Helping to develop your child’s listening and attention #4

Listening Practice:

• Ask your child to close their eyes and point to where a sound you make is coming from, e.g. ask your child to close their eyes then you play a musical instrument, and they point to where they think the sound is coming from. Take turns once your child is familiar with the game.
  • Make it easier: Use just one sound and make it louder or very close to your child.
  • Make it harder: Make the sound quieter or further away from your child.
• Play musical instruments and ask your child to perform an action when they hear a certain musical instrument e.g. “When you hear the tambourine you need to clap your hands and when you hear the drum you need to stand up”, etc. Start with one instrument and encourage your child to carry out the action. Introduce a second instrument and so on.
  • Make it easier: Give clues for what actions need to happen.
  • Make it harder: Move quickly from one instrument to another or have more instruments for them to remember. Take turns playing the instruments.
• Tell a simple story your child is familiar with, making sure different places feature in the story. Ask your child to listen out for where people are in the story, e.g. the forest, the cave, etc. As you go through the story, stop and ask your child where different characters are, e.g. “Where is Cinderella now?” (In the kitchen). At the end of the story think back together about the different places the characters went in the story.
• Praise your child for showing good listening skills (good sitting, good looking, and good thinking).