Attention milestones

Development of attention in children:

0-1 years - Fleeting attention

• Attention flits from one thing to another.
• Attention is involuntary and is caught by stimuli.
• E.g. attention shifts from one object / person to another and is easily distracted by a new event occurring e.g. a loud noise.

1-2 years - Rigid attention

• Can attend to a concrete task of child’s own choice.
• Attention is involuntary.
• Ignores external stimuli in order to focus.
• E.g. may concentrate on blocks but will ignore adult intervention both verbal and visual.

2-3 years - Single channelled attention

• Child still cannot attend to other stimuli while focussing on a activity.
• Can shift full attention with adult’s help to the adult.
• Control of the child’s attention lies with the adult.
• E.g. if a child is playing a game, the adult can shift the attention of the child, for example by saying “ look at this” the child will respond and then go back to their game.

3-4 years - Focussing attention

• The child is starting to control their own focus.
• Child can still only focus on one activity at a time.
• Will give full attention to specific activity including both visual and auditory.
• Can focus and refocus their attention by themselves.
• E.g. child can be playing a game will stop when adult speaks, give their full attention to the adult, and then will continue with their game.

4-5 years - Two channelled attention

• Child can focus on an activity but can also listen to what is being said without stopping their activity and looking at the speaker.
• Can focus on a single aspect of a complex situation.

5-6 years - Integrated attention

• Two channel attention is well entrenched and the child can implement it across different situations and people.
• Attention is well established and sustained.
• Child can shut out unwanted and unrelated information and can concentrate only on the necessary features.