Title: Effective Listening
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A Good, Clean Joke

Content: However, that doesn't mean we should give up learning how to reflect. Over time, we can all learn to do it naturally and effectively. Probing . In addition to reflecting, the most skilled communicators' responses in counseling situations involve a lot of probing. Probing means asking for additional information. Not all questions you might ask will be effective. Avoid questions that challenge what has been said because that will put the speaker on the defensive (e.g., "How could you have thought that?"). In addition, a question that changes the subject before the current subject is resolved isn't effective communication. Effective probing is nonjudgmental and flows from what was previously said. Good probing questions ask for elaboration, clarification, and repetition  (if, for instance, an important question you asked wasn't answered).