Discuss the development of attention in middle childhood

What will be an ideal response?

In middle childhood, attention becomes more selective, adaptable, and planful. First, children become better at deliberately attending to just those aspects of a situation that are relevant to their goals. Selective attention improves sharply between ages 6 and 10, with gains continuing throughout adolescence. Second, older children are better at flexibly adapting their attention to task requirements. Finally, planning, which requires children to coordinate attention skills with other cognitive processes, improves greatly in middle childhood. On tasks with many parts, school-age children make decisions about what to do first and what to do next in an orderly fashion. Having many opportunities to practice planning helps them imagine future possibilities, postpone action in favor of evaluating alternatives, organize task materials (such as items on a grocery list), and remember the steps of their plan so they can attend to each one in sequence. Parents can foster planning by encouraging it in everyday activities, from loading the dishwasher to preparing for a vacation. The demands of school tasks—and teachers' explanations of how to plan—also contribute to gains in planning.