Update From Chicago: Creating a Good Listening Environment
In Chicago, we have been talking about how to create a good listening environment. Look at these two pictures of story time during toddler group. Which one shows a good listening environment? See below for the answer.
When babies and toddlers with hearing loss are first learning how to listen and talk, it is important to create a quiet listening environment. The person speaking should be close to the child and as much background noise as possible should be eliminated. Background noise makes learning how to listen much more difficult for our students. Once the child has more advanced listening skills, then background noise can be added back in so that the child can learn how to filter out the noise so that they can pay attention to the person speaking.
If you guessed that the picture of Mr. Rollen sitting quietly is an example of a good listening environment, you are right! When Mr. Rollen was shaking the maraca and tambourine and playing with the drum set, the children couldn’t hear the story or learn any of their new vocabulary words. Remember to keep a quiet environment so that your toddler has good access to sound.
