Keeping Minds on Track: Perceptions of General Education Teachers on Learners with Difficulties in Sustaining Concentration

Teachers’ attentional control is crucial. I explored the teacher's attention control involving learners with disabilities. I interviewed eight general education teachers in selected private schools in Tagum City; I selected them through purposive sampling. The results showed that managing classroom distractions to sustain attention involved attention-directing strategies, positive reinforcement, structured routines, and teacher coping mechanisms for managing anger and stress. The findings on shifting focus to support learners with disability revealed the implementation of differentiated, flexible, and learner-centered approaches, adaptive instruction, multi-modal strategies, and experiential learning. Monitoring and revising information for learners with disability were reflected in motivating learners through rewards, revising instructional strategies, monitoring learner engagement behaviorally, and collaborating with parents. This study recommends that general education teachers continue to implement flexible, learner-centered instructional practices that accommodate the diverse attention and engagement needs of learners with disabilities. Teachers may strengthen the use of structured routines, positive reinforcement, differentiated instruction, multi-modal learning activities, and experiential approaches to sustain learners’ focus and active participation in classroom activities.