Explain The Importance Of Being Able To Communicate With Children, Young People And Adults

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.

I have learned that being able to utilise good communication skills is fundamental when working with children. It is so important to building and supporting ongoing relationships, which, along with listening,

The ability to effectively communicate with a wide range of people is a vital factor in working towards building relationships that may flourish and enable the gaining of confidence and trust. For example in working with some young children who may have difficulty expressing themselves, an array of emotions could be displayed,

Keep your body language open. Face the person you are talking with, smile, nod and use open-handed gestures. Understand different tones of voice and whether someone is able to maintain eye contact. These signs will help you to understand the person’s attitude and build a relationship with them more effectively.

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

As with young children, the skills needed to communicate with young people are both verbal and nonverbal, always show interest and listen without interruptions, giving your full attention, maintain eye contact and show you are interested. Young people may lack confidence when speaking to adults, so make sure you are approachable and give them the

Effective communication is the most important part in developing positive relationships with children, young people and adults. Some pupils that struggle with their learning and/or have confidence issues may find that they can’t communicate with all of us, therefore, treating that pupil in a calm, positive, praising and gentle manner could mean the difference between them trusting us or closing down and giving up. I believe that children should be spoken to

When communicating with adults it is important to use respect and for them to feel comfortable with you, especially since you are going to be working closely with them.

2.3 Explain the main differences between communicating with adults and communicating with children and young people.

Not only do you talk to them but also the child will response, or even approach you first to communicate; either for a general conversation or to ask a question.

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.

Some people may find it easy to open up-others may need time and space. Show interest, remember their birthday or what they did at the weekend, make time to listen to what a young person has to say; stop what you are doing, maintain eye contact, pay attention, nod, lean forward and comment positively. This will make them feel they and the conversation are important to you and will help grow a positive relationship between you and the young person. Being relaxed and having a sense of humour can often diffuse a challenging situation. Read the circumstances correctly, do not allow humour to be misunderstood with lack of sympathy and in the right context, laughter may destress the

Communication skills – A child or young person’s communication skills have a massive impact on their overall development. Children who are lacking in communication skills can become easily frustrated and may begin to show aggressive behaviour. As communication skills require listening and the processing of information, children who have this difficulty will find it hard to concentrate in activities that involve these types of skills. Literacy is also linked to communication so, children with lack of these skills can find it hard to learn to read and write.

Effective communication, as defined by Courtney (2009) “is a two-way process: sending the right message that is also being correctly received and understood by the other person/s. For communication to be effective, it is important to understand how the people you are interacting with may interpret your message”. Early childhood educators are required to have effective communication skills as they need to communicate on a daily basis with their students, co-workers and the parents of their students, each requiring different styles of communication. Good communication skills are an essential life skill, and a young student beginning to learn this skill would require their educator to be capable of