Your Kindergartner's Attention Span

The average five year old doesn't have a very long attention span. Depending on the interest level of the activity, fifteen to twenty minutes is probably about the extent of patience that a child of that age has to stay with a given task, particularly if it isn't self-selected.

Since your son probably needs to work on letter and number recognition, you can certainly take the tasks that she has suggested and modify them for shorter periods of time. For example, using flashcards should not exceed five minutes, especially with such a young child. You can make up different games to play with them, such as putting them in alphabetical order or sorting the letters into groups based on similarities (letters with dots, tall letters, short letters, etc..). Number flashcards can be identified by name, put into forward and backward order, or your son can copy the numbers onto a chalkboard or paper.

Try to use your son's strengths to help him develop his letter and number recognition skills. If he likes computer programs, invest in software for that purpose. Visit a software retailer that will allow you to try out the software in the store before you buy it so that you can see if the program will meet your child's needs. There are also some wonderful board games, videos and cassettes or CD's that can stimulate a child's interest in learning to recognize letters and numbers.

Books are another useful learning tool. There are virtually hundreds of picture books that feature ABC's and 123's in them. You may want to visit Amazon.com for specific titles. You can find these books in basic forms, or specialty themes, such as "Eating the Alphabet," a book that features fruits and/or vegetables for each letter. Reading these books with your son will be an enjoyable time for you both, as well as an educational experience for him.

No matter what activities you choose to do with him, watch for fatigue or loss of interest. Once he has lost his focus, there's no point in continuing the activity because it will lead to frustration and learning will not be possible. Make it fun for him, but try to limit it to small increments so that he will be able to enjoy and maximize his learning time.