Sometimes talking to your child can feel like your talking to a brick wall. It is important for your child to have excellent listening skills. Her education and success in life depends on it. Your child will be required to take standardized tests throughout her education, and possibly throughout her career. In addition, her safety relies heavily on how well she listen to instructions given. Many times your child may only listen to what's important to her, and block the rest out. You can conduct simple tests with your child to be sure that her listening skills are at the proper level.
Step 1
Play a listening game. When taking standardized tests in school, often the facilitator is not allowed to repeat directions. For this reason, it is very important that your child listens well the first time something is said. To test your child's listening skills, say a string of three words, such as cat, dog, cat. Then ask your child to repeat the words back to you. Repeat this activity 10 times or until your child is successful.
Step 2
Ask your child to rehash various things that you say to him throughout the day. You are not looking to see if he remembers each word that you've said verbatim. It's more important that he got the general idea of what you were telling him.
Step 3
Pay attention to your child's non-verbal listening skills. Many times, your child may become distracted when you are talking to him. When your child maintains a reasonable amount of eye contact, it is more likely that he is listening and paying attention to what you are saying to him.
Step 4
Read a book to your child and ask her what it was about. Don't worry if she adds things to the story. Often your child may add some of her experiences into stories as she reads. Instead, focus on whether she got the main idea of what the story was about.
Tips and Warnings
- Develop your child's patience. Often your child may be impatient because she is excited about what activity she is going to do next. Let your child plan activities for the day so that she knows in what order things will take place. The more patience your child has, the more she will be able to keep her attention focused on someone when they are speaking to her. Take away the television. President George W. Bush once advised that an off button was put on the television for a reason--to turn it off. This is advice that every parent should take heed to. When you child watches television throughout the day she is not getting the opportunity to foster her talking and listening skills. Communication takes practice. While the television can be educational, it can not develop the fundamental skills of communication. (See Reference 2)
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