Strategies for Motivating Children with Attention Difficulties in Virtual Learning (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Learning from home virtually can have its own set of challenges, especially when parents are playing both the role of parent and teacher, and the child is struggling to stay focused. News 3 reporter Antoinette Dalbell has tips on how to motivate children, including those with attention difficulties who are learning from home.

Speaker 2: Sitting in a classroom with a teacher and friends, this is what Ryan, a high school senior in North Carolina, misses. He has mentioned how much he misses just being in the school. Ryan just started virtual learning this week. This past school year, his mom, Jonna Bobzien, says Ryan struggled with online learning, but this academic year, he seems to be thriving. His classes allow them to use avatars, so he can sit there and he can rock when he's concentrating. Ryan has autism and ADHD, so focusing his attention and sitting for long periods of time can be difficult. But Ryan is not unique. Many children now learning virtually are facing the same mundane challenge.

Speaker 3: Just sort of sitting in front of a computer, listening to your teacher talk or watching a video can be, as you can imagine, a little less entertaining as far as value or attention getting.

Speaker 2: Bobzien also heads ODU's Communication Disorders and Special Ed Department. She says establishing a workspace for your child to call their own can make a difference. Helping them to feel like they're in that real classroom setting. Wearing headphones can help students block out distractions. And as parents navigate the role of mom and dad and teacher, Bobzien says it's key to establish a routine and structure with some flexibility.

Speaker 3: When you're a virtual learner, you have the opportunity to engage in some of those, you know, maybe unusual behaviors like rocking, like spinning a pen, that help you to focus.

Speaker 2: Though Ryan's senior year isn't what he was expecting, there may be an upside to learning online for him and others who shy away from public attention. With parents, we may actually see, in some cases, improvements. Helping to make the grade in a virtual world. Antoinette Delbel, News 3.