Attention and listening group

Our attention and listening group helps children who find it difficult to attend and concentrate at the level expected for their age, to develop the skills needed for good attention and listening abilities. Our speech and language therapists deliver therapy in small groups using enjoyable and engaging activities, tailored to the children’s ages and stages of development.

Our speech and language therapists will first identify which stage of attention and listening the child is working at and then implement strategies to improve their skills to the appropriate level of development. Activities such as sound lotto are used as children are expected to listen and distinguish between sounds. This increases the child’s ability to attend to the sound and process what is being heard.

Our speech and language therapists aim to improve the attention and listening skills of all the children attending our group. Our aims include:

• To increase attention and listening skills to an appropriate level.
• To improve the child’s ability to follow instructions.
• To improve the child’s ability to attend to adult directed activities.
• To increase the time children can attend to an activity.

These aims will be reached in an engaging and enjoyable environment, through use of a variety of activities that are suitable for the child’s age. Activities will be carried out in a group setting of 4 children. A group therapy session is 2 hours long.

Our attention and listening group is suitable for children with any of the following difficulties:

• Children who are highly distractible.
• Children who have difficulty maintaining attention for an activity.
• Children who struggle to listen to others and follow instructions.
• Children who are unable to listen and carry out an activity at the same time.
• Children who copy others as they have missed out on the information given.
• Children who are unable to sit still during activities.
• Children who need adult help to stay focused.
• Children who struggle to partake in adult led activities.
• Children who struggle to distinguish between speech sounds.
• Children who have speech and language difficulties but cannot access therapy due to delayed attention skills.

Children attending the group can be pre-school or school aged, but children within a group should preferably not be more than one year apart.

Our attention and listening group will include a mixture of games and activities to increase the child’s ability to attend and listen to others. Some games will work on the child’s ability to process what is being heard, as well as waiting for their turn which increases listening skills. The group will also include activities that require the child to distinguish and differentiate the sounds or speech sounds heard which help to improve the child’s ability to attend to and activity and process what they are hearing. Our groups will also work on improving attention of visual information. Groups will be led by a qualified speech and language therapist, and will be implemented over a 6 week period. Each child attending the group will receive a full individual report and a certificate following completion of the attention and listening group.

Our attention and listening group provides an opportunity for children to increase their attention and listening skills in a safe and enjoyable manner. Benefits of our attention and listening group include:

• Improved ability to attend to visual and auditory information.
• Improved ability to attend to adult led activities as well as activities of own choosing for an extended period of time.
• Improved ability to distinguish between speech sounds.
• Increase in social communication.
• Increase in turn taking skills.
• Increase in ability to access the curriculum.
• Increased ability to work in group or classroom environment.

Our speech and language therapists run attention and listening groups throughout the year. Children leave the group with increased attention and listening skills making them more confident in both school and home environments.

If you are interested in finding out more information about our attention and listening groups, please email office@sltforkids.co.uk or call us on 0330 088 2298.