Attention disorders are on of the
most common problems associated with brain injury,
occurring in almost every case, even after mild brain
injury.
What is attention?
Attention is the ability to focus
on certain aspects of the environment that are considered
important or interesting and to flexibly manipulate
this information.
Attention can be divided into five
levels:
- Focus
- Sustainment
- Selectivity
- Alternation
- Division
All five levels of attention can
be adversely affected by brain injury.
Focused attention-
This is the kind of attention
used when we are actively attending to something.
It is our ability to attend to one thing to the exclusion
of everything else. For example when you are studying
or driving. After a brain injury, attention may become
rigid or inflexible, especially if the individual
is unable to remove attention from the task when
necessary.
Sustained attention-
The ability to concentrate
on one task for a certain period of time without
switching off. After a brain injury, if you need
to attend to one thing for some time, you might find
you lose your concentration quite quickly.
Selective attention-
This enables a person to avoid
distractions, from both external (e.g. noise) and
internal (e.g. thoughts) stimuli. For example, after
brain injury you may not be able to read a letter
when there is a radio playing in the background.
Alternating attention-
This level is the ability
to shift the focus of attention and to alter it between
tasks.
Divided attention-
This is the ability to respond
to multiple tasks at the same time, or to give two
or more responses simultaneously. For example, you
might be watching television while eating your breakfast.
After a brain injury, some people find that they
are unable to concentrate or more than one thing
at a time.
How is attention affected
by brain injury?
The person with the brain injury
may not immediately realize that their ability to
concentrate is any different to what it was prior
to the injury. In addition, there may not be any
visible signs to alert other people that a problem
exists.
This can often lead to misunderstanding
by members of the community who may think that a
person who had difficulty maintaining attention is
lacking in motivation or intelligence. People who
have sustained a brain injury may:
- Become easily distracted
- Have trouble keeping track of
what is being said or done
- Experience information overload
- Have difficulty doing more than
one task at a time
- Be slower at taking in and making
sense of information
All of these issues can have an
impact on people’s everyday lives and can:
- Affect the ability to learn
and remember information
- Cause a feeling of frustration
with self and others
- Leave a person feeling overwhelmed
and confused
- Lead to fatigue, headaches and
dizziness
- Result in low levels of achievement
- Cause a person to avoid other
people and become isolated
Attention and concentration
strategies
There are a number of strategies
that people with brain injury can implement to help
improve their attention and concentration. The person
with the brain injury should try and identify specific
situations where particular strategies may be affective.
Some of the following strategies
may be helpful:
- Reduce all possible distractions
in the environment e.g. switch off the television,
radio etc…
- Take regular breaks, have a
nap or go for a walk
- Known your own limitations
- Develop strategies for physical
and mental relaxation e.g. meditation, deep breathing
or talking to friends
- Plan how to approach a task
with a simple and step-by-step approach
- Write information down using
notes and keep them in specific places
- Concentrate on one thing at
a time
- Repeat information and clarify
it- using Dictaphones can help with this
- Break important tasks down into
small and achievable steps
- Schedule demanding tasks when
levels of energy and alertness are greatest
- Explain the problems that you
have to your family and friends
- Work for short periods only
- Eat a healthy diet and sleep
well
HOME
