How to promote good listening skills

What does the scientific community know about your kids? Here are three clips that summarize studies about children and their listening skills:

• Scientists at Georgetown University Medical School discovered that young boys and girls process verbs differently. Girls tend to memorize words, and that may cause problems with verb tense ("holded" instead of "held"), which is declarative memory. Boys, however, process the rules that govern verb tense, which uses a different neuro-cognitive brain function. Each gender processes language differently.

• A scientific study of twins by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders showed that the ability to listen to two conversations at once (called dichotic listening) is linked to genetics. The study showed that people vary in their ability to process what they hear, and that their ability to process is inherited.

• A study by the University of Alberta indicated that children with a language impairment may only recall one key part of a story. These children also need parents to talk them through chores and other tasks to increase their understanding of what they have to complete. Disorders in auditory processing affect up to seven per cent of the population.

Promoting good listening skills

"There are five levels of listening," says Michael F. Opitz, author and professor at the University of Northern Colorado.

1. Level one: Distinguish sounds and verbal cues.
2. Level two: Recall details through precise listening.
3. Level three: Put together information to summarize or separate fact from fiction and make inferences.
4. Level four: Differentiate between fact and opinion.
5. Level five: Comprehend significance.

Four- to seven-year-olds are generally in levels two and three. Opitz suggests that families promote listening through modelling. Here are a few other ways to encourage it:

• Give cues. Say, "We are doing three things today," so they’ll listen for the elements in the plan.

• Prompt your child. "Listen to the rules so we can play this game."

• Ask questions. Review what was said, such as, "Where are the three places we will go?"

• Be brief. Avoid repeating yourself because children typically start tuning out and figure that you’ll remind them if it’s important.