How to improve listening skills and communication skills (es
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Updated on Aug 13, 2015
My 9 yr old son is good at studies. But his listening and communication skills are poor. Can any one help me ?
| Aug 13, 2015
Hi Sandhya Vadlamudi Do you want to improve his skills in general or specifically any language?
| Aug 15, 2015
Sandhya Vadlamudi, The reasons for poor listening skills are 1. not able to focus, 2. easily gets distracted, fidgety by nature 3. not able to understand the instruction due to language issues such as poor vocabulary, poor comprehension skills 4. not able to remember the instructions. 5. He is just being unmindful. find out the reason for his poor listening skills and help him fix the issue. For e. g if he forgets the instruction, then teach him how he can form a mental imagery of the instruction instead of trying to remember the words. You can try the following 1. Cut down on screen time as long screen hours can make him get used to mindless hearing. 2. If you have doubt that he is not actively listening while you give instructions, ask him to paraphrase them to make sure he understood the instructions. 3. Be a role model, When he talks, be an active listener. Listen to him patiently and do not interrupt in the middle. 4. Have an eye contact and when he finishes, ask him questions which can make him feel that you really care about what he wants to say. Let him know that you also expect the same from him. 5. To make him participate in the conversation ask open ended questions instead of yes or no questions. Ask more and more questions to keep the conversation going. 6. Everyday have a read aloud sessions with him and at the end of the session, you can ask him questions from the story such as what does he think of the main character, what kind of a person is the main character and how does he know it - ask him to show the evidence from the story . this is to know whether he listened actively to the story by forming mental picture. you could also ask something related to story such as whether he has any real life connection with the story which can make him think and describe the incident. 7. You could also play a game of "I spy" by making him describe an object or a place which can improve his communication skills. 8. you could describe an object but without mentioning the name of the object, make him draw the object as per the instructions. Take turns in this activity. When he draws, he will learn to listen, when he gives description,he will have a chance to improve his language skills. 9. Make him read a lot of books (in language of his interest) to increase his vocabulary and comprehension skills. 10. Make him write narratives (personal narratives will be much easier) so that he will learn to express his thoughts clearly keeping in mind that the readers should be able to understand clearly whatever he writes and the writing is not only for himself. hope the above points help.
