Tionscadal Léirithe um Theiripe ar Scoil agus Tacaíocht na Luathbhlianta Demonstration Project on In-school and Early Years Therapy Support

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Attention and Listening

Higher Level Ideas to Support Pupils

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Stages for Developing Attention and Listening

Stage Attention level Effect on language

1 Very distractible.

Attention is fleeting and given to the

most exciting stimulus in the room.

Can find it difficult to attend to

what you are saying.

2 Can attend to an activity of their own choosing for a longer period of time but need to block out all other distractions.

Attention is described as rigid and

inflexible

The pupil may block out what

you are saying in order to

concentrate on what they are

doing.

3 Attention is still single channelled but beginning to be able to attend to adults.

Beginning to switch attention

between adults and task.

Able to listen to adult instructions if the pupil stops what they are doing.

Adults need to ensure they

have the pupil’s attention

before giving any instructions.

4 Attention remains single channelled but the pupil is more able to control their attention.

The pupil is able to switch between task and adult spontaneously.

Will look at an adult when they speak.

Able to shift their attention from the task to the adult giving instructions.

5 Able to integrate attention to multiple channels for short periods of time.

Can attend to verbal instructions

without needing to look at the adult

giving the instruction.

Can listen whilst also

completing another activity

such as playing or doing table

top activities.

6 Sustained and integrated attention is

well established and under the pupil’s

control.

Able to listen and attend well in

different situations.

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Overview This tool was jointly developed by Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists. It has

been adapted for use by teachers working with children with additional needs as part of Summer

Provision.

This document provides general advice for teachers to support pupils’ attention and listening skills. Also

included are sample games and activities, which are targeted at developing attention and listening skills.

The activities you choose will depend on the developmental stage and language skills of the pupil(s) you

are working with. Further simple attention and listening games can be found here: https://ncse.ie/wp-

content/uploads/2020/07/Attention-and-Listening-Skills.pdf

This resource supports the key principles of ‘Promoting a Sense of Calm’ and ‘Promoting

Connectedness’.

Considerations

A pupil’s ability to attend and listen can be affected by several factors. Consider the following:

• Comfort – is the pupil on an uncomfortable chair? Are they hungry? Is it too hot?

• Focus – is the pupil able to give and sustain focus?

• Distractions – are there too many things going on in the room? Or a constant noise in

the background?

• Emotional – is the pupil worried about something?

• Organisation – does the pupil know how long this task will last? And what will happen

next? It may affect their listening if they do not.

• Understanding – Does the pupil understand what is being said? We all switch off if a

task is too hard or we do not know what we are expected to do.

• Motivation – does the pupil want to do the activity?

• Success factor – is the pupil used to succeeding because tasks are pitched at the right

level for them? This will affect their ability to persist.

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General strategies to support attention and listening skills

Make frequent eye contact.

Use the pupil’s name to get their attention before you talk to them.

Work for short periods and give regular breaks.

Tell the pupil important information is coming to prepare them to listen e.g. ‘Listen

carefully, next…’.

Give specific praise e.g. ‘well done for waiting’, ‘thank you for looking at me’, rather

than general praise e.g. ‘well done’.

Where possible, use visuals to support the pupil to focus for longer, for example: sand

timers, clock visuals, a timer on your phone or a ‘now and next’ board.

Use visual supports such as flash cards, pictures or objects while you are talking as

many pupils find it easier to concentrate on visual things.

Avoid giving long or complicated instructions Keep instructions as short as possible.

Break them into small steps and give one at a time.

Tell the pupil what you want them to listen out for.

Take turns in activities with you or with other children if possible. Children often

maintain attention when they are waiting for their own turn.

Encourage a pupil who has attention difficulties to repeat back to you what they have

to do. Encourage them to also repeat this silently to themselves in their head.

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Attention and Listening Games & Activities

Storytelling Game:

You can play this game with a pupil or you can get other children involved if possible! You or

the pupil starts a story with an event such as ‘The dog found a bone in the garden’. Then the

other person adds the next event that happens in the story, such as ‘The bone was too big to

carry’. This can continue back and forth as you build the story: ‘So the dog put it in a wagon to

pull it to his kennel’ until you reach the end of the story.

Chaining games:

These are games that you keep going and use your listening and attention skills to remember

what other people have said. Examples of chaining games are ‘I went to the shop and I

bought…’ or ‘I went to the zoo and saw…’. If these games are too easy for the pupil, you can

add in more describing words e.g. ‘’I went shopping and I bought a shiny red apple’’ or ‘’I went

to the zoo and I saw a monkey eating a banana’’.

Expanding sentences:

This is similar to chaining games but the pupil adds information to each other’s ideas. The

pupil needs to recap on what has been said so far and add in a new piece of information e.g. ‘I

played scrabble…’, ‘I played scrabble on Saturday’, ‘I played scrabble on Saturday and I spelt

the word delicious’.

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Remembering parts of a story:

When you are reading with the pupil, before turning the page over you can ask specific

questions about the page you have just read e.g. ‘’what was the boy’s name?’’, ‘’where did

they travel to?’’, ‘’what did they forget?’’ This helps the pupil to learn how to extract key

pieces of information.

Recall of a spoken sequence:

List items and see if the pupil can remember them. Start at an easy level, for example 2 items

and then gradually increase. You could try numbers (e.g. 5, 1, 6, 9), colours (e.g. red, blue,

yellow, green) or animals (e.g. cat, dog, fox, sheep etc.). If this is too difficult, you can adapt

this activity by use objects or pictures e.g. toy animals, household objects. Present the object

or picture as you say the word.

20 questions listening game:

In this game, lots of listening skills are practiced. For instance, tell the pupil you are an item

that starts with a certain letter, a fictional character, or a Science object they have recently

learned about. Have them ask you 20 yes/no questions to try to figure out what you are.

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Unscrambling jumbled sentences:

Ask your pupil to listen and ‘fix’ the sentences you say. For example:

o My forgot I lunch

o Called out referee The time

o O'Brien her is Mr. teacher

o Dog has My legs four

o Breakfast made I my quickly

o Chair Sit on your

o Teacher no The said talking

o 80 granny is My

o Man I that like

o Three table the on There cups are

o Chips you, Do, rice or want.

o Me your homework see Let

o In front The is window of the sink

o Football field large has school The a

o Dropped The teddy the bear baby

o River into The fox jumped the

o Ground the Mary on fell her knee and cut

o Near a lake was donkey The

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Odd-One-Out

Identify the word in a series that does not belong and get your pupil to say why.

Salmon, chair, mackerel, trout

Pencil, newspaper, book, magazine

Oak, beech, chestnut, daffodil

Jumper, trousers, vest, shirt

Runners, sneakers, trainers, shoes

October, November, December, April

Yoghurt, milk, beef, cheese

Angry, furious, happy, livid

Brother, cousin, sister, sibling

Cork, Kilkenny, Mullingar, Galway

Story, pen, novel, essay

Pleasant, harmful, evil, nasty

Biscuits, tea, coffee, milk

Jack, Mary, Jane, Ann

Raven, eagle, wasp, robin

Burger King, McDonalds, Easons, Abracababra

References:

• NHS Foundation Trust Central and North West London, 2019, Attention and Listening

Skills, accessed 3rd June 2019, <https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/wp-

content/uploads/2.Attention-and-Listening-Skills.pdf>

• NHS Foundation Trust Central and North West London, 2019, Attention and Listening

Classroom Strategies, accessed 3rd June 2019,

Tionscadal Léirithe um Theiripe ar Scoil agus Tacaíocht na Luathbhlianta Demonstration Project on In-school and Early Years Therapy Support

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<https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/wpcontent/uploads/Class-teacher-strategy-sheet-

Attention-and-listening.pdf>

• National Educational Psychological Service, 2015, Activities to develop receptive

language and comprehension skills, accessed 14th May 2019,

<https://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Services/National-

EducationalPsychological-Service-NEPS-/NEPS-Guides/Language-Skills/Activities-

Develop-ReceptiveLanguage-and-Comprehension-Skills-prim7.pdf>

• National Council for Special Education, 2019, Strategies for Learning and Teaching,

accessed 30th April 2019,

<https://www.sess.ie/categories/emotional-disturbance-andor-

behaviouralproblems/attention-defecit-hyperactivity-disorde-1>

• Proud to be Primary, 2019, Listening Activities, accessed on May 19th 2019,

<https://proudtobeprimary.com/listening-activities/>

• Speech Blog UK, 2017, Attention and Listening for Preschool Pupilren, accessed on July

1st 2019, <https://speechbloguk.com/attention-listening-preschool-pupilren/>

• NHS Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership, 2017, Classroom Strategies, accessed on

July 1st 2019, <http://www.coventrypupilrensslt.co.uk/edit/files/families-

hearingattention-and-listening/classroom-strategies-for-attention-and-listening.pdf>

• NHS Humber, 2015, Pack for Developing Listening and Attention Skills at Key Stage 1,

accessed on April 30th 2019,

<https://www.humber.nhs.uk/Downloads/Services/Pupilrens%20therapies/SLT/Langu

a

ge/Pack%20for%20developing%20listening%20and%20attention%20skills%20at%20Ke

y %20Stage%201.pdf>

• NHS Humber, 2019, Attention and Listening Developmental Milestones, accessed on

April 30th 2019,

<https://www.humber.nhs.uk/Downloads/Services/Pupilrens%20therapies/SLT/Milest

o nes/Attention%20and%20Listening%20Developmental%20Milestones.pdf>

• Lessonpix, 2019 , <www.lessonpix.com>

• Twinkl.ie, 2019, Class timetable flashcards, accessed 24th April 2019, <www.twinkl.ie>