LD Expert Podcast with Jill Stowell
Is It Really an Attention Problem?
Jill Stowell
Jill Stowell: Summer activities and school ask very different things of our kids’ attention.
During the summer, attention naturally shifts from one activity to another. Kids are outside, playing, swimming, riding bikes, going on vacation. It's a different kind of focus than sitting in a classroom, listening to directions, switching between subjects, staying organized, and then coming home to do homework.
As we head back into school, attention is going to become one of the most important learning tools our kids use every single day.
So in this episode and next, we’re going to explore attention.
Today, I'll share a simple strategy you can use before school gets into full swing to help set the stage for smoother afternoons and better focus. Then we’re going to talk about something I want every parent and educator know—that what looks like an attention problem isn't always ADHD. In fact, attention challenges are often a clue that something else is making learning much harder than it needs to be.
In our next episode, we'll build on that by talking about practical ways that parents and teachers can help students develop attention and awareness and control.
Welcome to the LD Expert Podcast, your place for answers and solutions for dyslexia, learning, and attention challenges.
I’m your host, Jill Stowell, founder and executive director of Stowell Learning Centers and author of Take the Stone Out of the Shoe.
Routines and structure can really help kids who struggle with attention.
And one of the best times to build good routines is right now, before you're in the middle of homework and sports and music lessons and everything else that comes with the school year.
Take a little time to create your after-school routine together with your child.
Decide where homework is going to happen. Put activities and practices and homework time on a family calendar where everyone can see it. Talk through what afternoons are going to look like.
The important thing here is that you do this together.
When children and especially teens, help create the plan, they're much more likely to take ownership of it.
That structure and consistency, of course, won't solve every challenge, but it gives everyone a much better place to start—especially busy families with children who struggle with attention, organization, or homework.
Now, let’s talk about attention.
If you want to learn something, you have to pay attention. It’s really one of the most basic and critical learning skills. When kids aren’t paying attention in class, it often is looked at as a behavior issue - because it can be disruptive or it can get in the way of the goal of learning or completing the assignment.
At home, loss of attention when doing homework or chores often looks like carelessness or resistance.
And we want to demand that our kids attention.
If your child or student is struggling with attention, I want to challenge you to be curious.
One of the first signs that school is becoming difficult is loss of attention.
I mean, think about it. It's hard to pay attention when you're confused or when something doesn't make sense. And it's exhausting to sustain attention when the task you’re trying to do takes twice as much mental effort as it should.
Think about learning like climbing a ladder. Every rung supports the one above it.
So if some of the lower rungs are missing or wobbly, it’s going to be much harder to get up to the top even if you’re smart and capable.
That extra effort puts stress on the attention system. And because now the attention is carrying such a heavy load, it’s requiring so much - it's typically one of the first things to break down.
That's why we have to be curious and look deeper.
Most students who come to us - no matter what age - have attention challenges. When we do our initial assessments at the learning center, that’s one of the things we have to really look at. Is attention the root of the student’s difficulties or is attention a symptom.
I’ve had a lot of parents say to me, “He has trouble paying attention, but I just don’t feel like it’s ADHD.”
And they’re right.
Maybe reading takes so much effort that there's no mental energy left for comprehension.
Maybe listening is so hard that the teacher's directions kinda come in in bits and pieces.
Maybe the child has actually been able to memorize the steps in math but they don’t have the reasoning skills to understand what they're doing, so mistakes look careless.
Different underlying challenges can all produce the very same symptom—loss of attention.
Here’s an example: Three different students:
one couldn't stop wiggling,
one couldn't stop talking,
and one just stared off into space and looked like she wasn't listening.
From the outside, they all looked like they had attention problems. But none of them actually had ADHD.
One had retained primitive reflexes, making it difficult to sit still and focus on the lesson because he had this neurological interference going on that was causing him to wiggle and feel uncomfortable in his own skin.
One was dyslexic - he struggled to pay attention to reading and writing but he was great at talking - so why not entertain your classmates when it’s time to do schoolwork or try to get your parent off track to delay homework?
Our 3rd student had an auditory processing problem - listening was so taxing for her that eventually, she basically shutdown and stared into space.
Three students. One symptom - loss of attention. But three very different root causes."
If attention becomes a challenge this year, instead of asking, "Why won't this student pay attention?" try asking, "What's making it so hard for them to pay attention?"
That one question can completely change your thinking and the direction of the conversation.
A former student at the learning center, Savi, said
After Stowell, school was easier because I got things easier... I pay attention better because... I started remembering things better and learning things better, so everything was easier.
That’s basically it in a nutshell. When the weak underlying skills - or the rungs on the ladder are strengthened, climbing that ladder gets a whole lot easier.
Sometimes, attention really is at the root of the problem. So in our next episode, we’re going to look at 4 simple steps for helping your child or student recognize and control their own attention.
At Stowell Learning Centers, we help children and adults move beyond learning and attention challenges - including dyslexia - by strengthening the underlying skills that make learning easier.
When those skills get stronger, everything changes — reading, writing, listening, focus, confidence, even stress around school.
If you’re listening and thinking, wow that sounds like my child, you can learn more, explore free resources, or connect with one of our learning specialists at stowellcenter.com.
You can also follow us on social media. We’re @stowellcenter on all platforms.
If this episode encouraged you, please share it with another parent or educator who needs to know that real change is possible.
