Reading Comprehension Stories: If Only I Could Get Professional Development Hours For Following Blogs: Auditory Comprehension!

One area of weakness which impacts academic performance tremendously is auditory comprehension. The teachers in my school often contact me due to concerns in this area. I have held workshops in my school to show classroom teachers the strategies that I teach my speech & language students and how to implement them in their classrooms.

Weaknesses in this area can impact:

Ability to follow classroom instructions
Attend to lectures and oral presentation of information
Ignore and filter background noise/distractions
Listen and comprehend stories read out loud
Participate in class discussions
Take notes based on information presented orally
Respond to higher level thinking questions based on information presented orally

I have previously posted a flyer of strategies to give to teachers. You can access this flyer and post by clicking HERE!

I design all of my speech lessons and activities to help promote listening skills and strategies:

VISUALS!! By providing students with a way to tap into another way to process information it will help them!
Check for understanding: ask for students to repeat and rephrase auditory information.
Repeat! As the auditory information becomes more complex or longer in length, provide your students with even more chances to listen.
Encourage students to be advocates for themselves! Let them raise their hands and ask for repetition or clarification. The more comfortable they are doing this in your rooms, the easier it will be to transfer it over into the classroom.
PRACTICE! Practice classroom skills in your therapy rooms. Practice note taking, practice listening for key words, practice using a multi-sensory approach to listening and learning.

Wondering what your other favorite bloggers/TpT sellers say?

"Active Listening skills are so important for auditory comprehension. I teach students skills to link personal experience with what they hear, use appropriate body language: face the speaker, give verbal and non-verbal feedback, etc. Students also learn to pay attention by focusing on what is being said not what they want to say."~SLPRunner
"When I teach school aged children listening comprehension skills I like to focus on the following components: Main Idea, Context Clues, Inferring, Predicting Outcomes, Compare and Contrast, Cause and Effect, Fact and Opinion, Sequencing, Order of Events, Steps in a Problem, Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Drawing Conclusions. Generalizing I also like to utilize and adapt the following materials: Comprehension Plus Books (Grades 1-6), Focus on monitoring and understanding complex text as well as books from Continental Press Reading for Comprehension (Grades 1-8) and Content Reading (Grades 2-8) " ~Smart Speech Therapy
"Barrier games are PERFECT for targeting auditory comprehension! I also like to set up a craft (have all the pieces cut out and ready to go), but I DON'T tell kids what they're making! They'll know they followed all the directions correctly if their finished product is the same as the model that is revealed at the end!" ~ Carrie's Speech Corner
"My students enjoy "Look Who's Listening" board game from SuperDuper."~LyndaSLP
"I try to use the Visualizing and Verbalizing program with my students. We work on making pictures in there head to help with recalling information. I also have my students draw a picture for each line of a story to help with story retell."~The Dabbling Speechie
"Auditory Comprehension is best addressed in context - which to me means using BOOKS! I like to target include sequencing, predicting, following directions, answering questions, identifying key words, paraphrasing to name a few. These can be addressed while reading and/or after reading."~ Tracy GoldCountrySLP
"I use a lot of visual supports as a way to aid understanding. They function both as a compensatory strategy and also to help build comprehension. Here are the visual supports that I've been using to help kids learn better ways of dealing with disappointment, responding when people ignore them, taking personal responsibility, coping when something is unfair, and what to do instead of repeating the same thing over and over. There is a free download in THIS post and also some examples of anchor charts that have been effective."~PracticalAAC
I love using Super Duper's MagneTalk set to work on following directions and building receptive vocabulary. I also love using simple FUN games, like Simon Says and I Spy.....Here is my post."~Katie from Playing With Words 355
" I like doing story mapping. And...it's evidence-based! Boulineau T, Fore III C, Hagan-Burke S, Burke MD. (2004)."~Nicole from Allison Speech Peeps
"With elementary aged students, I like to get them to use "wait time" (wait 3 seconds before answering a question), which seems to improve recall of information and decreases "I don't knows." Article that describes this: CLICK HERE"~TeachSpeech365
"I use all kinds of different story telling/sequencing cards or a book depending on the students' level. Then, for elementary students, I use Super Duper's Story Builder Chart or the Story Grammar Maker. For secondary students, I use graphic organizers."~Jessica from Consonantly Speaking

I have tons of products in my TpT store to help practice strategies for improving auditory comprehension. Many of them are aligned with the common core standards (which help in incorporating classroom curriculum into the therapy room). To continue this "professional development" week, I am giving away a copy of my Following Complex Directions Carnival activity pack!