Helping children follow your directions

Golden rule:
Give your instructions in different formats in an environment that is as quiet as possible, and reward them for their efforts.

A quiet environment
Some things to think about at home if your child is having problems hearing or focusing their attention on your instructions:

- Turn off the TV before you start talking
- Don’t try and yell over the washing machine, dishwasher or mower – or yelling kids. Turn the appliances off, and wait until your child is quiet before giving instructions.
- A room that is carpeted and has curtains will help cut down background noise
(My Dr, 2005; Neven, Anderson and Godber, 2002)

Some things to think about in the classroom if your student is having problems hearing or focusing their attention on your instructions:
- Negotiate and enforce rules about sitting quietly while the teacher is talking. Enforce the rules through praise and having a visual list of the rules on the wall (AFCEC, nd).
- Have a signal (eg. flicking the light switch for high school, clapping a rhythm which the students then have to copy in primary school) that indicates you are about to speak. Don’t try and yell them to attention (CDI, 2008).
- Wait until you have their attention before giving instructions.
- Use a noise-o-meter to keep children aware of what noise level is appropriate.
- Be aware of how any appliances, floor coverings and other features of the room may increase or decrease background noise.

Different ways of giving instructions:

Verbal
“Okay, kids, collect your Maths books, sit down at your desk and start work on page 6.”

Modelling
As you talk, demonstrate each step.

Visual
This can be hung on the board, or put on the child’s desk.
Written
Give this to the child so they can tick off each step as they complete it.
(Adapted from http://www.do2learn.com/organizationtools/classroom/educationalresources.htm)
Motivation and rewards

"If you do your work, then you can have a sticker." This is a “bribe”.

"Remember that when you finish this you will be able to put a star on your I've Finished chart." This is a negotiated reward that is a natural consequence of task completion.

But maybe we’ll talk more about this another time.

References:

Alabama Federation Council for Exceptional Children. (nd). Rules for Structuring the Classroom. Retrieved 25th May, 2009 from: http://www.afcec.org/tipsforteachers/tips_b2.html

Child Development Institute. (2008). Suggested Classroom Interventions ForChildren With ADD & Learning Disabilities. Retrived 25th May, 2009 from: http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/teacher.shtml#Suggested

MyDr. (2005). Hearing Impairment and School Children. Retrieved 25th May from: http://www.mydr.com.au/kids-teens-health/hearing-impairment-and-schoolchildren

Neven, R.S., Anderson, V. and Godber, T. (2002). Rethinking ADHD. Allen and Unwin: Crows Nest.

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Doing what you are told

One day, in a state of complete exhaustion, I got up to complete my final routine before crawling into bed. In my head I planned to do as follows:
Put cheese in fridge
Put rice crackers in cupboard
Clean teeth
Crawl into bed

As I discovered when I next was looking for my favourite snack, what I actually did was:
Put cheese and rice crackers in fridge
Clean teeth
Crawl into bed

This is an example of cognitive planning going wrong… and an illustration of how executive function can be affected by fatigue. Children whose executive functioning has been affected by factors such as fatigue, anxiety, ADHD or other factors/disorders may find it hard to carry out a sequence of steps even if they do remember the main points of what they have been told.

Doing what you are told

To follow instructions we need to be able to identify the important items, plan and organise the information so we can follow-through with the instructions. Then, finally, we need to be able to concentrate and monitor our actions (ie. I should have realised that the rice crackers really didn’t belong in the fridge). All this is managed by something we call executive functioning (Hagemann, Hay and Levy, 2002).

Executive Function (Hagemann, Hay and Levy, 2002):

Executive function is part of the working memory system. It is a cognitive function that helps us helps us decide what to remember, and what to discard. It helps us put the information in the right order. And it helps us stay on track.

So if a teacher says, “Well, kids, now it’s time to pack up. I want you to put your pencils in your pencil-tin, your books in your tote tray and then come and sit on the floor ready to have a story.”

A student whose “executive function” is working well might have a thought process that goes something like this… “pencils away, book in tote, sit on the mat”. They will then do this in the required order, and be sitting quietly at the front of the room ready for the teacher.

A student whose executive functioning is not operating in the same way, you may find they carry their books and pencils with them to the mat, or they get out their tote tray and put it on their desk. Alternately, they could get distracted half way through and need multiple reminders to get back on track because they aren’t monitoring their own behaviour.

For other children it may just be that they take much longer to work through the process, having to work hard at remembering each step.

Executive functioning is identified as one of the key functions that is affected in children with attention deficit disorders like ADD and ADHD. This means that the children often act impulsively, without thinking about the instructions or consequences of their actions. It also contributes to the fact that they prioritise what’s going on outside the window rather than listening to the instructions you are giving (which, of course, links back to the difficulties with paying attention).

So this is just one more thing to consider when we give instructions….

Next time I am going to post a letter from a parent who has a child with ADD. It provides some great insight. If you want to contribute a similar letter, please email it to me at amandag7@optusnet.com.au

I hope this blog is helpful to you. If it is, make sure you vote on the poll on the left. I also look forward to your questions and suggestions for future topics.

If you want to find out more about me and what I am up to, you might want to visit www.learn2bebuddies.com.au


References

Hagemann, E., Hay, D.A., and Levy, F. (2002). Cognitive Aspects and Learning. In S. Sandberg (Ed), Hyperactivity and Attention Disorders of Childhood, p214-241. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

You might also want to visit:
http://www.ldinfo.com/executive_functioning.htm
http://www.ncld.org/content/view/1200/480
http://www.ldonline.org/article/Executive_Function_Fact_Sheet

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What did I just say?

Tom is standing in the supermarket. He has been asked by Sal to pick up a few things on his way home from work.

He knows he needs to get bread and milk because he remembers having nothing to eat for breakfast this morning. But he knows he was asked to buy something else.

Something for the bathroom.

Toilet paper? Toothpaste? Shampoo? Soap? Razor?

He knows he needs to buy one of these things because it has nearly run out.

He closed his eyes, tried to visualise or “hear” what Sal had said… but all he could hear was Sal saying, “Make sure you write it down so you don’t forget!”

And he had said, “I’ll remember… it’s only three things!”

But that was before he had fought peak hour traffic, met an old friend, taken two phone calls and fought with a fellow-shopper for a parking spot.

He got home with bread, milk and toilet paper (because he felt that was more important than the other toiletry items).

Sal called out, “Did you get my shampoo?”

Doh!


What makes us remember instructions?

When recalling things we have been told, we usually paraphrase or summarise the idea rather than repeating in our heads exactly what we have been told. That is because we usually only hold small snippets of information in our “working memory” for a short period of time.

Information in our working memory is easily accessed. Our working memory is where we put the information we are using. With our working memory we usually have to drag the information out of our long term memories so we can use it.

The capacity of our working memory

There are different theories about working memory, but Baddeley (2006) discusses this in depth. He states that working memory is for temporary storage of information. He also discusses that theorists suggest that it possibly involves four systems:
1- for processing sound and speech
2 -for processing visual information
3 – for helping us select what information we need to pay attention to
4 – to help us link what is in our working memory with our long-term memory.

While it seems that nobody is exactly sure of the capacity of each system, it is estimated that if we don’t link it to our long term memory in a few seconds, it can be lost. The only way we can save that information for later is if we file it carefully in a way that makes it easy to access later.

A good filing system

Repetition:
One way for us to have more success in storing instructions is through rehearsal. For example, if Tom had spent time chanting “Milk, bread, shampoo. Milk, bread, shampoo” to himself he could possibly have had more success in remembering what he needed. This is because the information would have been in his working memory for longer, with more time to process and link it to ideas and patterns in his long term memory.

Chunking:
Another way is to chunk information together. One good example is when we remember sets of three numbers in a nine digit phone number, instead of trying to remember the whole number at once. Again, this is because we are putting short chunks of information into our working memory, instead of overloading it with a large, unwieldy amount of information.

Linking with what we know:
But one of the most important ways of remembering what we have been told is by quickly making links between the instructions and what we already know, or what is important to us. That is why Tom remembered the milk and bread but not the shampoo.

Poor filing systems:

If you have trouble paying attention, controlling your thoughts, or have a small working memory capacity, then you will struggle to focus on information long enough to be able to retrieve all the information later. Their working memory may be overloaded (Hagermann, Hay and Levy, 2002; Gathercole, Lamont, & Alloway, 2006).

So that may be why you find a child with ADHD or ADD, when given instructions to get their books, sit at their desk and get out their pencil, wandering around the room with their book.

Anxiety can also cause difficulties with the working memory processes (Terry, 2006).

Children with developmental delays (intellectual disabilities), including children with Down Syndrome, will also have trouble with the processing systems of working memory. However, it is possible that most of their difficulties come with not being able to generalise or link new information with what they already know. They may also struggle to develop good memory strategies (Terry, 2006).

Again, this may mean that they cannot retrieve what they have been told… and this is in addition to possibly struggling with language patterns and vocabulary.

It is also important to remember that we all have different working memory capacities. Part of that is about the strategies we use, but there are many other reasons that we don’t fully understand (Terry, 2006).

So when you give some instructions, make sure you think about how you are catering to your child/children’s working memory.

Next time we will think about what it takes to act on instructions you have been given.

References:

Baddeley, A. (2006). Working Memory: An Overview. In S.Pickering (Ed) Working Memory and Education, p3-33. Academic Press: London.

Gathercole, S.E., Lamont, E., and Alloway, T.P. (2006). Working Memory in the Classroom. In S.Pickering (Ed) Working Memory and Education, 219-240. Academic Press: London.

Hagemann, E., Hay, D.A., and Levy, F. (2002). Cognitive Aspects and Learning. In S. Sandberg (Ed), Hyperactivity and Attention Disorders of Childhood, p214-241. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

Terry, W.S. (2006). Learing and Memory: Basic Principles, Processes and Procedures. Pearson Education: USA.

If you have any good websites that address this issue, please share them. I ran out of time to do some searching... maybe I will add some later.

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Are you LISTENING?

John is boring on, once again, about the latest movie he has seen. He is retailing, in the greatest unnecessary detail (including quotes), the most exciting parts – all of which mean that your intention to see the movie next week is, well, redundant.

But all the sudden there is an ominous silence. It dawns on you that John has asked you a question… and while you heard what he said, you weren’t actually listening.

You frantically search in your memory… but, no, it’s not there.

You may have to admit it…but, instead, you tell a little white lie.

“Sorry, John, I didn’t hear you.”

Unfortunately John knows that is not strictly true. He walks away in a huff, knowing that the reason you didn’t “hear” is because you mentally tuned out.

Picture copyright Daniel East and Amanda Gray. From picture book, "Dave is Brave" www.learn2bebuddies.com.au

To listen, you have to pay attention

To be able to do what someone asks, you have to be paying attention. You have to not only hear what the person said, you also have to concentrate and focus on the relevant information (Hagemann, Hay & Levy, 2002; Moore, 1997).

You have to be able to shut out all the unimportant things happening around you… like the person mowing the lawn just outside the window. Or the pretty, colourful bird that just flew past. Or the music playing, or people talking, or the TV going in the background (Neven, Anderson & Godber, 2002).

This takes effort. It is also a skill that is more difficult under certain conditions.

When is it hard to pay attention?

There are many reasons why a child may be struggling to pay attention. For example, a child with a hearing impairment or any other language difficulty can miss any words or sounds that cue other children into the fact that you are about to give them a list of instructions.

For example, you might call a child’s name, or say to a class, “NOW (pause to wait for all eyes to turn to you)… what you have to do is…” This is a verbal cue to get your student’s attention. This will only work if the child is “tuned in” to your voice.

It is not only children with hearing impairments who might find it hard to be tuned in to your voice. Children with attention deficit disorders such as ADD or ADHD may find it difficult to focus on one thing if there are lots of other things to look at or listen to (Kewley, 2005; Neven, Anderson & Godber, 2002).

Children who are tired, hungry, anxious, or simply not interested in what you are saying will also find it hard to pay attention to what you are saying.

I will talk about strategies later in another post, but it is important to remember that triggering the child’s attention through more than one sense (touching their shoulder or standing close to them as well as calling their name) may be the answer.

And always, always, make sure you have their attention first before you start asking them to do things (Educational Psychology Service, 2008).

How can you tell if they are paying attention?

Eye contact is one of the most important things to gain before giving instructions. This will tell you that the child is focusing their attention where you want it. It will also help those who struggle with storing the words or hearing the sounds as they can get clues about what you are saying through your body language, gestures, lips and facial expressions (Queensland Health, 2008).

For children with Autism for whom eye contact may be difficult, do not demand eye contact (Austism SA, 2004). Looking in your direction or tilting their ear towards you may be their way of paying attention.


In the next post I will talk about difficulties children might have in interpreting what we are saying.

Reference list:

Autism South Australia. (2004) Information Sheet 17 Classroom Issues. Retrieved 15th May, 2009 from: http://www.autismsa.org.au/pdf/strategies/IS17_Classroom_Issues.pdf

Queensland Health (2008). Communication with vision or hearing impaired clients. Retrieved 15th May, 2009 from: http://www.health.qld.gov.au/sop/content/comm_vision_hearing.asp

Kewley, G. (2005). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: What can Teachers Do? David Fulton Publishers:London.

Neven, R.S., Anderson, V. and Godber, T. (2002). Rethinking ADHD. Allen and Unwin: Crows Nest.

Hagemann, E., Hay, D.A., and Levy, F. (2002). Cognitive Aspects and Learning. In S. Sandberg (Ed), Hyperactivity and Attention Disorders of Childhood, p214-241. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

Moore, B.C.J. (1997). And Introduction to the Psychology of Hearing. Academic Press: San Diego.

Educational Psychology Service. (2008). Managing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) in the Classroom. Retrieved 15th May, 2009 from: http://www.falkirk.gov.uk/services/education/information_for_parents/PDFs/psychology_service/adhd.pdf

You might also want to check out the following links:
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/abled/docs/RICPubClassIdeasK3.pdf
http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/wakefield/files/links/Classroom_Strategies_Accom.doc
http://www.austinschools.org/lifeskills/Classroom%20Management.pdf
http://www.hearing.com.au/communication-tips

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