Promoting_Communication_in_Early_Years

Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce CACHIE Level 3:- Unit SHC31 Promote communication in health and social care or children's and young people's settings. Introduction paragraph Communication is important to all of us both in our personal and our professional lives. We communicate for a number of different reasons, both in a professional and personal capacity. In our professional capacity the groups of people we communicate with can be split into four distinct categories; fellow staff, parents and carers, outside agencies and of course the children who are in our care. We communicate with these groups for a number of reasons. Your position within the setting will affect the reasons why, and how you communicate which these people. When communicating with fellow staff, speaking to a senior staff member will generally be to pass on information from parents and carers, ask for support or advice regarding a particular issue or child, offer ideas to aid the development of the nursery, and to request information or express needs to further the educational development of the children within your care. Communicating with staff who hold a similar role within the setting may be to co-ordinate the day to day planning, share ideas, or to offer support and advice. Whereas communicating with staff who you manage will generally be to give guidance and instruction, to ask for information which needs to be feed up through the management chain, or to facilitate problem solving. The list of the reasons why staff communicate is almost exhaustive and although above I have set out a number of examples of how different staff may communicate with each other it is never usually as clear cut at this. When communicating with parents and carers it will usually be either to give or receive information regarding the child, this could be daily routine changes, observations or changes to their dietary or medical requirements. However part of our role as professionals is to offer support and guidance to parents if and where appropriate. Again depending on your position within the setting the amount of contact you have with outside agencies will differ, but when communication is needed, it will usually be as a means to, find out more information or give information, regarding a particular situation or child. Often outside agencies can offer support and guidance either on an child related matter, or on a personal matter such as possible career pathways and or training opportunities. Finally there is the communication we have with the children in our care, probably the most common and frequent communication we have. We are there to develop and support their growth and will offer guidance and instructions, show affection and support, and form positive relationships with them through the communication we share. Alongside the aforementioned professional reasons of why we communicate at work, will also be the personal reasons. As when you spend forty or more hours a week in a setting it is impossible not to form personal friendships with those with whom you come in contact with. Sometimes the communication we share may hold little or no relevance to our job role, however it is all part of building up the relationships with the people we work with, or come in contact with, which in turn will allow for better overall communication both of a personal and a professional nature. The importance of managing this personal communication to insure that a level professionalism remains is clearly paramount. There are many different types of communication and each may have a use within our settings, the types of communication can be split into two different groups. Verbal and non-verbal communications. When we think of communication we generally think of speech as the main form, however speech only makes up part of the every day communications we have. Examples of verbal communications are formal staff meetings, appraisals, verbal warnings, verbal instructions given on a day to day basis to staff members and children within the setting. conversations with staff, parents and carers, outside agencies, and the children within our care. Examples of non-verbal communications are sign language, body language, facial expression, written communication, drawings, dance, and physical touch, and it is important to remember that all of these play a part in how well we communicate within our setting. For example when reading a story out loud to a group of children the words we speak are only a part of the overall telling of the story. The tone of our voice, the facial expressions we use and the actions we may include will all enable the children to more fully understand and follow the story, and it is through this immersion of a wide range of communication styles that the children develop their own communication abilities. When we are working with younger children who do not yet have the capacity to communicate through speech, we often rely on non-verbal forms of communication to reassure and guide them. Physical touch is common within this age group, and can be seen in each setting where children cling to staff members for comfort, wave as they are leaving the setting, or lash out when frustrated. Within our role in the setting how, when and where we communicate is as important as why we communicate. Ensuring the continuing flow of information between staff, parent and carers, outside agencies and the children in our care requires a long term commitment to communicate affectively. It is important to maintain good communications between staff to ensure that everyone working in the setting understands, their role within the company, the aims of the company and how to seek guidance and support should they require it. This will allow for a more structured and effective working environment. However more important that this is the use of communication within the setting to ensure staff support and work well with each other. Creating personal relationships within a small setting can be relatively easy, however ensuring that these relationships remain professional at their heart can be more difficult. If the management team become overly friendly with the staff it may be hard for the staff to take orders and directions, and it may also create difficulties for the management team to issue orders, or warnings if needed. Staff who work closely together will / should be able to pick up on non-verbal communications from other staff members which would allow them to highlight problems or support their fellow staff members if they are experiencing difficulties. In our role we may be privy to information of a sensitive nature and how we receive and handle this information will affect how parents and carers trust us. In the day to day communications we have with parents stopping and spending the time with parents instead of trying to hold a conversation with them while also carrying out other tasks will ensure that parents feel that we are committed to helping to support and develop their child. Different children will respond better to different communication styles, and we as professionals need to understand this, and should take this into account when setting up boundaries, giving instructions, or when asking questions. An example of this would be when asking children to wash their hands before mealtimes, some will respond to the verbal instruction when you say “Time to wash your hands” others will relate more to the actions of you rubbing your hands together, while some may follow the example of other children who start to wash their hands. Of course it is always important to remember how you phrase your instruction, as some children with may take things very literally for example if you ask them to “go and wash their hands in the toilet”. Working with outside agencies can be a stressful task within the setting depending on how you view their role. Ofsted for example often make staff feel nervous as they feel like they are being scrutinised or examined for fault, and therefore the way in which they respond to questions or how they conduct themselves while they are present may be different than how they would normally conduct themselves. Ofsted are aware of this of course, and take this into account, however over-coming this thought process will allow staff to communicate effectively. What are the barriers to communication There are many reasons why communication can be difficult and it is essential that these are identified within the setting and procedures are put in place to support communication. These barriers can be personal, environmental, short term, or long term. There can also be quick solutions to over-come these barriers, or they could require specialised training or support from an outside agency. Examples of some of the barriers which we might come across within our roles within the nursery are problems with speech, whether that is English as an additional language where the parents carers and or child's first language is not English, and they find it hard to communicate and or understand the staff, or a speech impairment where forming certain words is difficult and therefore prohibits communication. There are plenty of solutions to help to over-come this type of issue, and while it is unlikely that a staff member is going to be able to learn their language to become fluent, they could pick up a few choice phrases which would help them to communicate with especially the child. Words like; hello, toilet, food, drink, etc will help the child feel more comfortable and will allow them to communicate better within the setting. When talking to parents who's first language is not English and are having issues understanding or following the conversation, giving them written letters rather than just informing them in person about events and or requests will allow them to take the letter home to read it more closely, or perhaps get someone to translate it for them. Also if their English is very limited then suggesting that they might like to bring someone with them as a translator to the likes of parents meetings, or information days would ensure that these parents feel included in their children's education. When working with different ages and development levels of children it is always important to take into account the child's vocabulary ability. Speaking to a 2 year old for example you would assume that they would not understand the meaning of as many words as a 5 year old would. The same should also be taken into account when talking to adults, if staff where to use words of phrases which are linked to the EYFS for example it is possible that parents may not be as familiar with these words in this context and this could cause confusion. It is therefore important to ensure that you chose you words carefully to ensure that the person you are speaking to understands. It is very easy when you spend the day talking to staff who will all know that P.S.E.D. Stands for Personal, Social, and Emotional Development to forget that others might not. The same applies when writing letters or newsletters, you should not assume that everyone will be able to understand these types of phrases. There could also be parents who are illiterate, and may require support when filling in forms, or might benefit from having visual stimulus or reminders rather than solely text. Another reason why communication could prove difficult is if someone has a hearing impairment. This could range from complete deafness in both ears, to minor hearing problems limited to particular audio bands. Depending on who it is who has these hearing impairments will usually dictate the solutions used to over-come them. Many adults who have suffered from hearing loss for all or most of their lives have learnt how to lip read, and as long as you speak clearly while facing them they will be able to communicate effectively. It is also important to think about lighting levels assuring that the levels are suitable. When working with young children who have hearing impairments developing visual signs will help include them within the setting, and will ensure their safety. If a setting has a child, parent, or staff member in their setting with hearing impairments it would be beneficial to see about sign language courses to give staff the basics knowledge of sign language, and allow them to pick up some key words to help communication. Similarly to hearing impairment, visual impairment can cause barriers to communication, as previously stated a lot of communication is non-verbal, and much of this is in the form of visual stimulus. It is important to remember this even when holding a conversation with someone who is visually impaired. Clearly within the setting thought has to be given to all the written communication which is usually occurs, often much of this communication can be given verbally, with written communication supplied solely for record keeping. Also a lot of information can be emailed which would allow the person to run it through a speech program. Working with staff or children who are visually impaired the setting should be able to ensure their safety, often this involves using a colour scheme to highlight parts of the permanent structure which could cause obstructions or injury. Various learning development issues can form barriers to communication, these learning development __________ can be varied and can result in different barriers, however all of these can be addressed effectively within the setting. Support and guidance will be available from a number of outside agencies. A barrier to communication which affects us all sometime it the environmental distractions which occur in the setting, these are wide ranging, from noise of children playing, being preoccupied because you are thinking about something else, trying to hold a conversation while carrying out another task, or even due to something which occurred before, like having a bad nights sleep or receiving bad news. It is impossible to prevent some of these types of barriers from occurring, however staff members should try and ensure they are fit and able to preform their job role, and if excuses of always having lack of sleep is always given as an excuse the management may need to remind the staff member that they need to make a greater effort to ensure they are capable of fulfilling there role in the setting, while also offering support to try and facilitate a suitable working pattern for example. Sometimes communication barriers can break down due to poor communication or unclear expectations where one staff member assumes that they have adequately past on information but this information has not been received, this can cause disruptions within the working day, and may result in confusion. To avoid this it is best to have policies and procedures in place to maintain good communications ensuring records are kept up to date, and those who need to have access to them. Unfortunately sometimes the communication barrier can be due to a clash of personalities, which can be the hardest barrier to overcome. These can be clashes over little things