A person's focus and sustained attention rely on several factors, including:
 

• Physical stability: if a person requires extra energy to maintain his/her physical balance (in order to protect his/her own safety), s/he may not able to focus and sustain attention.
• Mental stability: if a person is constantly fearful, anxious, exhausted, or stressed, s/he may not be able to focus and sustain attention.
• Self-awareness: if a person is not self-aware, e.g. of his/her thoughts, emotions, the surrounding people and events, s/he may not be able to focus and sustain attention.

 
Characteristics of ADHD
If a child is not able to focus and sustain attention, s/he may exhibit the following characteristics:
 

• Significant deficit in attention; lacks emotional control and self-control when compared to children of the same age
• Short attention span; gets distracted easily during playtime or when performing tasks.
• Restless; unable to sit still
• Unable to focus and pay attention when someone is speaking
• Often interrupts others during conversations
• Unable to follow instructions when performing tasks
• Impulsive; does not appear to consider the consequences of his/her actions.
• Does not stop and think before s/he acts
• Weak self-care ability
• Tend to not be as liked or acknowledged by peers
• Often loses things and forgets important tasks 

(References:Barkley, R. A. (1998). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A  handbook for diagnosis and treatment. New York: Guildford American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4^thedition). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association)
 
Treatment: “Easy@Focusing”

• The “Easy@Focusing” is an effective attention-training program built upon our 20+ years of clinical experience, designed for primary and secondary school students with attention deficit, who are unable to stay still for an extended period of time.
• Utilizes three aspects, “Mindfulness & Concentration Training ”, “Postural Stability Training” and “Pre-action Thinking Training”, to help students rebuild the habit of attention regulation within their mind, body and brain.
• Aims to help students improve their attention span and reach the standard level as their peers in the shortest period of time.

“Easy@Focusing” approaches from the regulation/coordination of the mind and body, as well as from the cognitive level to work on students’ difficulty in focusing and sustaining attention:
 
Mindfulness & Concentration Training : Mindfulness-based training. Developing self-awareness, learning meditation, attentional control and self-regulation. This training emphasizes helping students develop self-awareness and self-control through mindful activities with sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, joint, muscle, thought and emotion, thereby improving their ability to stop, listen, observe, take action slowly and sustain attention, as well as helping them relax.
 
Postural Stability Training :Training the body to sense one's center of gravity (vestibular balance training). Developing awareness of the center of gravity and body movement, learning to maintain an upright posture, and learning to adjust, balance, and control body movement appropriately. Students will learn to be aware of their surrounding, their body posture, as well as understanding how they can slow down their movements and completely stop moving.
 
Pre-actionThinking Training :  Learning the correct concept of focusing and sustaining attention, developing the habit of thinking back and forth, rebuilding positive self-image.
 
Suitable for:

• All primary and secondary school students with attention deficit and whose bodies are restless.
• Especially suitable for children who have been diagnosed with or suspected to have Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder

Training Content

1. The training encompasses a wide variety of class activities, including both active and sedentary, goal-oriented and creative, along with emotional expression and critical thinking challenges, as well as game- and task-oriented activities:Emotional awareness and expression activities: music, storytelling, body movements, art and crafts, etc. Through these activities, students become aware of any suppressed emotions, like fear, anxiety, anger, sadness, disappointment, helplessness and shame, which helps them to develop a sense of security and acceptance, and in turn a positive self-image
2. Mindfulness activities: body sensory awareness exercises and games (including sight, hearing, smell,taste, center of gravity, body awareness, mind etc.), goal-oriented attentional control games, gym ball, body movement exercises, as well as sharing and self-reflection exercises. Through these exercises, students can increase self-awareness and enhance their mind-body regulation

Training Effectiveness

•  According to our experience, students with average IQ and no emotional disturbance will exhibit significant improvement within four months of training with two training sessions per week.
• When students reach a similar attention level as children of the same age, or have mastered the mind-body regulation ability as well as his/her attention for the surrounding situations, the training would be completed and on average it takes around 6 to 48 months, depending on the situation.

 
Based on our clinical experiences, the following can help students achieve greater improvements:
 

• Training frequency
• Homework follow-up
• Having stable and positive emotions
• Close family relationships and strong parental support
• Good intelligence and critical thinking
• Student has a strong intrinsic motivation for improvement, e.g. s/he doesn’t like his/her own inattentive/hyperactive behavior, or understands the benefits of being able to focus and sustain attention

 
Training Format

• Training can be divided into 2 types: Group and Individual training
• Group training: A group will not exceed 6 students, ratio of teacher to students 1:2 or 1:3, one training session per week, one hour per session
• Individual training: 1 or 2 training session(s) per week, 45 minutes per session
• Before starting training, our teacher will have a 30 to 45 minute session with the student and parent(s) to assess the developmental level and needs of the student. After the session, our teacher will make training recommendations, e.g. any more urgent and necessary aspect of training, the student's suitability for this particular training, and the most suitable training format (e.g. number of training sessions per week, group/individual/combined training)
• Regardless of being in individual or group training, training goals, strategies and activities would be tailor-made for every student based on his/her individual need and ability.

 
Question / Inquiry
Please feel free to contact us via email pda@pdachild.com.hkor call Ms Chow at 2528 4096, we are always happy to answer any of your questions.

Case Sharing 

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