As children develop they pass through a number of different stages as their attention and listening skills improve. These are the 6 main stages.
- Children at this stage are very distracted, their attention is help momentarily by whatever is the dominant stimulus.
- At this stage children can concentrate on a task of their own choice. They have to ignore all other things in order to focus on this one task. Children are very resistant to interference by an adult.
- By now, children are beginning to allow an adult to shift them from one task to another. Attention must still be fully gained before changing focus.
- Children now start to become able to control their own focus of attention. They move gradually towards only needing to look at an adult when the directions become difficult to understand.
- At this stage, children are usually entering school They can now preform an activity while listening to the teacher giving directions.
- This is a mature stage where attention skills are flexible and sustained for lengthy periods.
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