(Note: These are helpful for auditory memory as well!)
1) Be aware of the child's individual style. Vary the length, presentation, or pace of tasks or directions, as needed.
2) Gain the child's attention by saying his/her name or touching his shoulder. Watch for eye contact before giving a directions.
3) Be concise when providing information.
4) Combine visual and auditory information to increase redundancy. Verbal redundancy is NOT necessarily helpful. Use pictures, pointing to cue, gestures, demonstrate, pre-teach.
5) Tell what you are going to tell about!
Tell it!
Tell what you told!
6) Encourage self-talk. The child can repeat the information to be remembered.
7) Be consistent with expectations, predictable with the order of tasks.
Provide an organized environment.
8) Provide time guidelines to assist the child with self-pacing.
9) Encourage child to complete a task and take a break.
10) Record instructions of spelling tests on a Walkman. This allows the child to hear the word several times. If the child must write a sentence that has been dictated, are you really testing the spelling or the auditory memory?
11) Use step-by-step strategies. Have the child verbalize each step or self-question. See strategies for:
a) problem-solving
b) classroom instructions
c) organization
d) spelling
e) note-taking
f) written assignments
g) outlining - It's difficult to get kids to do outlines but it does help them relate one piece of info to another.
h) reading - Encourage the child to look at the pictures, read the captions, read the headings, read the bold-face type then read (more than likely skim) so he/she will have made an outline in their head and have a place for the info to go as they it is read.
12) Preferential seating. The child should be placed near where the teacher stands for most verbal instruction. The child's position should be near hard-working students and away from noises such as open doors/windows or heating/cooling vents.
13) Ignore inappropriate topic shifts by saying, "We're talking about..." After discussion is complete on that topic, remind the child to tell you about the off-task comment by saying, "Now, what did you want to tell me about ______?"
14) Enhance language skills, especially social language, such as interpretation of body language, intonation, understanding the main idea of a conversation, what to say when someone is not presenting information to them in a form that they can use or recall. Teach the child to use I-messages (e.g., "When you yell at me, then I get frustrated because it doesn't help me to understand what to do.")
Teaching children to question themselves and others is helpful Then, they can advocate for themselves and get the information they need.
© Parent-Child Services Group, Inc. 4/99
Lynne F. Harmon, M.A., CCC-SLP
Permission to copy for educational purposes