Increasing the Attention Span of Five Mentally Handicapped Children Using their Parents as Agents of Change

Abstract

A child's ability to attend selectively to stimuli is central to the learning process. The length of time for which a child will attend (the child's attention span) is of equal importance. In general, mentally handicapped children have exteremly short attention spans. This study reviews the relevant literature and describes in detail an operant procedure designed to increase the attention spans of five mentally handicapped children, using parents as agents of change.All parents were successful and the resulting increase was statistically significant. Short term follow up indicated that any increase in attention span may well be reduced if the procedure is discontinued, thought subsequent attendances at a nursery school appeared to maintain the gains achieved by the intervention process.