10 fun activities to develop auditory perceptual skills in children
Sipu was sitting in his room trying to finish his maths homework with mama. Dad was talking over the phone in the other room. Grandpa was watching TV in the living room. The AC in Sipu's room was on & making a sound. Sipu could hear all these different sounds.
As mama was trying to help Sipu with his maths homework, he was having a really hard time listening to what mama was saying. He seemed to be quite distracted.
Mama was losing patience that Sipu was not focusing on what she is saying repeatedly. He is taking so long to finish his homework getting distracted frequently....
In the above example, Sipu might be having deficits in auditory processing skills. He is bombarded with too much information & his brain is unable to filter out the relevant from the irrelevant information, thus he is having difficulty focusing on his maths homework or listening to what mama is saying.
How does a deficit in Auditory perceptual skills affect a child?
If someone has difficulties with auditory processing skills, it does not affect what is heard by their ears but does affect how this information is interpreted by the brain.
An auditory processing deficit can interfere with:-
➧Speech and language
➧Socialization skills
➧Different areas of learning especially reading and spelling,
➧Recognizing dangers like the noise of vehicles while crossing the road
➧Attention & Concentration
➧Self-esteem
Mona is sitting in the classroom. The children are talking to each other. There is some construction work going on in the nearby building making noises. Suddenly the teacher calls "Mona, come to the front with your notebook." Mona immediately responds to the teacher, "Yes ma'am", & goes to the front with her notebook.
She used her auditory perceptual skills to distinguish the different noises that are irrelevant and responds to her teacher's voice. She could perceive from which direction the teacher was calling her & what command she was giving her. She could respond appropriately to that situation using her auditory perceptual skills.
What are Auditory Perceptual skills?
Auditory perception (or auditory perceptual skills) is the ability of our brain to understand & interpret the sound that is heard through the ears & respond appropriately.
When we hear something, whether it is a noise or someone's voice, our ears immediately send the information to the brain. To make this information meaningful, the brain must distinguish which is relevant and which is irrelevant at that point of time, what exactly is the information, does it need your response & how to respond appropriately to the situation.
Another example can be:-
You are inside your house talking over the phone. Suddenly, the doorbell rings. Holding the phone in your hand, you keep talking over the phone while walking to the door & open it.
You could distinguish the doorbell sound even if you are on a call, you know where you need to go to open the door & you respond appropriately to the situation.
Although the above tasks seem incredibly simple, it requires our brain to process a lot of information simultaneously filtering out the relevant from the irrelevant information in order to respond appropriately. We are able to do this due to our auditory perceptual skills.
If we do not have good auditory perceptual skills, these simple daily tasks can be chaotic for us.
Why are Auditory perceptual skills important?
We use auditory perceptual skills throughout the day. These are very essential for the development of speech & language, learning to read, learning spellings, understanding simple commands, following instructions, enjoying music, attending to your task in a noisy environment, or even responding to your name in a classroom or in a crowded place.
Good auditory perceptual skills are essential even for some simple tasks like:-
➤Recognizing your mother's voice in a crowded place like a market.
➤Writing words/sentences that are dictated by the teacher
➤Reading fluently
➤Following instructions like "Go to the freeze, bring me 2 potatoes & 3 onions."
➤Doing actions listening to rhymes
➤Responding to your name or roll number in the classroom
➤Distinguishing between similar sound words like "bat", "cat", "pat", "hat",etc.
How to identify if a child has difficulties with auditory perception?
If a child does not have good auditory perceptual skills, he/she might face difficulties with:-
⏩Responding to his name or roll number in the classroom. He might be lost in his world mostly & needs to be called in a loud voice, or a tap on the shoulder to respond to his name.
⏩Answering simple questions in the classroom or, in online classes. He might know the answers, but still seem to be needing a lot of cues to answer the questions most of the time.
⏩Lack of interest in activities like listening to a story, or any activities that need some conversation
⏩Mostly distracted from his work even with the slightest noise
⏩Difficulty in learning spellings of words.
⏩Difficulty following instructions. He may not seem to understand instructions like-"Go to the bedroom, keep this file on the rack, then bring me the black purse kept on the bed.
⏩Difficulty in discriminating between similar sounding words.He might get confused between words like- "hop", "mop", "soap", etc.
⏩Difficulty in playing games like doing actions with rhymes.
- ⏩Difficulty localizing sound.
- ⏩Difficulty understanding spoken language Child might not follow your commands especially in noisy backgrounds, or when commands are presented rapidly.
- ⏩Taking longer to respond in situations that require verbal communication.
How to develop good Auditory perceptual skills in children?
We can develop auditory perceptual skills in children using some simple activities in a playful way that would be tremendously helpful for both the child & his parents.
The activities mentioned below are effective for children with Autism, ASD, Down syndrome, Learning disabilities, Cerebral Palsy, Sensory processing disorders(SPD), or, for any child who is having deficits in auditory-perceptual skills.
WHAT/WHOSE SOUND IS THIS ?
This is a very simple game that kids will love to play & very effective to develop auditory perceptual skills. You can play one-one or in groups also.
👉Play different sounds in your mobile phone & ask your child to identify what is that sound or which animal makes that sound.
👉You can play sounds of different objects like- "sounds of traffic", "sounds of thunder", "sounds of whistles, sounds of common musical instruments(that your child is familiar with)
👉Then gradually move to "which animal/bird makes this sound?" You can play the sounds of dogs barking, cats, lions, etc.
👉Make it more challenging by recording the voice of different family members, & asking your child to recognize the voice.
👉 You can play the same game outside. Sit under a tree or go to the rooftop with your child.
Listen for various sounds like birds chirping, airplanes flying overhead, cars driving by, voices of children, etc.
You can have a little notebook on hand and keep a list of all of the different sounds you both come across.
WHICH IS DIFFERENT ?
Just like the above activity, this activity works on "auditory discrimination skills".
👉Say 4-5 rhyming words & ask which is the different word.
Example:- "Hat", "Bat", "Cat", "Start", "Mat".
Here, "Start" is a different word.
WHERE AM I ?
This is another interesting activity that helps a child to perceive from which direction a sound is coming.
👉Play this game in an open space.
👉Ask your child to stand at the center closing his/her eyes.
👉You stand at a distance and clap 2-3 times. She has to perceive from which direction the sound is coming & walk towards you.
👉Keep changing your directions & ask the child to come to you. You can start by standing nearer to your kid & clapping many times & gradually increase the distance & decrease the number of claps.
CLAP WITH CAT
👉Say a few words & ask your kid to clap every time he hears the word "cat".
Example:- Bat, Hat, Fat, Mat, Start, Chat, Cat.
👉Make it more challenging by reading out a paragraph or a page in which a particular word comes multiple times. Every time she/he hears that word, she/he has to clap.
👉Make the game even more challenging by asking him/her to make two different actions with two words.
Example:- Clap with "Cat" & Nod with "Dog".
ANSWERING QUESTIONS FROM A STORY
👉Read an unfamiliar story to your child. Afterward, ask your child questions about the story.
Who were the friends in the story? What happened first, who went to the game, etc.
REPEAT AFTER ME ANS
👉Sit behind your child and clap/tap your hands to a rhythmic pattern. Have your child repeat the pattern by listening to the claps/taps.
👉Start by only clapping a few times.
Then, add tapping on knees & adding a sequence of clap/tap patterns.
FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS
👉Start by, giving your child one instruction about any object that is nearby.
Example:- “Give me the remote”
👉Next, give your child two instructions that he can remember & follow.
“Go into the kitchen and grab a spoon.”
👉Then give your child three instructions,
“Go into the kitchen, grab a water bottle and keep it on the table.”
Build up the instructions over time. Then switch so that your child gets to give you instructions to follow as well.
WHAT COMES NEXT ?
If you can practice these consistently, they will help your child build a strong foundation making their daily life much easier, stress-free & they will also not miss out on learning opportunities due to difficulty in auditory-perceptual skills.
Try out!
About the writer :-
The writer’s name is Abhipsa Parida. She is an occupational therapist specialised in pediatrics and has been handling kids with special needs since 5 years. She is quite experienced and skillful in observation, assessment and planning intervention for kids with special needs. She uses evidence based practice and is very creative and updated in her approach while handling kids with special needs. She has her own clinic in Bhubaneswar and has handled many kids of different age groups with varying needs.
If you have any queries, you can mail them at abhipsaot21@gmail.
One of the best article I ever read... keep it up ....
ReplyDeleteThank you so much
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