5 Attentional Control Activities for Teens and Young Adults

Even though we all know we live in a world full of distractions, the numbers can be pretty startling. Pre-pandemic studies show we face distractions once every 7-8 minutes throughout the day, equating to about 60 distractions in an eight-hour work or school day. These distractions can cause frustration, time-management issues, and challenges in obtaining goals for teens and young adults with unique learning needs. Thankfully, there are some simple and easy ways you can start building attentional control in your teen or young adult’s regular daily routine.

For a lifespan overview of how attentional control and other executive skills typically develop, see our Executive Functioning Skills by Age Guide.

What is Attentional Control?

Attentional control refers to our ability to focus on specific stimuli in the environment while not focusing or “tuning out” other things. It’s an executive functioning skill that works closely with working memory (using what we know to make decisions), emotional control (regulating our behavior), and cognitive flexibility (shifting focus between different stimuli in the environment). Attentional control includes paying attention to a stimulus in the environment and ignoring or non-attending to others.

Attentional Control and Challenging Behaviors

Many parents and teachers seek a boost in executive functioning skills because issues with attentional control can closely align with challenging behavior. Consider these questions about your teen or young adult:

• Does your teen get started with a task but then quickly get side-tracked?
• Do you need to monitor your teen and give constant reminders to keep going?
• Do these reminders result in back-talk, whining, or negotiations?
• Do you frequently find household chores and homework half-completed?
• Does the loss of privileges or discipline seem ineffective at helping your teen finish tasks?
• Does your teen have difficulty recognizing when they become distracted or minimizing distractions in the environment?

Answering “yes, often,” or “sometimes” to these questions might indicate that issues with attentional control influence your teen’s challenging behavior.

In addition, teens with attentional control deficits may engage in challenging behaviors to escape tasks that take too long or if asked to return once they’ve been distracted. By targeting and improving attentional control, you can help your teen learn to complete tasks faster and more efficiently. Faster completion means the sooner your teen can return to preferred activities and the less time you’ll need to spend reminding or reprimanding.

Setting SMART Goals for Improving Focus

If you’ve observed that your teen’s or young adult’s attentional control issues may be contributing to challenging behavior, the next step is to set some goals to improve skills. Parents, teachers, and coaches should consider setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound) and look for gradual improvements in the outcomes of focused attention.

Some sample goals for attentional control might include:

• Completes ___ number of homework or household tasks within ___ minutes.
• After beginning a task or instruction, sees the job through to the end without pausing for more than 30 seconds.
• Minimizes and controls distractions in the environment during five consecutive homework sessions.
• Learns and utilizes three different strategies and suggestions to improve focus on math problems.
• Completes homework or household tasks in a distracting environment without off-task behavior for more than five minutes.
• Refrains from outlined challenging behaviors when reminded by an adult to refocus on a task.

5 Attentional Control Activities for Teens and Young Adults

Working on your teen or young adult’s SMART goals for focused attention doesn’t have to be time-intensive. Often, we can build opportunities for improving focus and attention into a learner’s daily routine. Chances are, your child or student already has a preferred activity or two that can be adapted to practice executive functioning skills.

Check out these five activities to boost and improve attentional control:

1. Sports & Physical Activity

The Harvard Center for the Developing Child reports that promoting physical activity and sports in children and adolescents can be among the most successful ways to build executive functioning skills like attentional control. Competitive sports require focused attention, making quick decisions, and flexible thinking. Even non-team sports like cycling, fishing, or running still require maintaining focus and building the skills to avoid distractions.

2. Music

Just as sports can have a positive impact, studies have also shown that music-related activities can strongly influence our ability to pay attention and stay focused. Playing a musical instrument, singing, dancing, or even listening to complex musical pieces can require intense focus and concentration. To avoid distractions that may throw off rhythm or pitch, teens need to focus on the task at hand. For teens that are music-oriented, it’s an opportunity to build motivation in something they already enjoy.

3. Video Games

Even though we might cringe at the idea of our teens spending more time playing video games, we know that certain screen-based activities require high rates of attentional control. Developing fast reaction times, monitoring and limiting distractions, and evaluating when to use specific strategies are all ways that video games require our full attention.

That being said, we know video games and screen time can ultimately cause overly focused attention. Ensuring that video games have limits and that screen time maintains a healthy balance is just as important as using it to build focus and attending.

4. Meditation & Mindfulness

In many of our other Executive Functioning 101 articles in this series, we’ve written about the benefits of using mindfulness and meditation. One of the most well-researched benefits of mindfulness training ties back to increasing attentional control. By nature, meditation is practicing focused attention.

It’s training the brain not only to hold focus (awareness) but also to hold it on one thing (attention). The best part about mindfulness behaviors is that they can be modified and taught to almost every learner, regardless of skills and abilities. To get started with a simple mindfulness activity with your teen or young adult, download our “How My Body Pays Attention” Exercise.

5. Conversation Circles

Consider conversation circles or social skills groups if your teen or young adult struggles with sustaining focus and attentional control during social interactions. These small-group settings can be valuable places to learn skills like staying on topic, comprehending small details in conversations, and staying focused when distractions happen. If your teen’s or young adult’s school or local community service providers don’t currently offer social skills groups, consider an online, video-conferencing option.

Individualize and Customize Strategies to Teach Attentional Control

Finally, it’s important to note that not all teens and young adults struggle with attentional control in the same way. Some learners might struggle to know what’s important to direct their focus to. Other learners might struggle with distractions and getting off-task too frequently. Sometimes, attentional control might be about how quickly your learner can shift focus and transition to new tasks.

The best strategies for improving attentional control skills should be customized to your teen or student’s unique needs. Some learners can jump right into one of the activities listed above. Others might need sub-goals or skills to be broken apart into smaller steps. Focus on setting SMART goals realistic for your teen or young adult and then aim to expand from there gradually.

Further Reading

• Harvard Center for the Developing Child – Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence
• Huffington Post – Using Mindfulness to Train Attention
• Kasuya-Ueba, Y., Zhao, S., & Toichi, M. (2020). The effect of music intervention on attention in children: Experimental evidence. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 757. (See our focus-enhancing playlist guide.)
• Life Skills Advocate Blog – How to Get Your Kids to Buy In to Limiting Their Video Game & Screen Time
• Life Skills Advocate Blog – Developing Motivation Begins with SMART Goal Setting
• The Guardian – The Lost Art of Concentration