  The role of different continuum components in the weakly-bound nucleus $^6$He
is studied by coupling unbound spd-waves of $^5$He by means of simple pairing
contact-delta interaction. The results of our previous investigations in a
model space containing only p-waves, showed the collective nature of the ground
state and allowed the calculation of the electric quadrupole transitions. We
extend this simple model by including also sd-continuum neutron states and we
investigate the electric monopole, dipole and octupole response of the system
for transitions to the continuum, discussing the contribution of different
configurations.
