19.3 Listening Instruction and Intervention
Key Takeaways
- PECT 0009.3 first requires that children understand communication happens in different ways — including different languages and assistive devices — then applies listening instruction and intervention.
- Listening targets: listening responsively to directions, stories, and conversations; following simple and multiple-step directions; growing understanding of new vocabulary in talk, activities, and read-alouds; interpreting facial expressions, gestures, and body language.
- Responsive listening is active: look, wait, show you heard, follow through. Sitting silently through a lecture is not the whole skill.
- AAC, home languages, sign, hearing technology, and picture supports are communication, not a reason to skip listening goals. Match the IEP and honor L1.
- Do not steal 0009.4 speaking, 0008.3 vocabulary methods, or 0009.8 assessment. Teach listening here.
19.3 Listening Instruction and Intervention
Quick answer: PECT 0009.3 has two parts. First, help PreK–4 students understand that communication occurs in different ways, including different languages and assistive devices. Second, apply instruction and interventions in listening skills: listening responsively to directions, stories, and conversations; following simple and multiple-step directions; increasing understanding of new vocabulary in conversations, classroom activities, and books read aloud; and interpreting facial expressions, gestures, and body-language cues. Listening is receptive language you teach, not a personality trait and not “the child has ears.”
0009.1–0009.2 built academic language and English structure. This descriptor is input: can the child take in talk, stories, and nonverbal signals, and can the classroom honor every way people communicate? 0009.4 is output (speaking). 0006.8 / 0009.8 are assessment. Stay on listening instruction.
Communication occurs in different ways
Before you run a “whole-body listening” chart, Pearson wants an inclusive definition of communication. Children should see and use multiple modes, not only spoken English from the teacher’s mouth.
| Mode | What it looks like in PreK–4 | Instructional stance |
|---|---|---|
| Spoken English | Classroom talk, read-alouds, directions | Core, but not the only valid channel |
| Home and additional languages | Spanish at the science table; a family story in Arabic; ASL | Meaning first; English models beside, not instead of, the child’s language (Chapter 6) |
| Assistive devices / AAC | Core board, speech-generating device, picture exchange, switch | Utterances on a device are language; peers are taught to wait and respond |
| Hearing technology | Hearing aids, cochlear implants, FM/DM systems | Teacher wears the mic; reduce noise; facing the child |
| Visual and gestural | Signs, gestures, visuals, first/then boards | Teach classmates to read these as communication |
Exam trap: Treating AAC as “not really talking,” or telling a child to put the device away during listening time. The child who selects help on a board is communicating. Another trap: forbidding home language during directions “so they learn English.” Comprehension of the direction can arrive in L1; you still teach the English direction with visuals. A third trap: confusing this inclusion frame with 0001.7 materials or 0003.5 UDL as the whole answer — those still apply, but 0009.3 also names listening skills.
Teach the idea explicitly: “People tell us things with voices, with devices, with signs, and with faces. All of that is communication.” Read a book with a character who signs or uses AAC. Invite a peer to model a device. This is not a once-a-year disability awareness assembly; it is daily turn-taking rules.
Listening responsively — directions, stories, conversations
Hearing is detecting sound. Listening is attending, interpreting, and responding. Responsive listening shows up in behavior: eyes or body oriented as the child is able, waiting, answering, doing the thing that was asked, commenting on the story.
| Context | What “responsive” looks like | Not this |
|---|---|---|
| Directions | Child does the requested action, or asks a relevant clarifying question | Frozen smile while ignoring the request; punishing a child who uses a visual schedule instead of auditory-only memory |
| Stories | Comments, predicts, laughs at the joke, answers a check, looks at the book | Twenty silent minutes as the only success criterion (dialogic reading still lives from 0006.7) |
| Conversations | Takes turns, stays on topic, shows the speaker they were heard | Interrupting as the only participation; or never being invited to speak |
Instruction: model wait time; teach a listening stem (“I heard you say…”); keep stories short enough for the age, then grow; use a talking piece; preview what to listen for (“Listen for the two things we will do after lunch”). Intervention: smaller group, visual of the steps, repeat-back (“Tell me what you will do first”), seat away from the hallway, check hearing if inattention is new or extreme — then teach, do not only relocate.
Children with ADHD, autism, or language impairment may listen differently (looks away but can recap; needs extra processing time). Responsive listening is evidence of understanding, not a compliance pose. A child who uses AAC may respond by selecting a picture. Count it.
Simple and multiple-step directions
Following directions is a language and working-memory skill, not a morality test.
| Grain | Example | Typical instructional home |
|---|---|---|
| One-step | “Put the cup in the bin.” | PreK and whenever a child is overloaded |
| Two-step | “Hang your backpack, then sit on the rug.” | K–1 with a first/then visual |
| Multiple-step | “Name, date, then put the paper in the blue bin.” | Grade 1–4; number the steps; check after step one |
Teach on purpose: give the direction, have a child restate, use gestures that match, post a photo sequence, and do not stack five new academic words inside the direction. If the class fails the direction, the first repair is the direction, not a color-clip down (0005.1 community still applies).
Intervention: reduce steps; add visuals; stand near; allow a peer model; provide the same direction in home language or on a device; check that the child heard (FM system, quieter room). Do not call a child “defiant” when the language load of the direction exceeded listening capacity.
Exam trap: Equating following directions with phonics. Another: using only written directions for a PreK child who cannot yet read. Oral plus visual is 0009.3.
New vocabulary in conversations, activities, and read-alouds
0008.3–0008.4 taught word-learning methods. 0009.3’s listening slice is receptive growth from oral contexts: the child understands a new word when it comes up in talk, centers, and books read aloud — before or besides reading it in print.
| Oral context | Teacher move | Child evidence of listening |
|---|---|---|
| Conversation | Recast big as enormous; check “Which one is enormous?” | Points, fetches, or uses the word later |
| Classroom activity | Name tools and processes during science (observe, dissolve) | Follows “Observe the ice” without a blank stare |
| Read-aloud | Pause, give a child-friendly meaning, reread the sentence | Shows understanding of the word in this story |
Multiple exposures still matter. One “vocab moment” during a noisy transition is not instruction. Do not require a written definition from a PreK child as the only proof of listening. Pointing, acting, and answering an oral yes/no or choice question are legitimate.
Facial expressions, gestures, and body language
Academic and social listening includes nonverbal cues. Young children must learn that a face, a point, a shrug, and a teacher’s pause mean something.
| Cue | What to teach | Caution |
|---|---|---|
| Facial expression | Match feeling words to faces in stories and real conflicts | Do not assume every culture or every neurotype shows feeling the same way; teach the classroom’s signals and still check with words |
| Gesture | Pointing, size gestures, “come here,” thumbs-up as used in this room | Gesture supports listening; it does not replace spoken/AAC language for children who need words |
| Body language | Turn toward speaker, personal space, a peer who is upset even if they have not spoken | A child who does not make eye contact may still be listening |
Instruction: freeze a read-aloud illustration — “How does this face feel? What might we hear next?” Role-play a confused look versus a ready look. Intervention for a child who misses cues: name the cue (“My face is worried because the timer is ringing”), pair with a visual emotion card, keep language simple.
Scenario: the silent rug as listening
Ms. Grant praises only children who sit criss-cross without speaking during a 25-minute chapter book. Two children cannot recap a single event. That was compliance, not 0009.3. Repair: shorter stretch, a listening purpose, a turn-and-talk, a vocabulary check, and permission to respond with a picture card.
Scenario: AAC during directions
Jordan uses a speech-generating device. A substitute puts it on the shelf “so everyone listens with ears.” 0009.3 says communication includes assistive devices. Repair: device in reach, extra wait time, directions in short steps, peers taught to listen to the device voice.
Scenario: two-step failure
Grade 1 cannot “get a pencil and line up.” Mr. Ortiz clips colors. 0009.3 repair: first/then cards, one step at a time, a child restates, then fade to two oral steps. Behavior system without language teaching misses the objective.
Exam traps for 0009.3
- Listening = sitting still. Responsive listening is understanding and responding.
- English-only as inclusion. Different languages are named in the descriptor.
- Banning AAC during ‘listening.’ Devices are communication.
- Defiance as the only explanation for missed directions.
- Written directions only for nonreaders.
- Stealing 0009.4. This is receptive; speaking is next.
- Stealing 0008.3 methods as the whole item — here the context is listening to new words.
- Eye contact as the only evidence of listening.
Ask: Did the teacher honor multiple communication modes and then teach a named listening skill — directions, stories, conversation, oral vocabulary, or nonverbal cues? If yes, you are in 0009.3.
A kindergarten child uses a classroom core board. During morning directions the teacher puts the board away so the child will 'listen with ears like everyone else.' Which 0009.3 judgment is most accurate?
Which classroom plan best teaches the listening skills Pearson lists in 0009.3?
A Grade 2 teacher notices several students cannot follow 'Write your name, then put the paper in the blue bin.' What is the best 0009.3 next step?