Listening is the process of attaching meaning to
sounds. Although speaking is the most
important communication skill, the ability to listen is more necessary in the
process of learning. More importantly, the
act of skillful listening is the basis for developing intelligence.
HOW CAN PARENTS
PROMOTE LISTENING SKILLS IN CHILDREN?
First, parents must learn and practice the art of
listening. This means role-modeling good
listening habits. Do not expect children
to listen to you if you rarely listen to them.
This may require stopping a moment when a child has something exciting,
important or even upsetting to tell you.
Some parents sit down and talk with their children as soon as they
arrive home from school, during an after-school snack or during an evening
meal. If this is not possible, then any
moment in the day will do. Time to talk
with and listen to your children is far more important than attending to
cooking, cleaning or other tasks.
AUDITORY PERCEPTION ACTIVITIES
The ability to listen involves a complex process known as
“auditory perception,” and includes 1) discrimination, 2) reception, 3) memory,
4) comprehensions and 5) closure. If a
child’s listening skills need improvement in any of these areas, his or her
overall capabilities may be affected.
The following suggestions provide a sequence of skills (from easy to
complex) in each area of auditory perception.
Working your way through these sequences will help you to spot areas
that may benefit from special attention.
DISCRIMINATION
- Localizes direction of sound
- Identifies familiar voices
- Discriminates environmental sounds
- Discriminates between animal sounds
- Attends to a specific sound in a noisy environment
- Identifies familiar voices other than family members
- Identifies pairs of sounds as the same or different
- Identifies pairs of words as the same or different
- Distinguishes between rhyming words
- Discriminates the position of a sound in words
RECEPTION
- Responds to her or his name
- Responds to a familiar song by doing action
- Follows simple verbal directions without visual cues
- Identifies simple animal sounds
- Recognizes environmental sounds
- Recognizes verbal absurdities
- Repeats simple facts of a story
- Follows a three-stage command
- Identifies objects by verbal descriptions
- Repeats a story in sequence
MEMORY
- Repeats syllables
- Repeats animal sounds
- Repeats a two-word sentence
- Sings part of a familiar song
- Repeats three digits
- Repeats sequence of four related words
MEMORY (CONTINUED)
- Repeats sequence of three unrelated words
- Repeats a six-word sentence
- Supplies a missing numeral in rote counting
- Repeats an eight-word sentence
COMPREHENSION
- Points to named body parts
- Points to pictures
- Answers the question “What’s your name?”
- Understand and demonstrates directions requiring specific responses
- Demonstrates understanding of actions
- Demonstrates understanding of colors
- Understands classifications
- Answers logical questions about function
- Understands prepositions
- Begins to understand abstract terms
- Begins to understand remote events
- Begins to comprehend time
- Demonstrates an understanding of numbers
- Completes opposite analogies
- Comprehends directional commands
CLOSURE
- Supplies the missing part of a song
- Supplies the missing part of a familiar story
- Supplies the missing word in a simple related sentence
- Identifies partially spoken words
- Completes a sentence logically
- Corrects nonsense statements
- Completes short poems with appropriate rhyming words
Choose a method of teaching listening skills that suits your child's strengths in sensory learning (whether visual, kinesthetic or aural).
