My kid does that too. I bought a little bell and I make sure I'm in the same room as he is and then I ring it. When he looks up, I immediately tell him what I want him to do. This works a lot better than my old way. He seems to find it amusing.

I use a method I learned in Raise Your Kids without Raising Your Voice. It's called the CLeaR Method. It uses 3 steps (comment, label, reward) to train kids to do what you WANT them to do. It worked perfectly on my two boys who also don't listen. They got so much better. The method is pleasant for the parent and child and I highly recommend it.

After you've tried some positive methods for encouraging listening, you can also use discipline - the 2X-Rule. Ask your child to do something. If he doesn't respond, ask him a second time and include a warning of a specific consequence that will happen if he doesn't do it (within a specified time limit). If he still doesn't respond, then give him the aforementioned consequence without saying anything else. You'll find lots of details and examples for this rule in the MP3 on this site ("The 2X-Rule") and in my book Raise Your Kids without Raising Your Voice.  All the best,   Sarah Chana