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

How variable is attention span among children and at what point is an attention span unusually long for a 2 or 3 year old?

I've noticed my child isn't having a lot of success in structured classes and part of the reason is that the activities are always too short and change rapidly, so it's just really frustrating for my child. This made me wonder how long kids normally stay on one task and when I read that it was normally just 5-10 minutes for 2-year-old it made me wonder how unusual it is for a child to spend over 2 hours playing with a new toy, or 30-60 minutes regularly. I know everything is variable among children so just because the majority have shorter attentions spans I wondered if maybe 30% of kids have long attention spans or if maybe this more unusual. Really I feel like I must be misunderstanding something when I read about typical attention spans.

I don't have any strong predictions about my child's IQ and don't think this is a gifted issue but I was curious and this forum seems like a logical place to ask about attention spans in children so I hope you don't mind.

Keep in mind that in this forum, you're not likely to get information on what's typical.

My DD was able to watch an entire 20-minute TV show as an infant.

I'm not sure of the date, but I know she was definitely not older than 2.5 when we took her to see a Disney on Ice presentation. She was absolutely transfixed, and completely speechless, from the beginning through the intermission. She maintained her focus on the second half, though she recovered her powers of speech. I have to think it was at least an hour for each segment.

My just turned 3-year old son has zero and I mean ZERO attention span for any structured activity but can focus for hours on items / activities of hist interest. Part of our problem is that he has no interest in "age appropriate" things and activities so he'll run, cry, scream, kick or go into a silent blank face shut down mode. He does have High functioning autism diagnosis but from what we're seeing at home, the attention span thing seems to be unrelated to his diagnosis. He is right now into trying to force ME into HIS structured activities! lol

I hoped people who regularly post on this forum may have had read about this topic, I wasn't just hoping to hear about personal experiences.

Maybe I really don't know what asking for. My gut tells me my child might be doing things that aren't typical. Earlier today my child was spelling words with her fridge magnets and while I know most 2-year-olds don't do that, they were just small words and we read a lot so why wouldn't she have learned to spell a few words or read a little? I feel like I have a lot of hunches about my child but then I talk myself out of thinking the signs I see mean anything because there are other kids who are reading more or spelling bigger words or who have longer attention spans or who do harder puzzles. Then there's the "why do I care about this?" question and I don't really know the answer to that other than I'm just curious. I don't want to be one of those people who reads into things too much.

FWIW, when I enrolled my DD in a gifted pull-out program, I had to fill out a questionnaire for her, and one of the questions was about attention span. These were the options for answers:

* Was easily distracted, rarely concentrated for more than a few minutes at a time
* By about two years could concentrate on activities such as drawing, playing with
blocks, for up to ten minutes by self
* By about two years could concentrate on activities which caught his or her interest for half an hour or more

So I'd say anything more than a half-hour attention span (not to mention basic spelling) at 2 is really unusual. You're not missing anything or reading too much into anything, and you're right to care about it. If you're correct and your child is gifted, that is important information to know! Maybe you won't need to do anything with that information but it's crucial to know so you can keep an eye out down the track! No point driving blind. I know what it's like to be in denial, or think that you're over thinking things - believe me, it's a relief to know for sure then you can stop wondering, so if I were you I'd consider testing in a few years

I use age-linked media as my proxy for attention span expectations:
-The average toddler book takes about 2 minutes to read without dialogic reading.
-The vignettes on one the two children's TV show I watch with DS (Between the Lions) are only a minute or two long.
-Our music classes have segments grouped into about 2-3 minutes each.

DS20mo has no trouble focusing on an activity for half an hour or more at a time. At the extreme upper end, he's asked to read one book after another continuously for 4 hours on more than one occasion.

Both my boys, 3 and 5, have had amazing ability to focus on tasks interesting to them. At school they are the kids that sit quietly and listen. Their focus is one of the things about their giftedness I appreciate the most.

I agree 100% with AvoCado. I was in denial myself with DS5. Kept questioning myself thinking I was over thinking etc. Once tested it was clear that the signs were there from a very early age. It was so nice to finally "know" my boy on all levels. Get an understanding for why he did things the way he did.

Of course, now I am in the same boat with DS3. Questioning myself, being in denial. My younger is so different though it makes me pretty sure he is a visual-spatial learner. So if having this other puzzling child isn't confusing enough, I can't even compare him to my older since he is not following the same track...

Actually, that's pretty classic preschooler autism. Happy to put you into his structure, not so able to pay attention to yours.

Remembering with not too much fondness the day when my DS (perhaps 2) asked me to draw Elmo about 150 times.

Autism typically comes with lots of effects on attention; it can improve with systematic practice...

DeeDee

I have never managed to relate what I've read to what I've experienced. I feel like any child is capable of spending the whole preschool free play time at one station, and they all struggle at least sometimes with circle time.. The key, as I understand it, is that attention span is related to whether they are interested or not.

Thank you.