Communication and Language: Listening and attention
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A Unique Child:
observing what a child is learning |
Positive Relationships:
what adults could do |
Enabling Environments:
what adults could provide |
Birth to 11 months
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- Turns toward a familiar sound then locates range of sounds with accuracy
- Listens to, distinguishes and responds to intonations and sounds of voices
- Reacts in interaction with others by smiling, looking and moving
- Quietens or alters to the sound of speech
- Looks intently at a person talking, but stops responding if the speaker turns away
- Listens to familiar sounds, words or finger plays
- Fleeting Attention – not under child’s control, new stimuli takes whole attention
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- Being physically close, making eye contact, using touch or voice all provide ideal opportunities for early conversations between adults and babies and between one baby and another
- Encourage playfulness, turn-taking and responses including peek-a-boo and rhymes
- Use a lively voice, with ups and down to help babies tune in
- Sing songs and rhymes during everyday routines
- Use repeated sounds, and words and phrases so babies can begin to recognise particular sounds
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- Share stories, songs and rhymes from all cultures in babies’ home languages
- Display photographs showing how young babies communicate
- Share favourite stories as babies are settling to sleep, or at other quiet times
- Plan times when you can sing with young babies and adults, for example, touching, smiling, smelling and listening.
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8-20 months |
- Moves whole bodies to sounds they enjoy, such as music or a regular beat
- Has a strong exploratory impulse
- Concentrates intently on an object or activity of own choosing for short periods
- Pays attention to dominant stimulus – easily distracted by noises of other people talking
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16-26 months |
- Listens to an enjoys rhythmic patterns in rhymes and stories
- Enjoys rhymes and demonstrates listening by trying to join in with actions or vocalisations
- Rigid attention – may appear not to hear
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- Encourage young children to explore and imitate sound
- Talk about the different sounds they hear
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- Collect resources that children can listen to and learn to distinguish between. These may include noses in the street, and games that involve guessing which object makes a particular sound.
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22-36 months |
- Listens with interest to the noises adults make when they read stories
- Recognises and responds to many familiar sounds
- Show interest in play with sounds, songs and rhymes
- Single channelled attention. Can shift to a different task if attention fully obtained – using child’s name helps focus
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- Encourage repetition, rhythm and rhyme by using tone and intonation as you tell, recite or sing stories, poems and rhymes from books
- Be aware of the needs of children learning English as an additional language from a variety of culture and ask parents to share their favourites from their home languages
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- Keep background noise to a minimum
- Use puppets and other props to encourage listening and responding when singing a familiar song or reading from a story book
- Encourage children to learn one another’s names and to pronounce them correctly
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