From the colour I thought it was Geisha on the shearing table (she’s medium fawn), but when I saw her face on the next frame it turned out to be Nina – white! I should add that the alpacas are not suffering whilst on the shearing table – not keen, but not suffering, and the result feels so wonderful – no more itchy grass seeds against their skin, and ….freedom! Looking at her this way makes me want to tickle her tummy.
Jj is for Jottings 41. Cutting Out Visual Props.
Enlarging upon the comment on Jottings 40 made by Ann on Facebook, who said she finds another great listening activity is to read a story to children without pictures – spot on! When you ask them questions about the story afterwards, you will really begin to find out their ability to listen and to comprehend what they have heard. Anyone who has read the introduction to “Aa is for Alpacas” will recognise this theme, and it cannot be emphasized enough – there are very few activities these days which don’t involve visual material in addition to auditory, and many children rely far more on visual clues to understand something than on their auditory abilities. Those pesky screens again! So they need to be encouraged to listen by depriving them of all visual clues so that they are thrown back on auditory clues only.
One of my “therapy mums” had noticed this when watching a program on television with her child. The child asked questions about the program which had been covered by the dialogue, but the information did not appear in pictorial form on the screen. That is when her mother realised she was using only visual cues to interpret the story. She was lucky that her daughter had bothered to ask questions, otherwise she may not ever have realised what was going on.
Since specific stimulation is what causes pathways to be laid down in the brain, auditory-only stimulation is really important. Otherwise children will struggle at school with material presented without visual support, and their interpersonal skills will also suffer – you don’t feel valued if the person you are speaking with is not paying proper attention to what you are saying.
What activities can we do to encourage listening? The listening exercise from last time is a good general “tuning-in” starter. As Ann said, reading stories without the pictures is wonderful. Not always, but perhaps the first time you read a new story. In that way you will really know how much the child is listening and comprehending (as long as you ask questions which will uncover this). Bear in mind that they might actually be listening but not understanding what they are hearing, so inaccurate answers to your questions about the story may be a sign of a language disorder. If you are in any doubt, a speech pathology assessment is the next step.
Another great activity for listening is to have children listen to story CDs, perhaps whilst playing quietly with Lego or something similar. You still need to check that the story has “gone in”, of course. Listening to nursery rhymes and songs on CDs is also valuable. If the child starts singing the songs or saying the rhymes, you know they have listened, regardless of whether they have understood. Listening to songs, stories and rhymes in the car is a great way to shorten a long car journey. I have to admit that I always made sure that my children were listening to something in the car which I enjoyed, too, otherwise my car journey might have seemed longer rather than shorter! By doing this, we have developed lifetime habits – as adults, one of my boys still listens to book readings in the car, whilst the other prefers podcasts, both of which are useful and enjoyable ways of getting from A to B.