Our ever-more sophisticated technologies and culture have led us to become highly dependent on visual stimulation to maintain our attention.
Tell Me More
We are very fortunate to live in a highly visual world. Our senses are constantly stimulated and bombarded with visual input. As a result, we have become largely dependent on this input to stimulate our attention. Our children are products of this visual world, surrounded by televisions, game consoles, computers, DVDs and more. Today, it is quite unusual for a child to sit and listen to a story without any additional stimulation or input. However, this focus on visual stimulation can have a detrimental effect on children’s listening development – a vital classroom and general life skill.
So What?
Listening skills form the basis of listening comprehension, essential for the development of adequate literacy skills, and for generally coping with the academic demands of school. You can help to strengthen your child’s listening skills with the following activities:
- Telling stories without books or visual aids, and asking them to repeat back what they’ve heard.
- Providing and encouraging stage-appropriate audiobooks or listening to games.
- Playing games that require the child to repeat what they’ve heard from you or another player.
A note about the author:
Dr. Randa Grob-Zakhary, MD Ph.D. is the Founder of The Babyboost Institute for Early Learning and Development. Want more tips? Purchase Babyboost: 50 Critical Facts on Amazon.