It is noted in "Why Exact Listening?" that this exercise can be of great benefit to children and older students. One Trainer works with her four-year-old daughter, who calls it "The Reading Game." The exercise is essentially the same for children as it is for adults, with just a few adjustments. For example, older children and adults do best in longer training sessions conducted in a business-like manner. Younger children, on the other hand, get better results in shorter training sessions that are conducted like a structured game.To help encourage children to practice the exercise, the Exact Listening Trainers Association issues "Achievement Awards." These are certificates validating that a student has successfully repeated a string of a given number of words. Anyone may receive an Achievement Award, but the application for the certificate must be submitted by a Registered Graduate of the course.
The certificate can be for any number of words. If a student successfully repeats a string of 10 words, for example, he or she can receive a certificate acknowledging this. When the student has moved up to successfully repeating a longer string of words, he or she can receive a new certificate validating the new and higher level of accomplishment. And so on.
Receiving such a certificate, which can be framed and placed on the student's wall, can help inspire the student to further progress and also give a serious boost to a child's self-esteem. Progress in Exact Listening is essentially gauged by the number of words successfully repeated, so progress is easily measured. Each time a student takes one certificate off the wall and replaces it with a certificate acknowledging a higher number of words, the sense of accomplishment is also heightened.
Although a parent who has taken the course can guide even a very young child through the exercise, a child will have to be a bit older to actually take the Exact Listening class, since the class also involves learning how to guide others. If a child expresses interest in this and the parent feels the child is old enough to learn to guide others, the child should be encouraged to take the course.
Learning to guide others can make an even greater contribution to a child's self-esteem, since he or she is learning a simple yet precise skill that he or she uses to make positive and substantial contributions to the lives of others.
Participating in such an activity can be vital to a child's development. In a relatively short period of time, the student learns to pay attention to, and be an essential factor in, the progress of another human being.
Adults and children are alike in that we can be told something a thousand times, but we understand better after we directly experience something for ourselves. When a child experiences the sense of accomplishment and gratification that comes from using his or her ability to make a tangible contribution to another person, that child is more likely to see the value of such activity in other areas of life.