Helping Children to be Skilful Communicators

Ann Roberts, Avril Harpley

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136610776
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica generale

Communication happens in a variety of ways, not just through speech and language

Helping Children to be Skilful Communicators covers:

• being together
• finding a voice
• listening and responding
• making meaning.

This handy little series of books links directly to the Government's Birth to Three Matters Framework (DfES 2002). It provides information and ideas for you to read and digest at your own pace, then implement or share with your team.

Being sociable

Introduction

Humans need to be able to form positive relationships with others and good communication skills are crucial for this to happen. Without good communication skills a child’s progress through life and learning is delayed. Babies engage in two-way communications from birth and some are highly competent at giving and responding to signals.

Only a very small percentage of our communication is conveyed through speech, although words have the power to inspire, influence, comfort and hurt. Subtle messages are conveyed physically through our body language, gestures and facial expressions and verbally through the tone and intonation of our voice as well as the vocabulary we use. Today we are surrounded by a wide variety of media and each one is a powerful medium for communication - oral, aural, written and visual. It can be through print, music, painting, dance or any combination of these as well as speech and gesture.

Depending on our own unique life experiences we interpret and process messages in our own way and may distort them to fit in with our thinking, our values, prejudices and generalisations. As practitioners we need to help children to become effective communicators so that they can form positive friendships and express themselves and their feelings clearly and with confidence.

Both Birth to Three Matters (DfES, 2002) and the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA, 2000) highlight the need for practitioners to develop effective communication skills and those of the children in their care. Sure Start Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) materials provide practitioners with useful exercises for learning how to develop the essential building blocks of social skills interaction and developing relationships. Communicating Matters (DfES, 2005) is a training package offered to practitioners to develop their skills in supporting language.

Children’s early experiences, whether positive or negative, can influence them throughout their lives; they affect their self-esteem, their ability to forge relationships and to learn. Children who develop good social and communication skills have a better chance in life.

1. Social contact

Being physically close and making eye contact, using touch or voice provides an ideal opportunity for early ‘conversations’ between adults and babies; and one baby and another.

(Birth to Three Matters)

Babies

Babies form close attachments and when left in day care, or with other family members, multiple attachments need to be made. There are many theories around attachment. One of these is the sensitive responsiveness theory (Schaffer and Emerson, 1964). They point out that babies form attachments to those who are aware of their social needs and interact with them rather than those who largely ignore them except when they are crying. Naming a key person for each baby means nothing unless work on attachments is happening every time there is contact. Being close, using eye contact or touch turns these into ‘early conversations’ and ensures that being together supports healthy attachments.

Practical activities

•Collect some rhymes and songs that ensure physical contact is being made - such as ‘Pat-a-cake’ or ‘Round and round the garden like a teddy bear’. Alternate these and have a short time daily when these are shared.

•Ensure that carers are aware of favourite toys and when babies are anxious offer these alongside a cuddle - the texture, taste or smell of a comforter becomes recognised early on. Discuss with parents/other carers how particular babies are comforted as they are all unique.

•Make up a ‘treasure basket’ with a variety of soft brushes, such as men’s shaving brushes, soft pastry brushes. Stroking the skin is soothing and comforting.

•Allow babies to experience sand play - running their fingers through the sand is a soothing sensory experience.

•Collect lots of different materials and textures and let babies feel and touch them - use appropriate sounds as you share the experience with them.

Toddlers

It is important to allow toddlers time to adjust to a new setting and build up a positive attachment to their key person. Some toddlers have not yet learnt the skills of socialisation and may not be able to express their fears and confusion when left in a setting. They need sensitive support, patience and understanding so that they are able to talk about their concerns. Children who are confident and have positive self-esteem make friends more easily.

Practical activities

•Develop settling-in procedures for parents and new children. For example, arrange for parents to spend time with their toddler in the setting before gradually taking a less active role, leaving the setting for longer periods until their child has made the adjustments.

•Welcome children into the setting with pleasure and interest.

•Establish consistent routines so that children can anticipate what will happen and what they are expected to do.

•Arrange activities so that children can work alongside others, for example sand and water play, sharing jugs and bottles etc. and large equipment that needs another person to play with, e.g. a see-saw, parachute play, trucks that need a ‘pusher’.

•Focus on children’s strengths and praise those who are playing well together using positive comments about their behaviour.

•Set up turn-taking games and simple rules about shared equipment, for example wheeled toys.

•Allow children to choose who they wish to sit with or play with.

•Support those lone children who have not yet learnt to play with others by joining them, partnering them and promoting collaborative play skills.

Outcomes for the child

•Appropriate touching and physical contact is part of being close.

•Being together is part of conversational behaviour.

•Learning to play and work with other children.

•Developing social interaction.

Focus points

Think about how different cultures approach being physically close in terms of sociable and effective communication and how this will impact on the child. Some key persons may be concerned about physical closeness and how the boundaries are defined. Observing staff in situ with babies provides this evidence and may help staff to develop professionally. Children learn by imitation and copying good role models. It is important that the adults in a setting provide positive behaviour codes.

Staff discussion

•Ask staff to revisit t...