Being able to listen and understand is the flip side to talking - and for two-year-olds, a developing skill. So what can we expect in terms of children's listening and understanding between the ages of two and three, and how we can support it?
GAINING ATTENTION
The starting point for listening and understanding is noticing that communication is taking place - that is, paying attention to it. This is why listening and attention can be found together in the revised Early Years Foundation Stage.
Children aged two are not good at paying attention when they are doing something else. This skill is called 'divided attention'. It is actually a cognitive skill but, of course, impacts on communication.
This is the reason why it is never a good idea for parents to put the television on while children are getting dressed or why practitioners will find that children will look as if they have not heard a sound when they are absorbed in a task.
In terms of practice, it means that we should always start by looking at timing when it comes to interaction. If children are very absorbed in a task, we may need to wait a little for there to be a natural lull. In other situations, it may also mean that we have to say a child's name at the start of a conversation and gain their eye contact before we begin to talk.
SUSTAINING ATTENTION
Not only do we need to gain children's attention for successful interactions - we also have to keep it for a time. Difficulties with this are usually linked to several factors, including tiredness, but we should never forget that children will always find it easier to sustain attention if the interaction is enjoyable and relevant. The interaction is also likely to be sustained if it is 'two way' and children are able to play an active part. Simply sitting and listening is difficult for two-year-olds and their attention often wanders in such situations.
LISTENING
When it comes to the listening element, there are several things to bear in mind. Firstly, always be on the lookout for children who may not be hearing. A temporary, but potentially significant, hearing loss often called 'glue ear' is very common in two-year-olds. Caused by a build-up of fluid behind the ear drum, it can make sounds very unclear and when severe can radically cut what children are able to hear.
Recognising that a child has this type of hearing loss is not always straightforward because the amount children can hear often fluctuates. This results in the child appearing to hear some times but not at others, giving the impression of 'selective hearing'.
Hearing loss can also be hard to pick up because some of the signs are often typical behaviours for this age range. Do look at the following signs, however, especially if a child has had a cold, and consider whether there might be a possible hearing loss.
- Children staring intently at your lips when you talk
- Children who appear to be in their own worlds
- Children who talk very loudly
- Children whose speech is delayed
- Children becoming frustrated with increased likelihood of tantrums.
BACKGROUND NOISE
As well as looking out for hearing loss, we also need to provide optimum conditions for children's listening. This means thinking about the amount of background noise, which can make it difficult to listen. In some group care settings, background noise is a real issue and yet we know that it can interfere with children's speech and language.
If your setting is noisy, look for ways in which you might cut it down - creating smaller spaces or zones or using carpet or rugs to absorb sound, for example. It is also possible to buy foam sound-proofing material at a relatively low cost, to staple to walls or the backs of furniture.
COMFORT
Children also need to be comfortable in order to listen. While there is a school of thought that two-year-olds should sit with their legs crossed for some activities, I am not so sure that this is always appropriate.
Some children are physically unable to sit crossed-legged and so a better approach is to encourage children to find a position in which they are comfortable, which may be standing, squatting or lying down.
VOICE TONES
It may seem obvious, but in order to help children listen we need to think about our voice tones and whether we are speaking clearly. A common mistake when working with children is to talk too loudly or to use a harsh voice. In fact, children prefer soft tones and provided that you have their attention there is no need to be loud.
A good exercise for everyone working with children is to record yourself during an interaction. While this is undoubtedly scary, it will help you to pick up on the style and voice tone that you use. Practitioners who are brave enough to do this usually say that their practice improves as a result.
PROCESSING TIME
One of the most important things to remember when looking at children's listening and understanding is that they need significant amounts of processing time, especially when the topic of conversation is new to them. We take for granted the way in which we hear words, understand their meaning and then reply, but it is actually quite a complex and sophisticated process.
For children, this process takes time and so one of the key rules when interacting with children is to give them plenty of time to take in any information and then respond.
Some early years trainers suggest counting to ten before asking a further question or adding in information and although this seems a little artificial it is not a bad approach until such time as you instinctively leave a pause.
Processing time can often be reduced where children are familiar with what is about to be said, and this is why stories with repeated refrains are popular with children and are useful to look out for.
VISUAL CUES
Processing can be helped if we provide children with a lot of visual cues and prompts. The first port of call is our own style of communication. Facial expression is important, with children using this along with our gestures to work out the meaning of what is being said. In terms of practice, this is why children find it hard to listen and understand when they do not have our full attention and is why being on the same level as children becomes essential.
Another important visual cue is the use of pointing to or touching objects. This gives children a reference point and, for learning new words, helps children to correlate the spoken sounds to the meaning of the word. We may, for example, point to a child's new shoes and say 'What lovely sandals!' While the child may not know the word 'sandal', there is a chance that the correlation will be made between the term 'sandal' and what is on her feet.
SHARING STORIES
Most two-year-olds can enjoy sharing a book with an adult, but their need for visual cues to aid understanding can be seen in the way that they often pore over the illustrations in a book. It is the illustrations that often help them make sense of the spoken word and so a good tip is to allow children to look at the pictures and talk to you about what they can see before you start to read the words.
When sharing stories, you may also find that some children need to re-visit a previous page. This is often a case of delayed processing and is a good reason why you should always try to share stories with only two or three children.
GETTING THE LEVEL RIGHT
Children are more likely to listen and understand if the level of language used meets their needs. Overcomplicated, long-winded sentences will be hard for children to process, so we need to match our language style to the language needs of the child. This will vary from child to child, as a two-year-old who is nearly three and whose language is pretty typical should be able to understand more complex sentences, while a child who is barely two will need us to use a simpler style.
Getting the level right is another reason why trying to get children to listen in large groups tends to be problematic. Getting the level right is particularly important when it comes to giving children instructions.
For a new language user, an instruction such as 'When you have finished painting, put the brush in pot and then take your apron off so that someone else can use it' is quite complex. There are actually four pieces of information in this sentence. If this instruction is given away from the painting table, the chances of children remembering it are low. If, in addition, the instruction is given a long time in advance of the children being in the situation, all bets are off.
GIVING INSTRUCTIONS
The secret, therefore, to giving instructions is to give the instruction at the time it is to be carried out - as simply as possible - and to only give one instruction at a time. So when a child has actually finished the painting it would be best to say, 'You can put your paintbrush in the pot now' while pointing to the paintbrush and paint pot. This would be followed by 'Now you can take off your apron'. Then an explanation could follow, if appropriate. But there is the dilemma: how much explanation should we offer two-year-olds when giving instructions?
The received wisdom, especially linked to giving commands such as 'walk, don't run', is that children are owed an explanation. While there are sound reasons for this approach, it is also worth reflecting on whether the explanation will just cloud things for children who may in some cases have very limited language.
ASSESSING CHILDREN'S COMPREHENSION
It is important to assess children's understanding because some children may look as if they are listening when in reality words are floating by. One of the ways that children show us that they understand is through actions and so they may go and point or get an object that is being spoken about.
They may also want to try to talk about something in response to what they have heard. This can easily be misinterpreted as a child interrupting or not listening when in reality the opposite is true. The child has listened, understood and reflected on what was said and has something to say.
As well as looking for these signs that a child has understood the meaning of what has been said, we can also use questioning as a technique to help us confirm that they know what our words mean. This needs to be playful in style - for example, 'Did you drop your hat?' A grin followed by the child going to pick it up will show us that they have understood.
OBSERVATION MATTERS
- Use questions to check children's understanding of words or phrases, for example, 'Can you find the rabbit?'
- See whether children can manage two-part instructions. If not, use simpler instructions.
- Look at children's responses to interactions - do they show through their facial expression or movements that they understand?
- In what situations do individual children seem to be the most attentive?
SKILLS INTO PRACTICE
- Gain children's attention before speaking
- Remember that children find it hard to listen while doing something else
- Be ready to wait for children's attention
- Use visual cues wherever possible - for example, by pointing to an object
- Remember that children need 'processing' time
- Give instructions one by one
- Remember that children often need to talk as they listen.
