Listening to Learn

Even though we use the words hearing and listening interchangeably, the difference in meaning is significant. 

Hearing is a sense. Listening is a learned skill. 

Hearing is the process, function, or power of perceiving sound. 

Listening is paying attention to a message in order to hear it, understand it, and physically or verbally respond to it. 

SEVERAL THINGS MUST HAPPEN FOR US TO LISTEN EFFECTIVELY: 

  • Sound waves carry spoken words to our ears.
  • Sound travels through the outer ear canals (without obstruction) and then through the eardrum and middle ear without being distorted by fluid from colds, infection, or allergies. 
  • Sound then travels from the middle ear through the inner ear (which must be functioning properly as well) along the auditory nerve to the brain. 
  • Finally, the brain compares what it hears to previously stored sounds and words in order to make sense of the message and respond accordingly.

“Listening is a crucial skill for young children to acquire. Listening is one of the basic building blocks of language and communication and particularly in the early years of education, one of the main vehicles for a child’s learning.” Eleanor Johnson

Auditory processing disorder (also known as central auditory processing disorder or CAPD) is a condition that makes it hard for kids to recognize subtle differences between sounds in words. It affects their ability to process what other people are saying. 

DEFINING AN AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER:

Your child passes a hearing test but is diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder. Children with auditory processing disorders typically have normal hearing. But they struggle to process and make meaning of sounds. This is especially true when there are background noises.

Researchers don’t fully understand where things break down between what the ear hears and what the brain processes. But the result is clear: children with auditory processing disorder can have trouble making sense of what other people say.

Typically, the brain processes sounds seamlessly and almost instantly. Most people can quickly interpret what they hear. But with an auditory processing disorder, a glitch delays or “scrambles” that process. 

To a child with CAPD, “Tell me how the chair and the couch are alike” might sound like “Tell me how a cow and hair are like.”

The problem lies with understanding the sounds of spoken language, not the meaning of what’s being said.

Some educators and other professionals’ question or doubt a diagnosis of CAPD. Not all professionals see it as a specific disorder. The medical profession didn’t start seriously studying CAPD in children until 1977. Four decades later, there’s still confusion about CAPD.

The number of children with CAPD is estimated to be between 2 – 7 percent. Some experts estimate that boys are twice as likely as girls to have auditory processing disorder, but there’s no solid research to prove that.

WHAT ARE SYMPTOMS OF AN AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER?

“The kids we see are having difficulty following directions,” explains Rachel Cortese, a speech-language pathologist at the Child Mind Institute. “They ask for repetition a lot. They seem to just kind of miss things in conversations. From testing we know that their ear is hearing the signal. It’s attending to the auditory information. But they have glitches when the brain is not assigning meaning—or the right meaning—to that signal.”

The term auditory processing refers to how the brain perceives and interprets sound information. Several skills determine auditory processing ability—or listening success. They develop in a general four step hierarchy, but all work together and are essential for daily listening. Although researchers do not agree on the exact hierarchy of skills, they generally agree on what skills are essential for auditory processing success (Cochlear Americas, 2009; Johnson et al., 1997; Nevins & Garber, 2006; Roeser & Downs, 2004; Stredler-Brown & Johnson, 2004). 

Children with CAPD can have weaknesses in one, some or all of these areas:

AUDITORY AWARENESS

• Auditory Awareness – the ability to detect sound 

• Sound Localization – the ability to locate the sound source 

• Auditory Attention / Auditory Figure-Ground – the ability to attend to important auditory information including attending amid competing background noise. It would be like sitting at a party and not being able to hear the person next to you because there’s so much background chatter 

AUDITORY DISCRIMINATION

• Auditory Discrimination of Segmentals – the ability to detect differences between specific speech sounds. The words seventy and seventeen may sound alike, for instance

• Auditory Discrimination of Environmental Sounds – the ability to detect differences between sounds in the environment 

• Auditory Discrimination of Suprasegmentals – the ability to detect differences in non-phoneme (sound) aspects of speech including rate, intensity, duration, pitch, and overall prosody 

AUDITORY IDENTIFICATION

• Auditory Identification (Auditory Association) – the ability to attach meaning to sounds and speech 

• Auditory Feedback/Self-Monitoring – the ability to change speech production based on information you get from hearing yourself speak 

• Auditory Discrimination of Segmentals – the ability to detect differences between specific speech sounds. The words seventy and seventeen may sound alike, for instance

• Phonological Awareness (Auditory Analysis) – the ability to identify, blend, segment, and manipulate oral language structure 

AUDITORY COMPREHENSION

• Auditory Comprehension – the ability to understand longer auditory messages, including engaging in conversation, following directions, and understanding stories 

• Auditory Closure – the ability to make sense of auditory messages when a piece of auditory information is missing; filling in the blanks 

• Auditory Memory – the ability to retain auditory information both immediately and after a delay 

• Linguistic Auditory Processing – the ability to interpret, retain, organize, and manipulate spoken language for higher level learning and communication

CHILDREN WITH APD USUALLY HAVE AT LEAST SOME OF THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS:

  • Find it hard to follow spoken directions, especially multi-step instructions
  • Ask speakers to repeat what they’ve said, or saying, “huh?” or “what?”
  • Be easily distracted, especially by background noise or loud and sudden noises
  • Have trouble with reading and spelling, which require the ability to process and interpret sounds
  • Struggle with oral (word) math problems
  • Find it hard to follow conversations
  • Have poor musical ability
  • Find it hard to learn songs or nursery rhymes
  • Have trouble remembering details of what was read or heard

CAPD can affect the child in many spheres of life. Communication, academics (particularly reading, writing and spelling) and social skills can all be impacted. Experts agree that children can learn to work around challenges they face. However, CAPD can present lifelong difficulties if it isn’t diagnosed and managed. 

HOW CAN PROFESSIONALS HELP WITH AN AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER? 

There’s more than one method for helping kids with CAPD. A diagnosis can be made by a qualified Speech-Language Therapist. Management methods include:

  • Speech Therapy sessions:  Speech therapists can provide exercises and training to build children’s’ ability to identify sounds and develop conversational and listening skills.
  • Preferential seating: Seating children with CAPD in the front of the room and away from distractions can help them focus.
  • Improved acoustics: Closing doors and windows minimizes outside noise.
  • Assistive technology: An amplification system, such as a wireless FM system, reduces background noise and poor acoustics. The child wears a headset and the teacher wears a clip-on microphone.
  • Classroom visuals: The teacher uses images and gestures to reinforce the child’s understanding and memory.

WHAT CAN BE DONE AT HOME TO HELP?

  • Provide a quiet spot for studying, with background noise kept to a minimum.
  • Have your child look at you when you’re speaking.
  • Use simple, one-step directions.
  • Speak at a slightly slower rate and at a slightly higher volume.
  • Ask your child to repeat directions back to you. If he’ll need to act on the directions later, ask him to write notes to remind himself.
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Bullying: What parents and schools can do

ARTICLE BY PROF RITA NIEMANN, NALIZE MARAIS, ZENDRÉ SWANEPOEL AND MONIERA MOOSA

Bullying is a great concern for both parents and schools. Here we outline a number of measures that can help them both parties deal with bullying.

Parents

When parents notice that their child is behaving differently – not wanting to go to school, using illness as an excuse, suddenly performing poorly at school or enuresis – and suspect bullying, they need to act immediately.

Firstly, they must determine where this is happing (at school, at a sports club, on social media, etc.) and who the perpetrator(s) are.

Secondly, if the bullying is taking place in an organised environment such as at school or sports club, the authorities need to be informed and requested to step in. They are legally bound to protect the rights of the child.

Thirdly, parents have the responsibility to equip their children to cope by:

  • Instilling the knowledge that children must take a stand and that they have a choice in allowing someone else to victimise them.
  • Assisting children to terminate relationships that are potentially harmful, such as blocking a person on social media.
  • Helping them to identify bullies and the different forms of bullying.
  • Creating a safe space for children to speak about what is happening to them.
  • Emphasising assertive verbal communication if threatened.
  • Building children’s self-concept.
  • Getting the help of a psychologist, if necessary, to counsel the victim.
  • Emphasising that respectful behaviour is always the best option and thus preventing retaliation.
  • Fostering problem-solving and conflict resolution skills with the focus on restoring damaged relationships.
  • Working collaboratively to solve the problem with their children so that they can feel reassured.

Schools

As bullying is a deliberate act to hurt someone, there must be consequences for the bully. Once teachers are aware that a bullying incident has taken place at school, the matter must be dealt with by:

  • Asking the victim to provide the names of the perpetrator(s), as well as the names of friends of the victim, as soon as he/she has calmed down.
  • Counselling the victim and finding out whether he/she has been injured and what effect the bullying or harassment has had on him or her.
  • Cultivating a “no blame” approach towards bullying or harassment.
  • Establishing punitive sanctions for both the bully and for any bystanders.
  • Developing a bullying code of conduct/bullying policy and informing learners of this.
  • Having designated teachers to deal with incidents of bullying.
  • Facilitating mediation and discussions with the victim and the bully, depending on the severity of the bullying.
  • Passing the responsibility to the bully or group of bullies to make sure that the problem is solved.
  • Ensuring that potential bystanders understand that they have a vital role to play during bullying incidents.
  • Letting the victims feel protected after they have reported the incident.
  • Encouraging learners to make suggestions on how they can contribute to alleviating the negative experiences of the victim.
  • Scheduling follow-up meetings to monitor the situation where each party has to share how things are going.
  • Informing the parents of both the bully and the victim about the incident/s.

The principal and teachers have a crucial role to play in directing learners towards becoming responsible citizens. They should create a safe and secure environment, establish a non-violent culture, and be good role models for all learners.

Reference

Niemann, R., Marais, N., Swanepoel, Z. & Moosa, M. 2016. Problem areas in schools In: Jacobs, M. Teaching-learning Dynamics, Johannesburg: Pearsons

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Getting insight into bullying

Rita Niemann

Bullying is an example of school violence, which mostly stems from aggression and poor self-image. Bullying can be defined as a conscious, wilful, and deliberate hostile activity and as it tends to happen at any point in time, it makes it very difficult to predetermine.

Louw and Louw (2007:230) emphasise the need for humans to belong and states that social development is characterised by an increasing involvement with peers as that contributes towards satisfying emotional needs. Teachers and parents, therefore, must account for the various phases of relationship building during adolescence and must guide children towards sound social and interpersonal relationships.

Because bullying cannot be contextualized by group, age or gender, any child can fall prey to a bully. However, children tend to follow the example of their parents and if parents condone acts of aggression or violence, children tend to emulate such acts, resulting in others feeling threatened and unsafe.

Legislatively, every learner has the right to be educated in an environment that is “clean and safe” and is “conducive to education” (RSA, 2006). Unfortunately, bullying has become both a national and international concern. Most acts of bullying are related to an imbalance of power to ensure dominance, boosting the bully’s self-image and getting attention (even if it is negative attention).

Barbara Coloroso (2005: 49-51) identified different kinds of bullies. Those who:

  • have powerful personalities, are admired by others and are not easily recognised as being a bully.
  • use gossip and verbal abuse to manipulate others.
  • show little emotion, but is determined to continue the bullying.
  • are hyperactive, struggle with schoolwork and have poor social skills.

Any child can become a bully’s target depending on the bully’s inner insecurities. Bullies tend to prefer submissive children, but it could also simply be because the person is younger, smaller, thinner, fatter, or even because of his or her gender. Bullies also tend to choose targets who have characteristics they crave themselves, such as being clever and dedicated.

Parents and teachers often wonder why victims do not report the bullying. Often, victims of bullying feel ashamed because of what is happening to them, or they feel that there must be something wrong with them. They also fear that the bullying may get worse if it is reported.

Bullying must be dealt with swiftly and deliberately – see the follow-up article in this regard.

References

Coloroso, B. 2005: The bully, the bullied and the bystander. From pre-school to secondary school – how parents and teachers can help break the cycle of violence. London:Piccadilly.

Louw, D., & Louw, A. 2007. Child and Adolescent Development. Bloemfontein: ABCPrinters.

Niemann, R., Marais, N., Swanepoel, Z. & Moosa, M. 2016. Problem areas in schools In: Jacobs, M. Teaching-learning Dynamics, Johannesburg: Pearsons

Republic of South Africa (RSA). 2006. Regulations for Safety Measures at Public School). Government Gazette No. 26663.  Pretoria: Government Printers.

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Cyberbullying

Bullies have always existed. However, in the digital age, the bullying we are seeing is worse than ever before. This is largely for two reasons: firstly, before we all had smartphones, a victim of bullying could go home from school and have some sort of break. Now, bullying is round the clock. Secondly, the type of content being shared is troubling as people say things behind a screen that they would never say to someone’s face. Moreover, the consequences of cyberbullying are more prevalent – in South Africa, we are seeing increased incidences of depression, anxiety and behaviour related to self-harm and even suicide as a direct result of cyberbullying.

When it comes to cyberbullying, anonymity is the root of all evil – people seem to think they can get away with saying whatever they want when they hide behind the veil of online anonymity. We are seeing the worst kinds of bullying taking place on anonymous apps such as Qooh.me or through anonymous profiles created on apps such as Instagram. We are seeing a lot of naming and shaming, direct personal attacks, slut shaming, fat shaming, pressuring others to send nudes, and revenge pornography.

Although terrible content is shared on anonymous platforms, the truth is that any platform can be open to abuse. Some platforms are simply better than others at removing offensive content.

What to do if you are being bullied

If YOU are being bullied:

  • Tell a trusted adult (a parent, guardian or teacher).
  • Take screenshots to keep as evidence.
  • BLOCK the bully. 

If you are aware that someone else is being bullied:

  • Don’t join in (this includes commenting and sharing harmful content) and leave a WhatsApp group that hosts abusive content.
  • Report bullying to a trusted adult (a parent, guardian or teacher).

What legal options are available if you are being bullied? 

  • If you know the identity of the bully, and the bullying is sufficiently severe to the extent that it can be said to cause you mental, emotional or psychological harm (or inspire the belief that harm could be caused), one mechanism available is to apply for a Protection Order under the Protection from Harassment Act.
  • Almost all social media platforms have a reporting function that allows the possibility for damaging content to be removed. 
  • Finally, the Cybercrimes Bill, which will hopefully become law soon, has codified a lot of crimes relating to online activities. Specifically, its chapter on malicious communications criminalises the creation or distribution of “a data message” that incites the causing of any damage to property belonging to, or violence against, a person or group of persons which is harmful or intimate in nature, and which is distributed without the consent of the person involved. This would include a lot of content that we are loosely defining as cyberbullying.
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