Attention Skills | Teach Special Education

Student Needs	IPRC Exceptionalities	Diagnosed Conditions
Aggression Management Anger/Frustration Management Anxiety Management Articulation Skills Attendance Strategies Attention Skills Assistive Technology Skills Blind/Vision Impaired Bullying Management Skills Central Auditory Processing Deafness Depression/Sadness Management Disengagement/Motivation Strategies Eating Disorder Strategies Emotional Regulation English Language Skills Executive Function Fine Motor Skills Gambling Disorder Grief Management Gross Motor Skills Hearing Intellectual Ability – High Intellectual Ability – Low Listening Comprehension Skills Low Vision Memory Skills Mental Health Strategies Metacognitive Skills Mobility Skills Non-Verbal Reasoning Organizational Skills Personal Care Personal Safety Phonological Processing Processing Speed Self-Advocacy Skills Self-Esteem Self-Harm/Suicide Management Self-Regulatory Skills Sensory Integration Skills Sequencing Skills Social Skills Substance Abuse Strategies Task Initiation Time Management Skills Transition Skills Verbal Ability Visual-Motor Skills Visual-Spatial Processing	Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Behaviour Blind and Low Vision Deaf and Hard of Hearing Developmental Disability (DD) Giftedness Language Impairment Learning Disabilities (LD) Mild Intellectual Disabilities Multiple Exceptionalities Physical Disability Speech Impairment	Acquired Brain Injury Alcohol-Related Neuro-developmental Disorder (ARND) Angelman Syndrome Anxiety Disorders Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Auditory Processing Disorder (Central) Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Bipolar Disorder Blind/Vision Impaired Brain Injury Cerebral Palsy (CP) Conduct Disorder (CD) Concussions Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Deafness Depression Disorders Down Syndrome Eating Disorders Epilepsy Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAS/FAE) Fragile X Syndrome Gambling Disorder Intellectual Disabilities Klinefelter's Syndrome Learning Disabilities/Specific Learning Disorders Muscular Dystrophy (MD) Neurological Disabilities Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTS) Prader-Willi Syndrome Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) Seizure Disorders Selective Mutism Spina Bifida Tourette Syndrome Turner Syndrome (TS) Usher Syndrome William's Syndrome

Key Special Education Practices
Accommodations Alternative Programming Assistive Technology Board Special Education Plans Community Resources Differentiated Instruction Create an Inclusive & Positive Class Climate Identification Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) Individual Education Plan (IEP) Ministry of Education Resources Modified Programming Non-teacher Professional Assessments Teacher Assessments Safety/Emergency/Crisis Response Plan Professional Development Reporting on IEP Progress Tracking/Documenting Transition Plans

What it is

An area of student need, involving difficulty with maintaining concentration, especially on non-preferred activities, while ignoring distractions.

Teaching Strategies

Instructional

• Provide frequent physical breaks; avoid long periods of sitting or being physically inactive. One strategy could be to ask the student to collect/distribute materials.

• Set up a cueing system, when you will be calling upon or asking something of the student. For example, say, “I will stand beside you, and when I do this, this will let you know that the next question is for you.” Or: “You will always be the next person I ask a question of, after I ask Student A.” (focuses student’s listening).

• Give specific instructions with a check list for the student to check off when each item is finished.

• Alternate between sitting/less engaging and active classroom tasks.

• Provide a “leadership” role for the student in class, so that he or she is responsible for repeating instructions or writing them on the board.

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Environmental

• Post simple and action-focused rules and consequences.
• Use preferential seating to reduce distractions for the student.
• Provide a choice of work areas for the student to move between in the classroom.
• Provide for the student to take a physical break (delivering material to another class or to the office).
• Consider the use of music and headphones if it helps the student to concentrate.
• Provide items that a student can physically manipulate (stress ball, chewing gum).

Assessment

• Provide choice in assessment activities, including use of various media forms.
• Use oral tests.
• Chunk tests/assignments.
• Allow breaks during tests (consider giving the student only one page of a multiple page test, with a walk break or other suitable break prior to receiving the next page).
• Use a variety of methods on written tests (short answer, matching, fill in the blank, long answer).
• Provide printed assignment requirements and rubrics.
• Provide an alternate testing location that is more free of distractions.
• Prompt the student to return to task if he/she seems to be off task.
• Allow additional time.

Characteristics notebook pencil

Students in need of acquiring more appropriate/age appropriate attention skills may often be off topic, have difficulty attending to a task/assignment and struggle with sitting still. They may be disorganized and have trouble controlling their impulses, resulting in frequent calling out or off topic talking in class.

Resources

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Learning and Attention Issues

Strategies and Information on Attention Problems

Organized by age range.