Pay Attention
Part 1
95% of the parents I work with have said something along the lines of,
“Well, if he just paid attention his reading will improve.” They have also heard the same gripe and input from classroom teachers. If your kid seems like they can’t “pay attention,” during reading then it is true.
Kids are paying attention when they look around the room during reading. They notice things in their environment and basically regulate their 5 senses. If you have this old idea of attention I would like to ask,
What does attention look like?
I went to catholic schools many, many, years ago. Paying attention meant sitting with your hands folded silently. Waiting to be able to learn, ask questions with a raised hand, go to the bathroom or go to recess. I know I am using an example from over 30 years ago. Here is the point. I looked like I was paying attention. I had manners in school and always tried to follow the classroom rules. I was not “paying attention.” I was in my head watching the clock. Counting paragraphs to figure out what I was reading when it was my turn to read. I looked like I WAS paying attention.
I know from my personal learning experience and from the kids I work with that paying attention is not something you do or don’t do.
We are always paying attention. Attention is not an excuse or an explanation as to why your kid struggles to read. It is not some blanket statement. Paying attention is not some skill you can have it is a natural state of being for our bodies.
FOCUS
It is not “paying attention,” that kids need it is FOCUS. Focus is the process that will make your kid a better reader. It can also be developed in struggling readers. It has to be directly taught and can make a huge impact on reading ability.
Here is is the example, paying attention vs. focus. SHOPPING. Everyone needs to eat! Walking into a supermarket with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and walking out with your order is focus. When you walked through the aisles you paid attention to everything. Were you hot? Did you get across the store and have to go to the bathroom. Did you follow a list? Stay on budget?
The things that effect your ability to focus are all the things you pay attention to. How many times did a change in your shopping habit effect how good you shopped that week? Your ability to be an amazing shopper (even if you internet shop) is not your ability to pay attention. It’s your ability to focus. I am sure that your ability to shop has developed from ramen noodles and cases of beer to organic health food.
The way you developed into this shopper is the way that kids that struggle with reading can develop this same ability . The ability to focus.
Tune in next week for more of the discussion on Focus…
Melissa Saliva is a Reading Consultant and founder of Beacon Valley Literacy Services. She helps parents help kids with dyslexia.