Theories Flashcards
What are the foundations for attention and listening?
To enable chi to understand the world around them
- to focus and hear the world around them
- to have good hearing, listening and pay attention to language
- poor attention and listening = difficulties developing language
What is required in play and social skills
It is a pre-req for early communication skills
Child learns about language, environment and people around them through play
Social skills:
- verbal and non.verbal skills are used to interact and communicate with others
For example Gestures Eye contact Facial expressions Intonation Body language
What is required to build a successful relationship
Social skills
For example Gestures Eye contact Facial expressions Intonation Body language
What is Social Communication?
4 elements
Social Communication
Limited eye contact
- Poor turn taking and difficulty with starting and ending conversations
- Problems getting the conversation back on track after two people have talked at once, or if there has been a misunderstanding between them
- Difficulty understanding or responding to feedback from the listener. For example, not noticing when someone is bored or doesn’t understand something
- Difficulty staying on topic in conversation Problems using language to negotiate in discussions or arguments.
(Hello campaign: Don’t Get Me Wrong resources)
When to expect poor attention skills?
- An increasing number of children are starting their Reception Year with delayed attention and listening skills.
- Delayed attention and listening skills are also a common feature of children with impairments in other areas (e.g. language impairments, ADHD, global developmental delay, children with glue ear).
Reynell ATTENTION MODEL:
What is the level 1?
Like many skills, attention and listening is acquired in an identified pattern.
Children pass through distinct stages in their development of these skills.
Level 1 (0-1 years):
Child is easily distracted by things he hears or sees in his environment.
By nine months, shared attention has developed. This is where parent and child share a focus on the same object. It coincides with starting to use pointing.
How do you combat attention and listening difficulties
Explicitly teaching attention and listening skills to the whole class will support all children with the skills they need, in order to engage in and access the curriculum.
What is level 2 of the Attention at age 1-2 years
Level 2 (1-2 years): Child can focus on something that he chooses, but finds it difficult to follow direction from an adult. Attention is single channeled. This means that the child can only take in information from one modality (listening, hearing, touch/manipulation) at a time, so the child can listen or do, but not do both. The child may appear to be ignoring you, but is likely to be engrossed in what he is doing.
Development of attention skills: Cooper, Moodley & Reynell (1978)
Level 1
Level 1 – fleeting attention (0-1 years)
• Extremely distractible
• Flits from one thing to another
Effect on language
Child cannot attend to what you say
Strategies
• Discover child’s motivators
• Incorporate into preferred activity, eg, dinosaurs in sand tray/dinosaur colouring sheet/Thomas books in reading corner
Development of attention skills: Cooper, Moody & Reynell (1978)
Level 2
Level 2 – own choice of activity (1-2 years)
- Concentrates on a task of own choosing
- Won’t tolerate any intervention from an adult
- They must ignore any outside stimulation in order to organise their own thoughts and concentrate
Affect on language
Your speech interferes with the activity the child is doing. Child needs to ignore you to concentrate
Strategies
• Give child time to complete own choice of activity
• Gain child’s attention by calling their name and/or touching
Level 3 (2-3 years)?
Development of attention skills: Cooper, Moody & Reynell (1978)
Levels 3 – single channelled. Needs adult control (2-3 years)
- They cannot attend to auditory (words) and visual (play) at the same time
- Therefore cannot follow adult instructions whilst they are playing
- They are starting to shift their focus from the adult to what they are doing
Effect on language:
Child can listen if he stops activity and looks at adult. Needs adult help to do this.
Strategies:
• Call child’s name before speaking
Level 4 (3-4 years)?
Development of attention skills: Cooper, Moody & Reynell (1978)
Level 4 - single channelled. Child control Listening!! (3-4 years)
• The child is able to voluntarily alternate his full attention both looking and listening between the adult and the activity
Effect on language
Child looks automatically when adult speaks. Can shift attention from task to speaker
Strategies
• Tell child it’s time to listen
• You could tell the child that they can carry on working whilst listening to you – practice skill using a colouring activity
Level 5 (4-5 years?)
Development of attention skills: Cooper, Moody & Reynell (1978)
Level 5 – two channelled attention- short bursts (4-5 years)
• The child now has two-channelled attention
• They can understand verbal instructions related to the task without interrupting what they are doing to look at the speaker
• Their attention span may still be short but they can be taught in a group
Effect on language:
Child can listen and attend well in class
Strategies:
Signal when it’s time to listen
Praise good listening
Level 6 (5-6 years)
Development of attention skills: Cooper, Moody & Reynell (1978)
Level 6 – integrated and sustained. (5-6 years)
• Auditory, visual and manipulatory channels are fully integrated and attention is well established and sustained
Effect on language
Child listens and attends well in class.
What is the communication chain?
https://www.afasic.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/the-communication-chain.png
