Getting little ones to listen

Attention and listening are the absolute bedrock of early learning. It is from a solid foundation of strong attention and listening skills that other learning behaviours and therefor access to group learning develops. Good listening supports language, social and cognitive development.

There are several things to consider in supporting children to listen.

Environment

It is very difficult to listen in a busy, noisy environment. We find this as adults, even though we’ve had lots of practise! Over time we refine our ability to filter out irrelevant sounds and information and focus on what we are listening too. Young children are far more easily distracted and are often only able to focus on one thing at a time. Consider what you can do to reduce distractions in the environment for times when you really want a child to listen. Turn off the TV/ radio, go to a quiet room or make sure your child has their back to anything which might obviously distract them.

Get their attention first

As young children have single channeled attention, we need to help them to shift their attention to what they need to listen to. Trying to talk from across the room is often unsuccessful, rather approach them, go down to their level and try to get them to give you eye contact. Once you know you have your child’s attention, then they are ready to listen to you.

Reduce your language

When talking with young children make sure to keep your language simple and in short bursts. This gives the child the best opportunity to listen to what you are saying and to process the information. Be particularly mindful of this when giving instructions. Give information in the order it is needed and avoid tricky concept words like before/ after / until.

Be clear what listening is

We often ask children to listen but do not help them to understand what this, quite abstract, skill actually is. ‘Teaching Children to Listen’ is a fabulous programme by two speech therapists (Woodcock & Spooner) which teaches children how to listen using four principles:

-          Being quiet

-          Keeping still (so that others can listen)

-          Look at the person who is talking

-          Listen to all of the words.

Children learn what you are looking for when you show them what you mean. Be sure to demonstrate ways to support listening by making this really obvious.

‘I am going to turn the TV off so that I can listen carefully whilst we share this story.’

Encourage your child by giving specific praise when they are doing what you expect. The learn best when feedback is immediate and relates to what is happening.

‘Johnny, I can see that you are listening because you are looking at me.’

‘I know you listened to all of the words because you brought both your coat and shoes.’

Practise makes perfect

As with any skill, listening needs lots of practice to be mastered. We need to give children lots of opportunities to practice their listening. There are lots of fun listening games to play with children. Start simple and build up to more difficult games as your child’s ability to listen improves. Also, remember to start somewhere quiet and distraction free. Once your child is able to listen in a quiet place you can build the difficulty by practising in busier places. This supports your child in listening when they are in a school setting.

To get more of our top tips and tools join our Confident Communicators Group (supporting development for 2 – 5 year olds).

The group is open to parents/ carers/ grandparents and early years practitioners.

Do come along and join us!