Run a Distraction Audit on Your Child's Study Space

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-23

What a distraction audit is

A distraction audit is a routine we suggest. It is not a tested program. You watch what pulls your child away from the work. Then you change one thing at a time.

Sound: quiet, talk and songs with words

A 2018 review pooled 65 studies of reading with sound in the background (Vasilev and colleagues, 2018). Noise, talk and music all made reading a little worse. The effect was small. Talk you can understand, and songs with words, distracted most. Children and adults were affected about the same.

So, for reading, quiet tends to win on average. The review was about reading. Using it for other homework is our view.

In our view, check what your child can hear from the seat. A TV in the next room counts, and so does music with words.

One of our own focus exercises adds a radio on low, on purpose. That is a short practice task. It is not advice for homework.

White and pink noise

A 2024 review looked at white and pink noise in 13 trials (Nigg and colleagues, 2024). The noise helped a little on lab attention tasks. That was only for people with ADHD or many ADHD signs. For people without those signs, it did not help, and may have made things worse. Lab tasks are not homework. We do not suggest white noise for children in general.

The phone

A 2023 review pooled 22 studies of phones and thinking tasks (Böttger and colleagues, 2023). Using a phone, or having one nearby, went with worse results on average. Results varied a lot from study to study. Most studies were of older students and adults, and they mixed using a phone with having it nearby.

One survey asked 135 high-school students about phones and homework (Mrazek and colleagues, 2021). Most said they would try silencing the phone or putting it out of sight. Many were not doing these yet.

In our view, out of sight during homework is a simple step to try. It is not a tested one. A drawer or a bag will do.

We could read only the summaries of the white-noise review and the phone survey.

The space itself

We hold no study of how to set up a home study space. That includes the desk, the room and how tidy it is.

Here are checks we suggest. They are our examples, not from a study.

• What can your child see from the seat? Toys, games and screens in view can pull the eye.
• Is everything needed close by? A pencil, paper and the book save trips away.
• Do people walk past often? A quieter corner may help.
• Is only today's work out? Put the rest out of sight.

How to run the audit

These steps are our own practice.

1. Sit nearby for one homework session. Do not fix anything yet.
2. Each time your child looks away or gets up, jot down why. Sound, the phone, something in view, a person, or a missing pencil.
3. Count which one came up most.
4. Change that one thing only.
5. Watch again a few days later. Did the count go down?

Ask your child, too. In our experience, children can often say what pulls them away.

Our practice: no games, phones or treats in the half hour before homework.

None of the studies on this page tested our audit. Nothing in these studies tests Learning Success.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Schoolwork well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about learning.
• Extreme upset about schoolwork.
• Complete avoidance of school or learning.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.