Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Attention span in preschoolers?

Now that I think about it, maybe the ability to regulate attention versus the ability pay attention to things of interest are two completely different things, and the first would probably be more tied to working memory? I'm not sure.

hmm, not sure? To me they are completely unrelated (the attention regulation and working memory). At least with our two sons.

I am thinking there are a lot of components...acuity of vision and hearing, physically orientating towards the activity, visual and auditory processing, comprehension and appropriateness of the activity you are supposed to be attending to, interest, stamina, the basic needs having been met (food, drink, sleep, shelter, attention, exercise, etc.) and on and on.

ADHD is not about paying attention, it's about regulating attention, and yes it commonly comes with working memory deficits - specifically with auditory working memory deficits. But not always.

For us, it would be about 5-10 minutes per book in sets of 6-10 several times throughout the day. So we're on the same page (ha).

I would argue that reading is about more than just processing different storylines, especially with dialogic reading. There's a dance of social reciprocity between the reader and listener, basically a text-linked conversation, that remains continuous across books. Playing with different toys at a store might also be considered one continuous activity if the child is using an informal sort of scientific method to study each toy similarly in sequence. It really comes down to trying to understand what the child is perceiving which, I'm learning, is often different from what adults view at face value.

To my unresearched mind, attention span isn't so much about doing any one activity for a fixed period of time so much as engaging in a fluid thought process or manner of thinking. But that's just my opinion.

quite honestly, ADHD did not even cross my mind when I read your original post. DS4.10's attention span is all over the place, mainly because of the interest problem I mentioned and he was evaluated for ADHD and it was ruled out. His therapists over the years never suggested ADHD either. They suggested gifted with too many different interests not necessarily in what we or the school would like to see.

I wasn't suggesting anyone's child has adhd! I was just pointing out that there is indeed often a connection between regulating attention and workin memory, particularly auditory working memory.

As it happens my child with Aspergers has major WM problems and CAPD, my child with ADHD has HG working memory... So my child with ADHD is not typical in this regard... My child with Aspergers has major attention regulation problems too.

Since working memory develops with age, it seems like one could have poor working memory relative to peers as a child and still have good working memory as an adult.

Does anyone know:
1. Are there any known early childhood predictors of adult working memory? I would assume musical ability would be one predictor along with attention span but again, I don't know much about this.
2. At what earliest age can one identify working memory deficits? It seems like preschoolers have such undeveloped working memory that it would be hard to identify deficits.

I'm not asking for personal reasons, just curious.

In Deborah Ruf's book, 5 Levels of Gifted, she has an Appendix entitled: Developmental Guidelines for Identifying Gifted Preschoolers. It lists various tasks and the age normally developed vs. a 30% more advanced example.

An example:
Task: Looks at pictures in a book.
Normal months developed: 10
30% more developed: 7

She lists 26 tasks starting at one month with, "Smiles socially at people" through 50 months with, "Draws person with neck, hands, and clothes".

Is this what you're looking for?

I have learned a lot from her book, btw.

Deborah Ruf's LOG and checklist are a load of pig's intestines IMO. It's hard, but really you just have to wait it out to see what sort of brain and child you have on your hands. No simple checklist is going to replace maturity, observation of the child and real testing once they're old enough.