Unit_001_Introduction_to_Communication_in_Children_and_Young_People_Setting

Introduction In this essay I will be addressing and demonstrating the importance of communication at work, and the different ways to reduce difficulties of communications. I will also be tackling the issues on confidentiality. Outcome 1: Understanding why communication is important in the work setting: 1.1 Identify different reason why people communicate: The definition of communication means “something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups” (http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/communication.htm) another definition is “Communication is all about the way people reach out to one another.” (S/NVQ Level 3 Working with Children and Young People: Author Yvonne Nolen). This means when a group of people or couple of people are corresponding with each other. Communication is very important because it indicate someone feeling, expressing their needs, sharing information with one another, it also give confidence towards positive behaviour, it helps to discussing a situation when you’re in distress or something happened in your life , it helps to improve your knowledge, socialising sharing ideas and understanding each other. All of these are reason why people communicate it helps to improve and develop new skill to have effective communication (Level 2 Certificate Children and Young People’s Workforce) 1.2 Explain how effective communication affects all aspect of own work: As I explained communication is an important aspect of life; it’s even more important at work to have effective communication because as you will be communicating with your colleagues, children’s and parents. “When positive relationship are formed it is easier for colleagues to give and receive trust, support, help, advice information and encouragement” (Children’s Care, Learning and Development NVQ 3: Author: Miranda Walker) this explains the affect communication has between colleagues; this all helps to build an affective and comfortable workforce. This also help to build a relationship with the children’s because if they have a friendly and effective workforce it makes the children to have a better environment to learn. “This is beneficial to the staff and also the children because the practitioner’s working environment is the child’s play and learning space.” (Children’s Care, Learning and Development NVQ 3: Author: Miranda Walker). Communication is a day to day aspect in every human life; it is used everywhere to get the point across. It is more important to have effective communication at work because it brings the team together and makes the team stronger when everyone is working together. Communication is really important when working with children’s because how the adult communicates with one another the children will pick up on that and the relationship with one another and also the adults need to communicate effectively about their health and if there is something wrong. 1.3 Explain why it is important to observe an individual’s reaction when communicating with them: As there is many form of communication; observing ones reaction to communication is important because when communicating with a child or young adult they might say something different but their facial expression will say another. “7% of what we communicate is through spoken language- the rest is understood from body languages” (S/NVQ Level 3 Working with Children and Young People: Author Yvonne Nolen). When babies communicate they use all their body languages, gestures sounds even though they don’t speak we still understand them but young adults and children’s are clever how they communicate as they say one thing but mean another that is what you should observe them what they say and do “take some time to reflect about how good you are at ‘listening with your eye.’” (S/NVQ Level 3 Working with Children and Young People: Author Yvonne Nolen). Observing a child or young adult you could find out more about the child whether the child is confident or shy or whether the child communication or English is not improving. Outcome 2: Be able to meet the communication and language needs, wishes and preferences of individuals. 2.1 Find out an individual’s communication and languages needs, wishes and preferences: Every child and young adult has different ways to communicate to get their message across; as a baby they communicate by screaming, crying, and smile when they see something or someone they recognise. As a toddler they just start to understand more imitate what other people are doing, instead of crying they make it clear what they want by pointing or saying words. As a young adult they are more wisdom they understand how to develop relationship with other people and take decision on their own, if they want something they can do it with adult supervision, they become more independent and more aware of social, career wise and education (S/NVQ Level 3 Working with Children and Young People: Author Yvonne Nolen). There are different ways of communication they have been broken down into three categories are three they are: non-verbal when communicating with someone without using any words for example eye contacting, hand gesture, body languages all these non- verbal communication indicates whether the person is happy or sad (S/NVQ Level 3 Working with Children and Young People: Author Yvonne Nolen). Verbal communicating face to face by speaking, some form of sounds, words and languages between people (http://cobweb2.louisville.edu/faculty/regbruce/bruce//mgmtwebs/commun_f98/Verbal.htm) for example tone of the voice, language , face to face all these communicate define if the person is being angry, happy, friendly, sarcastic, excitement or if we are in fear we whisper to one another. The final form of communication is technology is communicating by electronic technology for example e-mail, written up documents, presentation, texting (S/NVQ Level 3 Working with Children and Young People: Author Yvonne Nolen) these communication can be used for formal or informal communication. 2.2 Demonstrate communication methods that meets an individual’s communication needs: In St Alban C.E. Primary have a special assembly every two weeks which the head teacher will present the Golden Book every teacher will allocate two or more children from their class that are behaving good and what they have learnt and how they are proceeding and how they are communicating with the class and teacher and the children will get a golden sticker and they will write their name on a piece of paper and it will be hanged up in the school hall to show who is top of the class. This a good way of communicating because it makes them develop their communication, their behaviour and how well they are doing this will make the students improve more and the students that didn’t receive anything they will try their best to be on it next time and the children will feel appreciated that my teacher is keeping an eye on me and seeing me where they are improving. In my placement there is a child that has taken a shine to me, the child will talk to me hug me or look at me all the time. This child he uses more body languages than verbal communication; the child is very quit and likes to do what suits the child, when the child wants something sometime will whisper or point at the thing want to do. But in group discussion the child will be quit not getting involved but the child will miss behave and has concentration problem as the child diverts from the subject very quickly. The best time to communicate with this child is one on one the child is more confident and will ask many questions and will communicate to you more if it’s by verbal or body language. 2.3 Show how and when to seek advice about communication: As a child worker it is important to seek advice about communication while working with children or young adult because the child or young adult may not have good communication skills such as disability, speaks a different language or culture differences or speaking problems. Working as a child minder it is important to have effective communication at work every day whether it is with a child or your colleagues this is why it is important to seek advice about communication; there are so many ways to seek advice about communication such as always your line manager about communication he/she will advise what to do regarding your work or work with to support you, there are a lot of agencies out there that can help if your line manager don’t know, these agencies will support you on communication on children and adults to develop their communication skills (Level 2 Certificate Children and Young People’s Workforce). There are many services out there that are helpful with communication such as 1. Royal National Institute for Deaf (RNID): this organisation helps support people with hearing or sight loss, 2. Association of Sign Languages interpreters: this organisation is qualified in sign language to help people that have hard to communicate, 3. Royal National Institute for Blind (RNIB): this organisation supports people with communication that are visually impaired, 4. Teaching Development Agency (TDA): this agency supports teacher assistants that work in schools with children, 5. Common Assessment Framework (CAF): this agency supports communication with parents and children with specific needs. 6. Department of Education: is a government run organisation that can be found in local authority website or the organisation website that gives information and supports on communication with parents from varieties of culture and religion. (Level 2 Certificate Children and Young People’s Workforce) All of these organisations above will help and support child minders with communication and they can find out many information that will help at their work place. Outcome 3: Be able to reduce barriers to communication. 3.1 Identify barriers to communication: To define barriers to communication is “obstacle in workforce that prevent effective exchange of ideas and thoughts” (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/barriers-to-communication.html) this means when working in team there is some problem of communication with one another because something is getting in the way. There are many ways of expanding good communication skills but there are so many factors that can get in the way of good communication such as many children and young adult first language is not English and to communicate with them will be hard as you don’t their mother tongue, many children and young adult may have illnesses or disability so the communication barrier will not be strong, cultural differences, some children or young adult may have some problems and distress so they don’t know how to address it so there will be communication problem or different style of talking which can be hard to communicate (S/NVQ Level 3 Working with Children and Young People: Author Yvonne Nolen). As childcare workers we have to learn and tackle these issues as best to our ability so we don’t offend anyone and learn to overcome the issue effectively. 3.2 Demonstrate how to reduce barriers to communication in different way Many children suffer from stuttering; this is a speech disorder which syllabus or words that are respected or the words last longer or find it hard to preannounce a word or syllabus. Stuttering is common in young children as their communication develops. This common in boys as its three times likely to affect them than girls. Stuttering is a short term or long term disorder depending on the level of stuttering. There is no cure for stuttering but can be helped by organisation to improve inn their communication they will be referred to speech and language therapist who will carry out assessment on stuttering and how they can improve the child communication on stuttering. The speech and language therapist will use short and simple sentences and use eye contact when talking. They will give the child time to talk by not interrupting the child when talking; the child will also need a healthy balance diet. Another speech disorder is stammering where the child or young adult repeats the syllabus or sound by pausing or blocking for a long time between words. This disorder find it hard to communicate publically or at home, they only communicate is a relaxed environment but many find it hard to developed relationship with family members or find it hard to make friends. Children or young adult that stammering will be referred to speech and language therapist will use short and simple sentences and use eye contact when talking. They will give the child time to talk by not interrupting the child when talking; the child will also need a healthy balance diet. They will make the child relaxed and whatever the speech therapist procedure is the parent or carer and teacher have to follow the same procedure so the child will develops more quickly. Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder when a child or a person is capable to speak but will not in a given situation; a child or person with this disorder will not speak outside of their comfort place many of the time their comfort place is their home. If a child or young adult has problem or issue they will not speak about it because they have low esteem. Children or young adult with this disorder find it hard to keep eye contact, very short attention span, they have more stress than normal children or young adults, many suffer from sleeping disorder, many have behaviour disorder and they find it hard to express their feelings . As there are many negatives about selective mutism but children or young adults have positives such as they have stronger sense of what is right or wrong, more creative and they like doing art. Many people get confused with autism with selective mutism because both disorders have similar symptoms. To tackle selective mutism children and young adults will be referred to speech language therapist who they will take the children or young adult to a calm and relaxed environment to make them feel comfortable; they provide a lot of one on one session, they will give the child or young adult encouragement and the speech language therapist, parent’s, teacher and close family must work to together to improve the child development and they do a lot of group work to improve their confident, all of this work that the speech language therapist does is to improve the child or young adult confident, able to speak in difficult situation and develop their language. 3.3 Demonstrate ways to check that communication has been understood: As I work with children between the ages of 5-6 (year 2) to make sure the children understand the work that is set the teacher will explain in great detail, the teacher will show what to do in different ways. The other day the topic was how to develop a pictogram and what the pictogram is showing. On the board the teacher showed her pervious tally chart that they did and with that the teacher developed a pictogram when the teacher finished making her pictogram the teacher explained that 1 square= 1 child by repeating to the children several time, the teacher will ask how many children like tigers the children will shout out 4, then the teacher changed it 1sqaure= 2 children and the teacher will ask how many and the children will answer then the teacher changed it again to 1 square= 5 children and the teacher will ask how many and the children will answer back until they understand when the task is set the children will sit their groups and every table had a teacher apart from one. The table I was on I asked every child if they are understood the task some did and some didn’t so I would show them what to do and I will explain as well and they understood. Some children understand by presenting to them what to do and some understand when explaining. As I work will with children that are the age 5-6 and they have fully understanding with English at this age children will shout out the answer but the teacher will teach them to put their hands up and not to talk over other children’s or teacher, some children like to show off by putting up their hands and show the other children that they are well behaved and well manner especially if they get a sticker or get praises from the teacher for being good. I also realised that children at this age like to be praised and get stickers to show their hard work and understanding. 3.4 Identify sources of information and support or service to enable more effective communication: There are four services that enable to have effective communication; these are the four services translation services: this service helps people to translate one language into another language if they don’t understand. Interpreting service: this service helps someone to interpret into their mother language if English is not their first language. Speech and language service: this service helps people to develop their speech and language to their age stage and it also develops their confidents to communicate, they learn children and young adult new words and they also do one to one all this develops communication skills and the last service is advocacy service: this service provide finding a job, training to get the experience in the field that you want, they provide information on courses in the career field they are looking for, information on all the day centre that are in the area and information about being father as some father are scared or worry how to be a father so this service provide information in this area which is good for fathers as they feel left out sometime. Outcome 4: Be able to apply and practices relating to confidentiality at work. 4.1 Explain the term ‘confidentiality’: The explanation of confidentiality means “confidentiality involves keeping information safe and only passing it on where there is a clear right to it and a clear need to do so” (S/NVQ Level 3 Working with Children and Young People: Author Yvonne Nolen) from the definition it is clear that confidentiality is very important right for children and young adults but when children’s and young adults life or health are at risk they will have to pass on the information. The reason why it’s important because children’s and young adults may not trust the person to tell them their personal details if they not kept secret and very child and young adults have the right for their personal information to be valued and not to be share by others and lastly if their information is shared out their lives may be at risk and the people around them lives also may be at risk. Working in a professional service it is compulsory for them to keep all personal information and details must be kept private and classified. As there is a legal obligation for confidentiality this comes under the Data Protection Act 1998. 4.2 Demonstrate confidentiality in day to day communication, in line with agreed ways of working: As confidentiality is very important and should not be shared outside work with anyone or any parents regarding any child. In St Alban Primary School any information regarding a child should not be disclosed apart from the child’s parents or carer, if anyone ask about a child that’s has no relation with the child we should not tell information about the child. When I first started my placement I was told by my line manger that I should not promise to keep a secret I should straight away tell my liner manager or the deputy head regarding a child health or safety. 4.3 Describe situation where information normally considered to be confidential might need to be passed on: As confidentiality is very important in work setting but there are some information that may need to be shared with colleagues or other services it depends on the situation. In my placement in St Alban C.E. Primary School the head teacher is a child protection designated teacher so if there is any marks on a child that concern me we should tell the teacher or the head immediately and I was told by the head that I should never promise to keep a secret, if a child tells me something that’s to do with their health or safety I should immediately tell the head or deputy head. Unit 007 3.5:- Sharing information: As I explained that I must pass on information if a child is at risk either at school or at home I must be accurate with the information I pass on not optional but as the head is a child protection designated teacher I must pass on information and the head will deal with it and take it further. I was also told that I should report any criminal act that is taken place at work and if any child is at risk from third party. Explain how and when to seek advice about confidentiality: When I need to seek advice about confidentiality or I’m not sure about something my liner manager told me to ask one of the teacher or the head and they should direct me to the right person and the issues can be resolved; when I started my placement I was given a booklet that has information about confidentiality which I have to follow the work setting policies and procedure on confidentiality one of the procedure is if I see a mark or any child tells me any information I should tell the head teacher or a teacher immediately. Every child’s information must be kept in a private place where no one can have a look at it without permission, if I feel that an individual confidentiality is not met I should report to the head or deputy head and they will deal with it. Unit 007 3.5:- Principle and Boundaries: Under the Data Protection Act 1998 every child’s and adults information stored in a safe place and private place where no one from outside the school can have access to it, in St Alban C.E. Primary School confidential information is a stored in a locked up cupboard and any information is stored electronically password protected which only people with the password can access the information.