“My son is not concentrating, he is distracted by anything.” “This girl brings us upside down. When she doesn’t get her way she always puts on a show, she has to be what she wants and when she wants.” These types of comments are frequent among parents and teachers of boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 12. Beyond academic problems, children may present inattention and difficulties in regulating their own behavior, which can lead to despair for parents and teachers. And it is that to intervene in this type of behavior it is necessary to know the mechanisms that explain them.
Attention is a set of skills that are developed progressively. This occurs from its most basic variant, as happens in babies when responding to a rattle, to the most complex forms, back in the age of seven when the infant is already very capable of inhibiting a distraction while performing an activity. Some authors have suggested that the processes of self-control and self-regulation of behavior depend directly on good attentional and executive functioning abilities . Within these skills we find the ability to set appropriate goals, plan and monitor behavior, the ability to analyze and synthesize information, working memory or inhibition of impulses. A simple example would be that of the child who is able to tolerate frustration when he has to stop watching television to do his homework and manages to manage the situation, organizing himself autonomously and successfully, anticipating the negative consequences of not doing them on time.
One of the brain areas that has shown the most importance in this type of mental functions is the anterior cingulate. This part of the cerebral cortex, in addition to having a relevant role in attention and working memory, would also participate in the control of affect and the processes of regulation of behavior through its connections with the limbic system and the orbitofrontal areas. of the brain, thus also associated with the development of empathy.But, how to train self-control and life skills?
Self-control: problems and solutions
An article in the journal Science published in 2011 by researchers from the University of British Columbia, reviews in detail the types of interventions that can improve executive functions in boys and girls. Among them we highlight a type of initiative in which teachers were trained to promote in students the development of self-control, the management of emotions and the solution of problems . After a year of training, the students had improved their ability to inhibit and their mental flexibility, and they also showed fewer behavioral problems.
There is a whole stream of education in what has been called ‘life skills’. This type of program works on the management of emotions, the development of empathy, the improvement of social relationships and communication skills, the stimulation of critical thinking and decision-making, problem solving, knowledge of self and stress management. In addition, they have shown a relationship with a lower incidence of risk behaviors, school bullying, eating disorders, drug use, violence, depression or stress at school age.
The benefits shown by this type of intervention have led some authors to propose the need to include them as part of the curricular training from preschool age. Of course, without forgetting the fundamental role that parents and the social context have in the development of these skills in children.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
