Strengthening Capacity for Focus & Attention
By Maureen Burford, M.Ed., Founder and Executive Director, Creative Lives
Can children who struggle with attention—whether or not they have ADHD—learn to strengthen their capacity for focus and self-regulation? At Creative Lives, our experience suggests that they can—and that the starting point may be different from what we expect. What's more, the capacity for focus may be far more important to realizing our potential than we recognize.
Over more than four decades of teaching, I've worked with many children and adults whose difficulties with attention obscured their considerable abilities. I've also witnessed remarkable changes when we helped them understand and work with the mechanics of focus, drawing on the pioneering work of educator and author Ellen Tadd.
Understanding Focus Through a New Lens
Ellen's investigations into the human energy system, commonly known as the chakra system, led her to develop a distinctive approach to understanding and cultivating capacities such as focus, discernment, emotional well-being, and discipline: A Framework for Wise Education®.
The third eye chakra, located at the center of the forehead, is our center of focus and clear perception. Ellen described it as a lens through which we perceive details, understand the larger context, and gain insight. She defined wisdom as “the ability to understand the far-reaching consequences of our thoughts, words and actions.” When we engage this center, we more easily retain what we learn, make connections, and navigate challenges with discernment.
The base chakra, located at the base of the spine, is our center of discipline and action. It enables us to follow through on what we perceive, develop skills, and build good habits—including sustaining attention and returning to focus when distracted.
These are distinct but complementary capacities: the third eye enables us to see clearly; the base helps bring that wisdom into action. Please don’t take my word for all this. Like Ellen, I have applied these understandings, and associated strategies again, and again. I believe in them because of my own experiences, and what I have witnessed for students.
In our culture, we often associate wisdom with intellectual development. Yet even very young children, whose brains are still developing rapidly, can demonstrate remarkable insight and an intrinsic sense of knowing. Think of intrinsic knowing as that feeling of being in “the Zone” — where we quickly perceive context and make wise, sometimes split-second decisions without intellectual analysis. I have seen very young children exhibit this ability. On the flip side, I encounter intellectually accomplished adults who act unwisely — proceeding without enough awareness of context or consequences.
Begin with Observation
The encouraging news is that focus is not simply something we possess or lack. It is a capacity we can learn to access and strengthen. Rather than beginning with what children cannot do, I look for where their focus is already functioning well—and what that reveals about how to help them strengthen it.
When does this child focus naturally?
What strengthens or diminishes that capacity?
Who is this child when focused?
And how can we help the child develop greater awareness and command of their own attention?
When we help children strengthen their focus, we are doing far more than improving their attention. We are helping them access more of their own potential.
For most of us, focus comes more easily in some situations than others. I loved learning about music, for example, but had to work harder to focus on and understand science. For some children and adults, maintaining focus is challenging across many situations.
Research on ADHD has highlighted difficulties with regulating and sustaining attention, including returning to a task after distraction.[1] But challenges with focus are by no means limited to people with ADHD.
Ellen's framework offers a way to explore both the capacity for focused perception and the discipline needed to sustain and direct it. Here is an example.
Foster’s Story
Five-year-old Foster came to our afterschool program with a difficult early history. Recently adopted after experiencing childhood trauma, he was a sweet, sensitive child who struggled to make sense of the world around him. Easily distracted, he had difficulty following directions, retaining new information, and connecting with other children. During group activities, he was often quiet but noticeably disengaged.
For months, our team looked for activities that might help Foster experience sustained focus. Nothing captured his full attention. Then one day, I invited him to a private piano lesson.
What happened next was remarkable. His eyes widened as he nodded yes. Foster's intense curiosity about the instrument drew him into a state of deep concentration. I had never witnessed this happen for him before. The fog seemed to lift from his expression, and his face relaxed. Suddenly, he was listening attentively, following instructions, and learning with surprising ease.
He quickly mastered the details of that lesson, and the following day, he remembered everything he had learned and eagerly progressed to new material.
It was like witnessing a sunrise. The piano had given Foster an experience of focused awareness that had been difficult for him to access elsewhere. For some time, he could sustain that focus primarily while playing the piano. His parent arranged regular lessons with a relative, while our team worked to help him recognize and gradually apply the same focusing skills in other activities.
This became an important turning point for Foster.
We hadn't needed to begin by correcting his behavior. We needed to discover where his capacity for focus could come alive—and help him build from there.
Nor did Foster need to understand the chakra system to benefit from this approach. We could help him recognize what focused awareness felt like, discover how to return to it, and gradually strengthen his ability to sustain it.
There was another important dimension to what I observed. As Foster became deeply focused, his expression relaxed and he seemed more at ease. In my experience, focused awareness can help diminish fear and create conditions that support emotional healing, particularly for children whose difficulties with attention are compounded by trauma.
Focus affects far more than academic learning. In our experience, helping children become more consistently focused can also support greater emotional steadiness, confidence, wise decision-making, and connection with others.
Becoming a Focus Detective: What to Look For
Foster's story illustrates a principle central to our work at Creative Lives: Before trying to improve a child's focus, discover when and how it is already functioning well.
Whether you're a parent, teacher, or counselor, begin by observing:
When does this child become genuinely focused? Look beyond academic tasks. You might discover it during music, building, sports, imaginative play, or an unexpected activity.
What seems to strengthen or disrupt that focus? Notice the circumstances, the demands of the activity, the child's emotional state, and environmental factors such as lighting, noise, and distractions from peers.
What changes when the child is deeply focused? Observe their ability to listen, remember, solve problems, follow directions, make wise choices, and relate to others.
You may be surprised by what you discover. A child who seems unable to concentrate in one setting may demonstrate remarkable focus in another.
The next step is learning how to help children recognize, access, and strengthen that capacity for themselves—even when or where focus doesn't come as easily.
Focus Is Influenced by Many Factors
Children's ability to focus can be influenced by many interacting factors, including sleep, nutrition, stress, trauma, screen use, and underlying health conditions. Research has documented relationships between sleep and attention, as well as associations between patterns of screen use and attention difficulties, although the latter do not necessarily establish cause and effect.[2, 3]
Researchers are also investigating possible relationships between ADHD and inflammatory processes, as well as the persistence of certain primitive reflexes. These findings are preliminary and do not establish that either is a cause of ADHD.[4, 5]
The learning environment matters, too. Lighting, background noise, visual clutter, classroom activity, and interactions with peers can all affect concentration. Some children are especially sensitive to these conditions, while others may find that a degree of movement or background stimulation actually helps them engage.[6]
Some of these influences are within an educator's ability to address. Others may require support from families, healthcare professionals, or other specialists.
Yet even when multiple factors contribute to a child's difficulties, there is something valuable educators can do: help children understand what focus feels like, recognize when it is functioning well, and learn how to strengthen and direct it.
This doesn't replace medical care or other appropriate interventions. It adds another dimension to how we support children—one that can be practiced in everyday learning experiences.
Helping Children Discover Their Own Capacity for Focus
Foster's experience reminds us that a child's difficulty focusing in one situation doesn't tell us the whole story of what that child is capable of. When we look more deeply, we may discover capacities that have been there all along, waiting for the right conditions to emerge.
And when we help children recognize and strengthen their own focus, we offer them something that extends far beyond the classroom: greater access to their ability to learn, perceive clearly, make wise decisions, and navigate life's challenges.
Perhaps one of the most important things we can do for children who struggle with attention is to help them discover that focus is a capacity they can cultivate—and that, through it, they can access more of who they are and what they have to offer.
Learn the Mechanics of Focus
For educators interested in putting these ideas into practice, Creative Lives offers The Mechanics of Focus, an experiential course combining guided observation, practical activities, and fieldwork with students.
Two learning options are available:
Self-Paced Course — $149
Learn on your own schedule through video lessons, practical activities, and fieldwork you can apply with students. Includes 12 months of access to course materials.
Enroll in the Self-Paced Course
Facilitated Asynchronous Course — $325
January 18–March 14, 2027
Join a guided eight-week learning experience with instructor feedback, discussion with fellow educators, field reflections, and optional live office hours. Participants who complete the requirements earn 15 PDP hours. Enrollment is limited to 30 participants.
Enroll in the January 2027 Facilitated Course
Interested in bringing this approach to your school or team? Creative Lives also offers professional development and team training.
Explore School and Team Training
About the Author
Maureen Burford, M.Ed., is Founder and Executive Director of Creative Lives, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping educators, parents, and school leaders cultivate the capacities children need to learn, relate, and thrive.
A career educator and musician with more than four decades of teaching experience, she has worked extensively with children and adults to develop focus, confidence, emotional well-being, and other essential capacities through Ellen Tadd's Framework for Wise Education®.
Learn more at creativelives.org.
References and Further Reading
1. ADHD and attention regulation
National Institute of Mental Health. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: What You Need to Know. Describes difficulties with sustained attention, distraction, and completing tasks.
2. Sleep and children's attention
Sleep and the Developing Brain: What We Know, What We Don't, and Where to Act—A Systematic Review and Evidence and Gap Map. Reviews associations between sleep, attention, self-regulation, and learning.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42645416/
3. Screen use and attention difficulties
Thorell, L. B., et al. (2024). Longitudinal associations between digital media use and ADHD symptoms in children and adolescents: A systematic literature review. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36562860/
4. Inflammatory processes and ADHD — emerging research
Chen, Q., et al. (2026). Inflammatory cytokine alterations in autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review and network meta-analysis. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42287409/
5. Primitive reflexes and ADHD — preliminary research
Wang, M., et al. (2023). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is associated with (a)symmetric tonic neck primitive reflexes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37484683/
6. Classroom environment and individualized support
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ADHD in the Classroom. Includes guidance on reducing distractions, adjusting the learning environment, and observing what helps individual students.