I have 5 kids, 3 are bio (6, 4 and 2) and 2 are foster-to-adopt (5 and 4). I am really struggling with the poor listening skills the foster kids have. I can read a sentence to them, then ask a question straight from the sentence and they answer something completely unrelated. I can give instructions about what to do, and they can totally forget or not hear what I say. It makes it very difficult to teach them! Obviously CM advocated a lot of reading to learn things. DS6 does great with this. We read books together, he learns things. My 4 yo bio is MUCH better at listening and retaining and comprehending things I say or read aloud that either foster child.
I want to have some sort of fun way to develop listening skills, but still be calm about it. We have some therapists coming and she recommended things like Simon Says and Mother May I. The kids have difficulty regulating and get really wound up and have an even harder time listening. Any thoughts? I feel like we need to have daily “listening practice” to make some progress here.
