Improving Children's Listening Skills

Even an Ussain Bolt will easily fail if he hears the starting whistle of the 100 meters race, ten seconds later than his competitor athletes do. Listening is ranked as one of the most important factors of communication. A communication fails completely when there are no active listening and interpretation from the receiver. A person's personal and professional relationships are mainly based on his/her communication skills. The more you listen, the more you perceive and if you perceive more than other people do, you can understand things earlier than them. If you want your little one to be a successful person in life, you should equip her/him with highly refined listening skills. The listening skills will improve your child's concentration and thinking pattern. There are different kinds of methods to improve the listening skills of your child. Read on the article to know more about listening skills which can improve your child's mental growth.

 

 

You should test the child’s hearing by observing her/his reactions to your voice and the sounds of her/his noisy toys. If your child’s reactions are normal, it’s enough to prove that her/his hearing skills are normal. If you find out that your child is not responding to the sounds around her/him properly, then you must discuss the problem with a pediatrician.  It is important to know this fact early as possible because if the doctor confirms that your child’s hearing is impaired, you can alter your approach to teaching her/him to listen.

 

Reading to your kid can improve her/his listening skills. Children all over the world, no matter what are their ethnic specialties, love to hear stories. Select stories which suit a child’s sensibilities. You should observe her/his reaction when you read stories to her/him. A child’s behavior when she/he listens to a story can be confusing for parents because she/he may be playing her/his toys when you read the stories. The child may not sit quiet for listening to your stories. You shouldn’t get angry if the child doesn’t obey your commands because she/he really doesn’t know that it is important to listen to your reading. As time passes, you can teach her/him to sit near you and listen to your stories carefully.

 

You must try to make your child engage in conversations to improve her/his listening skills. In an early age, children don’t know how to converse properly. Conversation is a skill which they must learn gradually. You can make her/him talk by asking questions about the activities which she/he did on the day. It is important to acknowledge what she/he said to you by asking questions, during her/his pauses in conversation. You must show her/him that you are listening carefully to her/his talk with sheer interest. You can also encourage her/him to ask question for improving her/his listening skills.

 

You shouldn't allow your children to watch television or play video games from an early age. Keep them turned off for improving your child's listening skills. Video games and television pass information to the human mind at a lightning speed. For a child, it is not easy to register all the information in her/his mind. Interpreting that information will be more complex for the children. It’s hard for a child to concentrate on her/his language or science class after being exposed to hours of loud music, flashing lights and maddening noises in the television set or computer games. It is far better if you make your child switch to reading books, playing puzzles or antakshari. These activities improve your child's concentration and thus, listening skills too.

 

Active Listening & Passive Listening
Active listening is good way to improve your child listening skills. The activities such as making eye contact, using non verbal communication such as nodding and repeating the points back to the speaker for further clarification are known as active listening skills. As your child gets bit older, you can explain her/him the difference between passive and active listening. Listening to music is an example of passive listening. You can talk to somebody and can still listen to john William’s classic piano music. You need to put your full attention to grasp when someone is giving instructions to you. This is called active listening. Practice these styles of listening in your conversations with the child.