AïeLEAD Blog Series: Understanding the Learner Behind the Results
By Lara Khneisser, founder of AïeLEAD · SOI Learning Specialist · 7-minute read
Practical ways to support attention, understand what makes learning difficult and help your child participate with greater confidence.
“He Can Concentrate When He Wants To…”
Eight-year-old Adam can spend a long time building a model.
He notices missing pieces, experiments with different designs and explains exactly how his creation works.
But when his homework book opens, something changes.
He looks around. He asks a question his mother has just answered. Halfway through the first task, he forgets what he is supposed to do.
“Adam, please concentrate.”
“I am trying,” he replies.
His mother wonders how both things can be true.
If you have searched “my child can’t concentrate”, you may recognise this experience. You might also be wondering whether your child needs firmer boundaries, more practice or a different kind of support.
A useful starting point is to look closely at the task and the circumstances surrounding it. Concentration can vary with interest, understanding, tiredness and the demands placed on the learner.
Being deeply engaged in one activity does not mean that every other activity is equally manageable.
What Might Look Like Poor Concentration?
Before deciding that a child is simply distracted, ask what they are trying to manage.
Do they understand the instruction? Can they remember the steps? Is the reading accessible? Are they worried about making a mistake?
The Energia Wellbeing SOI (Structure of Intellect) trainer manual draws attention to different abilities involved in learning, including understanding verbal sequences, attending to spoken information and remembering visual details. It describes how difficulties following a sequence can leave a learner appearing lost or disengaged.
That is a useful observation to investigate, rather than a diagnosis to assume.
A child who has lost track of the task may need clarification before another reminder to focus.
7 Things That Help When Your Child Can’t Concentrate
Here are seven practical starting points.
1. Check Whether Your Child Understands the Task
“Do you understand?” often produces a quick “yes”.
Instead, try:
“Show me what you will do first.”
You might discover that your child can read the question but does not understand a key word. Or they know the topic but cannot work out what kind of answer is expected.
For Adam, “describe the character” may need explaining before he can begin writing.
Model one example, then let your child attempt a manageable part.
This reflects the Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance on explicitly teaching learners to plan, monitor and evaluate their work, with strategies practised within actual subjects.
Try today: Ask your child to explain the first action in their own words before starting.
2. Give One Instruction at a Time
If your child can’t follow instructions, consider how much information arrives at once.
“Get your book, find yesterday’s work, write the date and answer the first three questions” contains several separate actions.
Begin with one:
“Find yesterday’s work.”
Once that is complete, give the next instruction. A short written or illustrated checklist can keep the remaining steps visible.
The Energia manual recommends gradually progressing from one instruction to two and then three when practising verbal sequencing. NHS guidance also includes giving clear instructions one at a time and using visible lists among its support strategies for children with ADHD.
You do not need to wait for a diagnosis to discuss practical classroom adjustments with school.
Try today: Replace a string of spoken instructions with a simple “now and next” reminder.
3. Make the Environment Easier to Work In
Look at the workspace from your child’s perspective.
A television is playing. Someone is talking nearby. Several books are open, and the tablet keeps lighting up.
Even an interested learner may find that demanding.
Start with a few practical changes: turn off unnecessary background media, clear unrelated materials and place the required tools within reach.
Ask your child what helps. Some prefer a quieter corner; others work more comfortably with a trusted adult nearby.
NHS-linked guidance on attention and impulse control recommends reducing distracting noise and clutter while considering individual sensory needs.
Try today: Make one environmental change and observe whether starting or returning to work becomes easier.
4. Use Manageable Work Periods and Movement Breaks
When homework takes hours, asking a child to keep going indefinitely can make the task feel overwhelming.
Agree a small, clear goal:
“Let’s complete these two questions, then pause.”
Choose a work period that fits your child’s age, current capacity and task. A timer can help some children, but it should provide predictability rather than pressure.
During the break, offer an opportunity to stretch, walk or move in a way your child enjoys.
Research reviews suggest that classroom movement breaks can support attention or time on task, although findings vary across activities and studies. They do not establish one ideal break schedule for every child.
Try today: Plan the break before the task begins, and agree how you will return afterwards.
5. Protect Sleep and Allow Time to Recover After School
A child who has managed lessons, friendships, noise and transitions all day may arrive home with little energy left.
Before interpreting slow work as unwillingness, consider whether they need food, a drink, movement or a quiet transition.
Sleep matters too. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends 9–12 hours of sleep regularly for children aged 6–12. Its consensus statement links adequate sleep with better attention, learning and emotional regulation.
A consistent routine can help families protect that time. Persistent sleep difficulties are worth discussing with a healthcare professional.
Try today: Notice whether concentration differs according to the time of day or the quality of the previous night’s sleep.
6. Practise Specific Skills Through Enjoyable Activities
The Energia manual includes sequencing games, matching activities, classification tasks and memory games as ways to practise selected abilities alongside programme modules.
These can offer an engaging opportunity to notice how your child approaches a challenge.
For example, place a few large shape cards on the table.
Ask your child to group them by shape. Once that rule is clear, try grouping by colour.
Discuss:
- “What are you looking for?”
- “How will you check?”
Introduce changes gradually. The aim is a challenge your child can engage with, rather than a test they repeatedly fail.
For listening practice, you could take turns copying a short clapping pattern. For memory practice, briefly show a few familiar objects, cover them and recall what was there.
These activities practise particular task demands. Better performance in a game does not automatically prove improved concentration in school.
Try today: Choose one short activity your child enjoys, and notice which instructions or strategies help them participate.
7. Teach Your Child How to Notice and Recover Their Focus
Attention sometimes wanders. Children can benefit from learning what to do when that happens.
Agree a gentle reminder together:
- “Back to the question.”
- “Check your next step.”
You might ask:
- “What tells you that you have lost your place?”
- “What helps you find it again?”
Then recognise the action you want them to repeat:
- “You noticed you were stuck and checked the instruction.”
- “You came back after your break.”
This gives your child useful information about their learning, without expecting perfect concentration.
Try today: Agree one kind reminder and one strategy your child can use before asking you to take over.
Can Cognitive Skills Training Improve Concentration?
Research gives a qualified answer.
Children can improve at trained cognitive tasks and sometimes closely related tasks. Whether those gains extend to everyday concentration, school achievement or wider wellbeing is less consistent.
A 2024 randomised controlled trial involving 235 children aged 6–13 found improvements on closely related cognitive-control measures following training, but no benefits on the broader behavioural and academic outcomes examined.
This does not mean every approach has identical effects. It means families deserve clear goals and evidence of progress beyond the training exercise.
If you are considering cognitive skills training for children, ask:
- Which difficulty is the programme intended to address?
- How will activities be selected for my child?
- How will progress be checked in everyday learning?
- How will the work complement teaching and other support?
The Energia manual describes personalised modules, progressively harder tasks and session reporting. These explain its programme approach; they are not, by themselves, independent evidence that SOI improves concentration.
When to Seek Additional Support
If concentration difficulties persist or affect learning, friendships or everyday routines, speak with your child’s teacher or SENCO.
Share specific examples: when the difficulty happens, what the task involves and what seems to help.
Difficulty concentrating alone does not establish ADHD. The NHS notes that tiredness, anxiety or stress can also contribute to distractibility, and advises discussing ongoing concerns with school and, where appropriate, a GP.
Mention concerns about sleep, hearing, vision or changes in wellbeing too. These may need attention alongside educational support.
Helping Adam Find His Starting Point
Tomorrow, Adam’s mother tries a different opening.
“Show me what the first question means.”
They clarify one word, put away the unrelated books and agree a small amount of work before a break.
Later, they enjoy a short sorting game. His mother notices that he follows the rule more easily when he explains it aloud.
There will still be distracted moments. But they now have useful observations and a few strategies to build on.
Understanding what makes attention difficult gives us a better starting point for helping a child learn.
Explore Learning Support with AïeLEAD in Twickenham
At AïeLEAD, Lara Khneisser brings more than twenty years of education experience and her training as an SOI Learning Specialist to understanding the learner behind the results.
We explore individual strengths and difficulties, discuss appropriate cognitive skills development and help families identify meaningful learning goals.
For families seeking child learning support in Twickenham and St Margaret’s, a conversation can help clarify the next step.
Visit my Booking Page to book a conversation about your child or learners.
AïeLEAD | Learn • Experience • Achieve • Develop
Helping young people lead with intention.
 |
About the author Lara Khneisser is the founder of AïeLEAD. She has more than 20 years in education as a teacher, coordinator and school principal, a background in Biology and Biochemistry, and is a certified Structure of Intellect Learning Specialist and NGNLP practitioner. Learn more about AïeLEAD. |
References and Further Reading
- Energia Wellbeing Pvt. Ltd. Structure of Intellect Learning Practitioner Training Manual. Sections on verbal sequencing and auditory attention, pp. 18–19; personalised modules and session reporting, pp. 149–150; activities supporting selected abilities, pp. 152–154.
- Education Endowment Foundation. Metacognition and self-regulation. Teaching and Learning Toolkit.
- NHS. ADHD in children and young people.
- Paruthi, S., et al. (2016). Recommended amount of sleep for pediatric populations: A consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 12(6), 785–786.
- Nature Neuroscience (2024). Cognitive control training with domain-general response inhibition does not change children’s brains or behavior.
- Brain and Behavior (2022). Effect of classroom-based physical activity interventions on attention and on-task behavior in schoolchildren: A systematic review.
Editorial note: Adam is fictional. His story illustrates possible learning experiences and does not represent a diagnosis or documented programme outcome.