Are you looking for strategies to help students who only listen when someone makes eye contact with them? If so, keep reading.
1. Make sure that the student is seated close enough to make eye contact with and hear the teacher when information is being delivered.
2. Urge the student to ask for clarification of any directions, explanations, and instructions before starting a task to enable comprehension.
3. Refrain from placing the student in situations that require listening for an expanded duration of time such as lectures, seminars, assemblies, etc. Give the information for the student through a recording or lecture notes.
4. Urge the parents to take advantage of dinner and other family-gathering times for their child to converse and practice keeping eye contact.
5. Provide information in a clear, concise manner.
6. Make sure information is delivered forcefully enough to be heard by the student.
7. Provide information to the student on a one-to-one basis. As the student shows the capacity and ability to listen successfully, slowly include more students in the group with him/her.
8. Ascertain which stimuli in their surroundings interfere with the student’s capacity and ability to listen successfully. Minimize or remove those stimuli from their surroundings.
9. Teach the student listening skills: • Separate working. • Clear desk of nonessential learning materials. • Attend to the source of information. • Jot down essential points. • Ask for clarification. • Wait until all instructions are received before beginning.
10. Urge the student to ask people to repeat portions of a conversation they were unable to follow.
11. Provide a predetermined signal (e.g., hand signal, turn lights off and on, etc.) to the student prior to delivering information.
12. Make sure the student is not engaged in learning activities that interfere with directions, explanations, and instructions (e.g., looking at other learning materials, putting away learning materials, talking to others, etc.).
13. Select a peer to model excellent attending skills for the student.
14. Use the student’s name to gain their attention prior to delivering information.
15. Praise the student for listening based on the duration of time the student can be successful. As the student shows success, slowly increase the duration of time required for reinforcement.
16. Urge the student to say a mantra to themselves when entering a situation where they will receive instructions (e.g., keep eye contact, keep eye contact, keep eye contact).
17. Select various people (e.g., peer, paraprofessional, counselor, friend, etc.) to help the student keep eye contact.
18. Assess the difficulty level of information presented to the student. Ascertain if the information is presented at a level the student can understand.
19. Provide information in both oral and written form.
20. Select a peer, paraprofessional, friend, etc., to signal the student when they need to keep eye contact (e.g., the person can touch the student on the arm when it is time to pay attention to a speaker).
21. Consider using assistive technology designed to help students to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to concentrate. Click here to view list of assistive technology apps that we recommend.
