Daily HealthBeat Tip

Distracted kids

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Why can't kids pay attention? One reason seems to be brain development.

Paul van Donkelaar of the University of Oregon talked about that in a symposium in Australia.

Van Donkelaar, whose work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, studied repeated quick glances away from what the kids were supposed to view, toward a secondary object. Four- to six-year-olds glanced away more than seven- to nine-year-olds did.

Van Donkelaar believes that's largely due to more developed brain wiring in the older kids. So, parents who get on their youngsters for not paying attention, consider that van Donkelaar thinks it might not be the kids' fault:

"I think every parent has evidence of this in their everyday life in terms of asking a child not to do something – or the child going ahead and doing it without really thinking." (nine seconds)

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November 17, 2006

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