Attention and listening

Attention is the ability to focus on something long enough to learn from it. Playing with a toy, a friend, or looking at lights all need attention. As attention develops the length of time a child can focus for grows. 

This goes hand in hand with listening. Listening requires focusing on sounds long enough to understand and learn from them. It is how children learn to talk, learn to understand, and learn to follow directions. 

At first a child can only pay attention to one thing – this might be your voice, or might be a toy. As they develop they can listen and focus on different things at the same time. 

What you might notice if your child would benefit from support with their Attention and Listening skills? 

Your child is four years old and above and they: 

• flit quickly between toys and activities
• do not finish tasks
• do not remember instructions or remember what they’re doing
• move a lot more than other children
• appear to not hear you, but can hear their favourite theme tune
• are easily distracted
• look like they’re not sure what to do

How you can help

Check out our Five Top Tips Video to find out more about how you can help.

Recommended links

You might also find the following trusted websites helpful:

Tiny Happy People:  has some suggestions for Attention and Listening as well as other ways you can help with speech and language development.

Twinkl: tells you what to expect at most ages – but this is not true for every child.

If you need to make a request for support

Speech and Language Therapy do not accept referrals for children who are only finding attention and listening difficult. If attention and listening is impacting a child’s speech, language and communication development Speech and Language Therapy might be able to help.

Anyone, including parents and carers, can request support from Speech and Language Therapy. You can do this via our request for support referral form.

The support we offer is always tailored to the needs of your child. Some children benefit from individualised support, others benefit from support in their environment. Most often attention and listening will be an element of what we are working on with children who have other speech, language and communication needs. This support is most likely to be in your child’s environment. It may look like:

• strategies to practice at home
• strategies to practice at nursery or school
• observation sessions
• a Speech and Language Therapist playing with your child

We discharge at a point when:

• the adults around your child are confident in how to support their communicating.