Communication

Ruth                 26th September                           First Draft
                                                                                  Unit 1 AC 1.1

Explain why effective communication is important in developing positive relationships with children, young people and adults.

What is Effective Communication?
Communication is a two-way process that involves speaking, listening, hearing, understanding and replying. Communication can be both verbal (speaking) and non -verbal (body language). Both forms are powerful tools and can be used with great skill in our interactions with others.
When working with children, adults and/or young people communication is the most important thing to building a positive relationship. Having good communication skills will help us develop better relationships especially with younger people. Some students who lack in confidence may find it hard to communicate at all with us, so if we come across to that student in a positive and gentle manner they are more likely to open up to us and talk. We would not like to be spoken to in a negative way so therefore we should also be careful of how we speak to others.

Communication can be divided into 3 categories body language, words and tone. As the pie chart below shows words play only a minor role.

Body Language

This is also known as non verbal communication.
Using body language, we can interpret how a person is feeling without the use of words. We give messages using our eyes, facial expression, gestures, touch, stance and the angle of our head.
We also use signs and symbols to provide extra visual clues. For example road signs, computer icons and logos, etc

When looking at effective communication we have to be aware of the different age groups involved. This can be divided into 3 groups:
  1) Children aged 4-11 years
  2) Young people 11-18 years
  3) Adults – for example teachers, school nurse, parents etc

What are positive relationships?...