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my 5 year old child doesn't concentrate at all while studying

i have a 5 year old child, while i try to study with him at home i feel that he doesn't concentrate at all, he doesn't remember anything after we finish studying,i don't know is this because he doesn't concentrate or is it something to do with his memory, and his teachers have the same complain

Question applies to ages: 5

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avatarElizabeth.Johns
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Top 5 in: Choosing College, Discipline, Families and Relationships, Family Activities, Growth and Development, Health and Wellness, Learning Disabilities and Special Needs, Learning Styles, Parents and Schools, Safety, School Policy and Education Issues, Study Skills and Academics, Summer Learning and Camps, Teens and Jobs, Transitions and Readiness, Motivating StudentsTop 5 in 16 Topics		 5-year-olds are not known for their great attention spans or powers of concentration. Experts estimate that a "normal" attention span for a child is from 1 to 3 minutes per year of age. So the attention span of a 5 year old would be from 5 to 15 minutes.

I've never studied with my 5 year old at home; there never seemed to be a need for it. We never did flash cards or anything like that. I try to keep things fun. Remember, for a child, work is play and play is work, so try to make learning a fun, enjoyable activity for you and your child, not rigorous studying. For instance, if you are practicing his colors, go to his room and go on a "hunt" to find all the red objects or all the blue objects. If you're practicing counting, you can count his books or his action figures or his stuffed animals. Ask him questions: what does he have more of, action figures or stuffed animals? How many more would he need to make the piles equal? Or count pieces of silverware as you set the table together. When you're working on letter recognition, point out words at the grocery store and what letter they start with. Then try and find other labels that have that same letter. Or see how many items he can find that start with the same letter that his name starts with.

Also, try to remember that grilling your child about what he has learned may not really tell you whether or not he is learning. If he's tired, or stressed out, or hungry, or just reached the end of his concentration, he won't be able to answer questions right then. He might also just balk at being asked to "perform" when he doesn't want to. Take it slow and easy and make it fun, and don't spend more than 5-10 minutes on any educational task.

If you and his teachers continue to have concerns about his concentration and ability to pay attention, and it seems to be having an effect on his educational progress, you may want to have him evaluated for ADHD, but in all likelihood, he's just being 5.

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mom of four, including a kindergartener who just turned 6
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