Finding the Right Focus: How Movement Connects with Attention and Learning
Have you ever noticed that some people seem to focus better when they’re moving? Whether it’s tapping a foot, doodling, or playing with a fidget toy, movement often plays a key role in maintaining attention. For individuals who struggle with reading difficulties and attention issues, this natural need for movement can sometimes feel like a barrier. However, research suggests that fidgeting isn’t a distraction—it’s a tool for self-regulation.
How Attention Works: Balancing Focus and Movement
Our brains have a finite amount of attentional resources. When we engage in a mentally demanding task like learning to read with dyslexia, a significant portion of our attention is used up by decoding words, processing meaning, and retaining information. But for many individuals, especially those with ADHD and dyslexia, staying physically still while focusing on a task is nearly impossible.
Studies have shown that movement helps improve concentration in children with ADHD. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology found that children with ADHD performed better on cognitive tasks when they were allowed to move or fidget. Another study by Andrade (2009) discovered that doodling while listening to information actually improved recall, as it helped prevent mind-wandering.
What Happens Without Movement?
When movement is needed but restricted, the brain seeks stimulation elsewhere. This can result in losing focus on the original task—reading comprehension for struggling readers, for example—and instead shifting attention to something new. As a result, reading difficulties in children can worsen, leading to frustration and a reduced ability to learn effectively.
What this does not explain, however, is why some people seem to need to move to learn, while others don't.
What is going on here?
As a rule, fidgeting is a symptom of a mental state that we at Davis call disorientation.
Disorientation is a creative form of thinking in which the mind registers its own imagination as if that were reality. The result is always perceptual distortion, which can affect vision, hearing, sense of time, or sense of balance, movement and stillness. If you have ever sat in a moving vehicle, seen an adjacent vehicle move off, and felt as if you were moving, you have experienced a form of disorientation. Orientation, by contrast, is a state in which our mind is accurately taking in what the eyes are seeing, the ears are hearing, and the body is feeling.
Essentially, individuals with symptoms of restlessness or hyperactivity have learnt to access a form of disorientation that reverses the senses of movement and stillness.
As Davis Facilitators, therefore, we learn to interpret signs of fidgeting in our clients as a probable sign of disorientation. This means that, either the task the client is engaged in (for example reading) contains some unresolved triggers, or there is something in the way we are communicating that isn’t working for the client. Upon seeing the sign, we stop and ask the client if they just disorientated. If the client confirms that they did, we invite them to reorientate; usually, the fidgeting then immediately stops. Then, we investigate together what just triggered the disorientation, and resolve it.
By addressing the underlying cause of disorientation, we empower our clients to engage with reading, comprehension, and attention tasks more effectively and confidently. In doing so, we help individuals recognise which task needs the primary focus and how to manage their movement in a way that supports learning, rather than distracting from it. The Davis Method teaches clients to:
Become aware of their attention shifts and recognise when movement is helping vs. when it’s interfering.
Use tools like Koosh balls, clay modelling, and balance techniques to engage the body in a way that enhances rather than disrupts focus.
Apply Davis Orientation techniques to achieve a stable, clear mental focus, allowing them to read with greater ease and comprehension.
Interested in learning more about how to help a neurodivergent child focus? Contact Davis UK & Ireland today to explore how we can support your child’s learning and attention needs!
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