Children have a variety of expectations to follow at school. From sitting at a desk for extended periods and following directions, to tuning out background noise and completing assignments, kids are expected to focus for long stretches of time in busy, structured environments. Let’s face it, many adults would find this challenging, too!
Focus and attention are skills that develop over time. Some children can benefit from extra support to build their attention skills. Occupational therapy can help your child strengthen their ability to focus so they can concentrate better at school, stay organized, and succeed academically.
The Skills Needed for Focus and Attention
Focus and attention do not develop all at once. They grow gradually as your child builds the physical, cognitive, and emotional skills needed to handle increasing demands. The core skills that support the development of focus and attention include:
- Self-regulation skills: managing energy levels, staying seated, remaining alert during learning activities, and coping with distractions without becoming overwhelmed
- Sustained attention skills: staying focused on a task or lesson for longer periods of time
- Organization and planning skills: following directions, sequencing steps, and completing tasks from start to finish
- Emotional regulation skills: managing frustration, handling transitions between activities, and engaging in adult-directed activities
Because these skills develop at different rates, it’s common for children to show uneven attention abilities, especially during life transitions such as starting school or moving into more academically demanding grades.
Signs Your Child May Benefit from Extra Support for Focus and Attention
Some signs your child may be have difficulties with focus and attention include:
- Needing frequent reminders or redirection to start, stay on, or finish tasks
- Experiencing declining grades as a result of incomplete work or missing assignments
- Taking much longer than expected to complete classwork or homework
- Becoming overwhelmed by multi-step directions or longer assignments
- Showing behavioral challenges in the classroom, such as disrupting lessons, avoiding tasks, acting out, or shutting down during academic activities
How Occupational Therapy Can Help
When focus and attention difficulties leave your child feeling overwhelmed or discouraged at school, occupational therapy can help.
Occupational therapy strengthens the underlying skills that make focus possible by looking at how your child’s body, sensory needs, thinking skills, and emotions all affect their ability to stay engaged during the school day. Outpatient occupational therapy plans are individualized to support your child’s specific needs and areas of growth.
What Outpatient Occupational Therapy for Focus and Attention May Look Like
Outpatient occupational therapy sessions are one-on-one and incorporate play-based activities, along with practical strategies that can be used across environments (such as at home and school). While therapy may look like play, pediatric OTs intentionally guide activities to support focus, regulation, and participation.
By strengthening these foundational areas, occupational therapy helps your child develop practical strategies they can translate to real classroom settings.
Supporting Body Regulation for Better Attention
A regulated body supports a focused mind. When your child’s body feels calm and settled, it is easier for them to attend to classroom tasks.
Occupational therapy helps your child develop body regulation skills through purposeful movement and physical activities, such as:
- Pushing or pulling weighted objects
- Carrying items or completing heavy work activities
- Climbing or moving through obstacle courses
- Engaging in movement games
As your child becomes more aware of what a calm, ready-to-learn body feels like, it becomes easier to stay attentive and engaged during classroom activities.
Building Endurance for Seated Tasks
Maintaining focus during school tasks requires physical stamina. Occupational therapy helps your child build endurance for seated and academic tasks through activities such as:
- Strengthening core muscles through movement-based activities
- Improving postural control through targeted exercises
- Building endurance by extending the length of seated, focus-based activities
- Engaging in games that require sustained attention and physical effort
Improved strength and endurance make it easier for your child to stay focused during longer lessons and classroom tasks.
Improving Organization and Task Follow-Through
When schoolwork feels unstructured or overwhelming, attention often breaks down. Occupational therapy supports organization and task follow-through with activities such as:
- Breaking tasks into clear, manageable steps
- Practicing how to put steps in the right order through hands-on activities and games
- Using schedules and checklists to reinforce routines and expectations
This support helps your child approach schoolwork more independently and complete tasks from start to finish with greater confidence.
Staying Focused in Busy Learning Environments
Classrooms are busy environments filled with noise, visual inputs, and movement. For many children, these distractions can make it difficult to maintain attention during learning activities.
Occupational therapy helps your child improve attention in distracting environments through activities such as:
- Practicing focus during tasks with background noise or movement
- Playing games that involve shifting attention and refocusing
- Completing activities that gradually add visual or sensory distractions
- Learning to stay engaged even when there is movement or noise nearby
With practice, your child can refocus more easily when distractions arise, supporting better attention and participation in the classroom.
Using Play and Movement to Strengthen Attention Skills
Play provides a natural and motivating way for children to practice attention skills. Through play, children learn to focus, follow rules, and stay engaged while enjoying the activity.
Occupational therapy uses play-based activities to strengthen attention, such as:
- Playing turn-taking games that require waiting and sustained focus
- Engaging in movement games that combine listening, timing, and coordination
- Solving problems through activities that require planning and persistence
- Participating in interactive challenges that encourage engagement from start to finish
Play-based practice helps your child build attention skills that carry over into classroom learning.
Reach Out to More to Say Pediatric Development & Therapy for Help
If your child is struggling with staying focused at home or school and you are in the Branford or Oxford, CT, area, we can help. Not as local? We offer telehealth services to families that live in Connecticut! Call More To Say Pediatric Development & Therapy at (203) 828-6790 to schedule an evaluation. We would love to help your child build the skills they need to focus and succeed across environments.
