorite child cannot concentrate on one lesson for a long time, forgets about your requests - do not swear, help the child learn to be attentive. Today's article is about how to develop mindfulness in a child from 8 years old.

Attention – mental process when a person concentrates on something specific in relation to other objects and events.

Why is it important to develop mindfulness in a child from the age of 8?

The child already goes to school and he has new responsibilities. At this age, he is able to understand what they say to him. Primary School this is the time when he must necessarily master such skills as attention, memory, imagination, otherwise in high school may fall into the category of underachievers. Therefore, the attention of the child is a very important factor!

Before developing mindfulness in a child, you need to consider that it can be of three types:

• auditory;
• visual;
• motor-motor.

Mindfulness in a child - how to develop?

1. Motor-motor games developing mindfulness.

• "Graphic Dictation" is a favorite game of many children. In addition, it perfectly develops mindfulness, so it is very useful for children of any age.
• Who did not play the game in childhood "edible - not edible"? The leader, throws the ball to the players, says edible and non-edible items. What can be eaten must be caught, not edible pushed away.
• A game "floor - nose - ceiling" will require the attention of not only the child, but also yours. First you need to show and call "floor - nose - ceiling" in various sequences with the child. And then, when he gets used to it, and will cope well, start confusing him to say one thing and show another.

1. Developing exercises for auditory mindfulness

• "The Development of Mindfulness"- read the text, and the child should count the words with some pre-agreed sound. But at the same time, he must understand the meaning of the text being read.
• "Repeat Fast"- the child should repeat the words after you only when you tell him to “repeat”. You need to speak quickly.
• "Listen and Play". Clap the rhythm with your hands, and the child should repeat it.

1. Developing exercises for visual attention.

• Invite the child to name all the objects in the room that begin with a letter.
• An exercise with the help of cards for which you need to find a pair will help develop mindfulness in a child.
• "What changed". Scatter a few items on the table. Give the child some time to look at them, and then, blindfold him, remove or move a few things. Then he should tell what has changed.

1. Increase mindfulness with toys

Now in stores big choice various toys. And for sure, when you come to the store, your eyes always scatter from such an assortment. Every parent wants to buy their child a toy that would be useful to him and reveal his creative abilities.

Toys that develop attention

Toys such as:

• Constructors

Starting from the age of 8, a child can buy a small designer, for example, Lego firms or its analogues. For boys, you can buy a metal constructor, with which he will feel like a real master. Also now there are many modern designers, such as magnetic, a designer with moving parts, transformers. You can safely take such toys, they will help develop mindfulness in a child and will be very interesting to him.

• Toys that can be controlled

While playing with such a toy, the child will focus on the moving model and try to overcome various obstacles.

• Board games

Despite the fact that now there are many modern toys and new cartoon characters, board games have not been canceled. They are popular with both children and adults. Besides, this a great opportunity bring the whole family together and have a great time. Even 20 minutes of play is enough to train mindfulness.

To develop attention in a child or not is a private matter for every parent. But if you decide to train mindfulness, here are some recommendations for you:

• During classes for the development of attention, the child in the room should not have bright toys, they will distract him from concentration and will not allow him to concentrate. Do not start exercising if the neighbors are playing music or the apartment is noisy.
• All exercises for the development of mindfulness should be clear and easy. Assess your child to see if they can complete this task. It should not oppress him. Mindfulness training should be fun and the child should want to do the exercises.
• During the concentration exercises, do not frown at the child, do not raise your voice if something does not work out for him. Be sure to praise your child during mindfulness activities. He must feel comfortable. Then it will not be difficult to increase mindfulness with the help of classes.
• For children 8 years old, classes should not exceed 40 minutes, 9 years old - 45 minutes, 10 years old - 50 minutes.

Increase mindfulness with educational toys, games and exercises, and the child will not have problems with concentration.

“Your child is completely inattentive” is a phrase parents often hear from teachers. When a child begins to go to school, new unusual demands are placed on him. The educational process requires perseverance, concentration on the task from the baby. At the time of entering school, these qualities are poorly developed in young children. But it is quite possible to increase the attention and concentration of a student, the main thing is to find an approach to the child.

What is attention?

Every moment we receive a lot of information from the outside. But only our brain from the whole stream focuses only on significant information, sifting out insignificant information. This mechanism is carried out at the expense of attention. From the point of view of psychology, attention is the ability of a person to focus on a specific phenomenon or object. In young children, attention is not developed enough. And only as you study at school, growing up, the child's attention gets better.

Psychologists distinguish between involuntary and voluntary types of attention. involuntary attention is not connected with the participation of the will, does not require effort from a person to concentrate on a specific object. For example, parents are walking down the street with their child. Suddenly someone calls out someone else's name from behind. The child will turn around at this exclamation, even though it was not his name. This is an unconscious reaction to a sound stimulus, a manifestation of involuntary memory.

Arbitrary attention involves the exercise of the will. That is, a person needs to make an effort to concentrate for a certain time on some subject. Young children have difficulties with this parameter, because the volitional sphere is still not fully developed. It is very difficult to force the baby to perform any task, to sit still if he does not want to. The main purpose of education is to develop voluntary attention at the baby.

The influence of the family on the development of the child

Little children experience the world through their parents. It is fair to assume that a child's inattention may be copying the behavior of an adult. If the parent is distracted, disorganized, such behavior is perceived by the child as the norm. Hence and possible problems with the child's concentration.

But parents can be positive example for a child. For example, when going to work, comment on your actions aloud. “Now I am packing my bag. I put a notebook, a pen, a phone in it - I need all this for work. Checking if there are keys in the pocket of the bag. A child can try the same game. For example, say out loud your actions, going to school. This will help develop your child's concentration.

Any free minute can be spent with benefit, helping the child to improve his attention. Walking down the street, a parent can draw the student's attention to various objects and ask them to describe them. “You see that house, describe it. What color is the house, the roof? How many windows does the building have? Such simple ways help the child become more focused.

Well organized daily routine

Pledge successful learning baby is right organized mode day. It will be easier for a child to "join" the school process if he has a clear work and rest regime. One of critical aspects- dream. A junior student should sleep at night for about ten hours. There can be no talk of any concentration and productivity if the child comes to class sleepy.

Extracurricular activities are good, but if in moderation. When parents immediately after school take the baby from one elective to another, there will be no benefit. The child is not able to cope with such a volume of information and will simply get tired. The baby must have free time when he can rest.

Also, for the healthy development of the child, you need to arrange daily walks in the open air lasting two to three hours. By the way, walks can include active games, for example, with a ball. At all sports activities very effective in increasing attention and concentration. Therefore, the baby can be given to dances or to the sports section.

It is very important to organize baby workspace at home . It could be separate room or your own corner in the apartment. Here the student will perform his tasks, as well as store all his textbooks and notebooks. It is also important to teach the kid to keep the workplace in order. It is desirable that the child does homework at the same time every day. In the future, this principle will help the child to quickly get involved in the process of studying school subjects.

While doing homework, the child should not be distracted by anything. It is better to turn off the TV, family members should not talk loudly. The absence of external stimuli will help the baby concentrate better and quickly complete homework.

Special exercises

Effective schooling is impossible without developed attention and ability to concentrate. With a small amount of attention, poor concentration, the child makes mistakes in tasks, does not remember well educational material. To develop these important skills, various techniques, which can be reproduced at home.

Exercise "Buttons"

For this exercise, you will need two sets of multi-colored buttons. Parent and child sit at the table opposite each other. One set with buttons remains with the child, the other set is taken by the adult. Also, each participant is given a piece of paper with drawn squares. Then a partition is installed in the middle of the table.

An adult makes the first move - lays it out on his sheet in certain order buttons. The barrier is removed. For ten seconds, the child looks at the location of the buttons and remembers the pattern. Then the partition is installed again. And now the student must, from memory, lay out the same pattern with buttons on his sheet.

Exercise "Beetle"

Prepare a sheet of paper with lined cells. The essence of the exercise is that the kid must mentally imagine how the beetle crawls under the instructions of an adult. So the parent gives the command. For example, a beetle is crawling up or a beetle is crawling to the right, etc. In this case, the baby must mentally imagine how the beetle moves without drawing a pen or pencil along the sheet. At some point, the adult says “stop” and the student puts a dot with a pencil in the cell where the beetle should have been.

Correction test

For this exercise, you need to prepare an old book or newspaper with long texts. An adult gives a task, for example, underline all the letters “a” in the text from below, and cross out all the letters “o”. Then he marks five minutes, and the child proceeds to complete the task. After the time has elapsed, the child stops the exercise. And then, together with the parent, he checks how well he did the task and how many letters he missed.

In the future, the game can be complicated. For example, first one letter is underlined and the other is crossed out. And then, at the command of an adult, “Attention!” the exercise goes the other way around, cross out the first letter, and underline the second.

Game "Repeat the phrase"

This game is suitable for both younger and older students. An adult says the phrase "I take a bag with me for a walk." Then the same phrase is repeated, but with the addition of a new subject. And so on, gradually increasing the number of items to ten or twenty. The child must repeat the phrases, naming the objects in the correct order.

Attention is a quality that can and should be developed. Do not rely only on school teachers. Spend more time with your kids, do things together special exercises V game form, organize the student's daily routine. All these techniques will soon help increase the attention and concentration of the student.

Grigorova Valeria, doctor, medical commentator