listening Archives – educatingalpacas.com

Jj is for Jottings 148. Other Effects of Noise.

Most of us know about the effects of noise on our hearing, discussed in the previous post. Spending much time in noisy environments can cause long-term damage to your hearing. Examples are working in a noisy factory or living near an airport. Exposure to loud music has the same effect (and you usually have more control over that one).

“Protect your brain from the other effects of noise, Jagar.”

Jj is for Jottings 137. Auditory Processing Disorders.

Following on from auditory skills and developing auditory processing skills, we now turn our attention to auditory processing disorders. There are so many conflicting ideas in the literature as to exactly what constitutes auditory skills. One could really become bogged down by this and therefore any resulting disorders. There is even disagreement as to whether it should be “auditory processing disorders” or “central auditory processing disorders.” I’ve decided to go with the thinking that “central” implies problems only at the brain level and consequently limits the definition.

Auditory processing disorders – attempting to prevent them is a good policy.

Jj is for Jottings 136. Developing Auditory Processing Skills.

Following on from the article on auditory skills, we turn to the topic of developing auditory processing skills. An article on communication milestones from 12 months to 5 years can be found here. But now we will explore the development of auditory processing skills in a little more detail.

One general way of developing auditory processing skills is to read to your children.

Jj is for Jottings 130. Auditory Skills.

Auditory skills underpin the development of speech, language and literacy. Therefore it is vitally important to be aware of these skills and, wherever possible, assist our children to develop them.

WHAT ARE AUDITORY SKILLS?

Auditory skills include the following: Continue reading

Jj is for Jottings 122. Definite and Indefinite Articles.

Following on from the previous article on nouns, it is timely to discuss definite and indefinite articles. Articles are simply “a” or “an”, and “the”. It sounds simple, but there’s a bit more to it than that. Continue reading

Jj is for Jottings 120. Listening: Obstacles and Good Listening.

Following on from hearing versus listening and types of listening and nonlistening, this article will discuss listening obstacles, and tips for good listening. They say that love makes the world go around, but I think good listening skills help it along a bit, too.

Listening: Obstacles and Good Listening. A big obstacle to good listening is having an argument!

Jj is for Jottings 119. Types of Listening and Nonlistening.

Following the discussion on hearing versus listening, I promised to discuss more aspects of listening in the next article. We have established that hearing is a simpler process than listening, so there is more to be said about listening. We will look at the listening process, types of listening, and nonlistening. Continue reading

Jj is for Jottings 106. Strategies to Encourage Listening to Sounds in Words.

In the previous article I said that I would discuss general strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words, rather than visualising them. As I said, I have found no hard and fast rules, but these types of activities are helpful.

Shanti is coming to tell us all about strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words.

Jj is for Jottings 105. Phonics: Visualising Versus Listening.

We have another major problem with phonics: visualising versus listening, in addition to the problems created when children don’t know their sound letter links, This is a problem I encounter frequently when working with children, but I have never heard anybody else mention it in those terms. I am referring to the fact that children often use their visual modality when they need to be using their auditory modality. Continue reading

Jj is for Jottings 96. Interactive Reading With Children.

There is a difference between reading to children and reading with children. Reading TO children is just that – reading a story without any sort of discussion or interaction. (For disquieting statistics on reading to children, see here.) On the other hand, interactive reading with children, or reading WITH children, is an active process rather than a passive one. In this case, you are encouraging the child to think, predict, remember and discuss the story, and other related topics may also arise. Therefore it has all the benefits of reading to children, plus many more.

Too young for interactive reading with children, but the right age to start reading TO her.