Managing Attention

SKILL: Attention

DIFFICULTY: 2/5

LEVELS: N/A

BRIEF RATIONALE: This treatment can be completed before every session to optimize focus. A printable PDF is available at the end.

In Managing Attention, you will identify external distractors in the environment related to lighting, temperature, your phone, background noise, clutter, distracting views, and interruptions. If you indicate that you are currently experiencing an external distraction by responding “yes” to a question prompt, you will be provided with a list of 3-5 strategies per distractor. You can select the strategies you want to implement.

Next, you will identify internal distractors that can amplify attentional deficits, including pain, fatigue, hunger and thirst, anxiety, emotional state, distractibility, poor vision, and poor hearing. If you indicate that you are experiencing an internal distraction by responding “yes” to the question prompt, you will be provided with a list of 3-5 strategies per distractor. You can select the strategies you want to implement.

The treatment was designed to be simplistic, repeatable, and adaptable to the distractions you are facing in the moment.

PDF DOWNLOAD: At the end of the treatment, you can generate and download a custom handout with all recommended strategies listed for later reference.

FOR THE CLINICIAN: Strategies related to external distractions involve removing or minimizing the distraction from the environment, or they involve reducing the amount of information to be processed.

Questions related to internal distractions can also serve as an informal screening tool to determine if a referral to another discipline is warranted, like to a psychologist, audiologist, or optometrist for example. Recommended strategies include relaxation techniques, verbal mediation, chunking, pacing, components of the Pomodoro Technique, etc. Some common strategies are repeated to enhance recognition.

Selected References:

Ponsford, J., Velikonja, D., Janzen, S., Harnett, A., McIntyre, A., Wiseman-Hakes, C., Togher, L., Teasell, R., Kua, A., Patsakos, E., Welch-West, P., & Bayley, M. T. (2023). INCOG 2.0 guidelines for cognitive rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury, part II: Attention and information processing speed. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 38(1), 38–51. https://doi.org/10.1097/htr.0000000000000839
Sohlberg, M. M., Turkstra, L., & Hamilton, J. (2023). Transforming cognitive rehabilitation effective instructional methods. The Guilford Press.