Throughout the years I have often heard parents talk about their child's 'selective' hearing. They know their child can actually hear what they are saying but may not actually do what the parent is asking them to do. Parents can work on building their child's auditory skills and memory in many ways. Children who exhibit good ability to process verbal messages and then remember what was said often do better in school. Here are a few ideas to work on these skills at home:
- Concentration/Memory card games: Get cards (or make some) with sets of pictures. Turn the pictures upside down and take turns turning over 2 cards at a time to try and find the pictures identical match. Try and give your child strategies about how to remember where the cards were rather than randomly turning over cards.
- Find 5 or more common objects from around your house. Talk about the objects you have on the table and then place a towel over them. Secretly remove one item and see if your child can remember which one is missing.
- Place pictures face up in a row (I would start with 2, then 3, then 4, etc). Say the names of the pictures in order (apple, shoe). Then turn the pictures over so you can not see the picture and see if your chid can remember the pictures in order. Turn over each picture card as your child remembers it.
- Play a simple auditory memory skill when your child is in the car, tub, etc. Try and have him/her repeat a series of numbers, words, short sentence. Start with only a few numbers or words (6, 3) or (monkey, chair), then see if he/she can remember more once he/she is successful.