No. 1962
Listening to Children
In the UK there has been a welcome increase in interest in communication with children in the past two decades, much fostered by organizations such as the National Children's Bureau, Action for Sick Children, NSPCC, RSPCC and many others. Much has been written about the development of language in children and its pathology and even more about child protection (Law and Conway, 1992). Shield and Baum (1994) stressed the need to listen to children when treatment plans are being formulated, and discussed the chronological age at which children can be expected to make an informed decision about treatment. 'Children who are legally too young to give consent to treatment must still be treated as individuals whose rights as members of society are not solely dependent on the legal definition of the day' (p.1192). They were subsequently censured for their approach in correspondence from North America in subsequent issues of the British Medical Journal. Davie (1993), points out the paucity of literature written from the perspective of those who listen to and try to make sense of what they hear.
Hearing and listening
There is an essential difference between hearing and listening. New-born
babies can hear perfectly well once their ear canals have dried out. They
have to learn to make sense of what they hear; this takes many years, some
despite having perfectly formed hearing never fully achieve it. As parents
or as professionals working with children we may still have a great deal to
learn about the art of listening. No one can fully appreciate classical
music without some teaching: we can go on courses to learn how to listen to
music and emerge able to get much more out of the great classics than
before. The same goes for listening to children.
We need to be taught how to listen to them, it is not an intuitive matter
though some find it easier than others. Whilst all professionals have to
pass examinations based on expected knowledge, we are not routinely examined
in attitudinal and listening skills. To some extent we learn them informally
from outstanding teachers but this cannot be guaranteed and some teachers
are negative role models in this respect.
EUAN M. ROSS
Ross, E.M. (1996). Learning to listen to children, in Davie, R., Upton, G.
and
Varma, V. (Eds.) (1996) The Voice of the Child: A Handbook for
Professionals. London: Falmer Press.
References
Davie, R. (1993) ‘Listen to the child: A time for change.” The Psychologist,
June, pp.252-57
Law, J. and Conway, J. Child abuse and neglect: The effect on communication
development. A review of the literature. London: AFASIC
Shield, J.P.H. and Baum, J.D. (1994) ‘Children’s consent to treatment.
Listen to the children: they will have to live with the decision’. British
Medical Journal, 308, pp.1192-1193.
