1.2 Explain The Importance Of Good And Effective Communication When Working With Children

Children are social learners and it is crucial that all adults working with them need to model good communication through listening and speaking which will aid the development of the child’s friendships, confidence and self-esteem.

As child practitioners we must work on our skills in communicating with children because the way we communicate with them is important not only for their communication and language development, but also the development of our relationship with them. Young children often aren't able to express their thoughts and feelings in words, or express them poorly. Because of this, it's important that child practitioners can listen carefully and help children to learn how to express themselves and also provide what they need.

The key is to adapt your behaviour, speech, body language and communication according to your audience. A toddler or a younger child will need simpler words, shorter sentences and some physical contact such as cuddles and high fives for reassurance, younger children also have much shorter attention spans so learning through songs, pictures, games and play may be beneficial, this again will allow the child to see you play with them or cuddle them allowing a bond to form and trust to build.

When communicating with children, a number of skills need to be demonstrated to communicate effectively. Children learn to communicate through the responses of others, if they feel they have not had there contributions valued they are less likely to initiate communication themselves appropriate responses reinforce the child’s self-esteem, values this is important in building relationships initiating conversations and finding out the answers to questions builds on the language skills that are integral to child’s learning. In the setting working with children with

However, with children and young people it is important to remember your relationship to them as a professional care giver. For children and young people an essential part of communication is praise and encouragement, and this helps to build self-esteem and confidence. There are four methods that can be used –

Non verbal communication is also just as important as verbal communication. Again, using the child with confidence and relationship issues,

By following good practise I proved appropriate care, and I fi didn’t individuals would suffer. Communication is very important when working with young children as they need to be able to understand simple instructions and want to be able to listen and communicate back to you. Communication does not involve just speaking but also listening,

Communication with children and young people is very important. When a child is new to the setting you would want them to feel comfortable and safe in your

Effective communication, and respectful relationships are vital when talking with children, young people, and adults as they both allow accurate gathering of information and feelings and the subsequent passing along of any issues that may need to be followed up on.

Effective communication is important in developing positive relationships with children and young adults because it helps the child to be able to communicate effectively with other people as they grow. Children react better to clear, concise communication and this in turn will help to build better relationships between child and adult and enable trust to grow, which is one of the key elements in building a relationship. It is also important to listen to the child and let them say what they want to say. Do not try to pre-empt or interrupt them. Try to keep your language and explanation simple and to the point. Make them feel that what

When communicating with children, it is important to talk at their level while maintaining eye contact and use positive body language. We must give them time to understand and absorb what is being said to them. This will make the children feel respected and develop trust and thus they will feel confident to communicate with us. The child’s learning and development will benefit if the adults in their life can communicate effectively about them.

Communication is extremely important in the workplace as it is essential that you develop good communications with everyone. This will then ensure that you develop a strong positive relationship, work well together and be able to share and gain information with each other. This will mean you can all work together to meet the needs of the children, young people and adults in the setting. If you do not have good relationships then it may cause bad feeling and a divide between colleagues. It may be the case that you will all not work well together or be able to share information then the parents and children may suffer. It is important to have good communication with the children in the setting as this ensures you have a good relationship with them which will help them feel more comfortable with us, which will help them settle in or provide reassurance during transitions in their lives as well as supporting them in their play and learning. It is also important that we remember that we are a role model to children and what behaviour we expect of them must be remembered by ourselves. Failing to do so will cause problems for children to understand the boundaries of what is acceptable. If parents see that you have a good relationship with the children it will help them feel more relaxed and helps them to trust us to care for their children.

Hearing is very important for learning. Hearing status is strongly correlated with academic performance so these children need to be identified to help ensure positive outcomes. A mild loss may go unnoticed but can have detrimental effects on learning. Classrooms can be noisy environments which are challenging for normal hearing listeners and even more so for children with hearing losses. Providing integrated audiological and speech services through the school system helps identify children who are at risk for difficulties and provide interventions to help ensure a smooth transition to school. The school is a good access point for these services because it is close to the child’s home, parents have a direct contact, wait times can be shorter

Marcia Levetown (2008) - Communicating With Children and Families: From Everyday Interactions to Skill in Conveying Distressing Information. Pediatrics, 121(5),

At work you do a lot of communicating. When I first started working like five weeks ago I had no idea what I was doing. I had to communicate with the teacher to ask her what I needed to do. It wasn’t easy to communicate with people because I’m a very shy person. The place I work at I always watch how the teacher communicates with the kid like for example if a kid hits another kid the teacher tells them “Are friends are not for hitting” or “use your voice to tell them stop”. Not only does this help us but mostly the toddlers so they can learn how to talk to each other and use their voice to speak up for themselves.