Volume
When talking you would need to adjust the volume of your voice when dealing with different situations, e.g. the service user’s hearing or the environment. Service users may change the level of their voice when expressing how they are feeling e.g. the use of a quiet voice when they are feeling sad and maybe a loud, deep voice when they are expressing anger.
Rate of speech
Generally people who have a tendency to speak slowly, quietly and with no charisma in their voice those people may lose the listener’s interest very quickly, however if you speak really fast some service users may get all confused. If English is not the service user’s first language, the carer would need to acknowledge that and slow down the rate of speech to give them time to process the information you as their carer are providing them. Angry or upset service users may speak much more quickly.
The quality of voice, intonation and volume
The tone and intonation can easily change its meaning to imply irony, sarcasm or to patronise. It is important that as a carer you should be careful about how you go about saying things and pay attention to any implied meanings that you may be giving off. Sometimes the tone, intonation and pitch of the voice can alter the meaning of what you’re trying to say.
Methods of verbal communication are:
- Talking
- Acting
- Interviews
- Parents evening
- Conferences
- Meetings
Written communication is better than verbal communication as you can have a record of this to refer back to and with written forms it is much easier not to misinterpret what someone is trying to say.
When talking about written communication it can be expressed as text or even including pictures to highlight the point and make it easier for people to understand it also makes it more appealing. Whilst being on my work experience at Kids Corner I have noticed the different methods of written communication they have used.
Letters
The staff uses these to inform the children’s parents about any specific dates that may involve their children like day trips out or sports days etc to make the parents aware of what their children will be doing throughout the years and to seek their permission for their children to participate in certain activities this is done just by the use of a signature, also to ask for additional money to pay for the trip. Sending letters home on a regular basis is paramount to the child’s welfare as this is constantly informing parents what is going on at school and how this could potentially affect their child. Personally, I believe that the process of letter sending could be drastically improved.
Fax
This is used as a method of transferring information from one place to another by the use of a fax machine.
Notice boards
In kids corner they have a main notice board at the main entrance which consists of fire and safety procedures and other general notices concerning the whole nursery, and in each separate age groups like the daisies and foxgloves have their own notice boards which are more specific to that certain class. On these notice boards they advertise what lunch time or after-school activities they can participate themselves in.
Displays
Most displays around the nursery show all the work that the children have produced and the development of their work over a certain period of time. This is important for children to be able to see their work displayed it gives them a satisfaction and makes them feel that their work was good enough to be put on the wall giving them a full sense of achievement. Also when displaying work it enable parents and any visitors to know about what the children are doing whilst being at school and shows their improvements throughout the recent months. These displays consist of things they are being taught at the time like numbers 1-20 and the alphabet this would enable children to recognise these more easily as they would be apart of their daily routine.
Reports sent to parents
These report templates are produced on the computer and filled in by hand by each teacher that looks after the child including the progress of the child and where the child can improve on the social or academic side of them. These reports are very useful to the parents as they can understand how their children are progressing over that current term and what their next steps should be to help them achieve more from the time they spend there and these reports are sent out on a termly basis.
Newsletters
Kids Corner sends out newsletters each term which contains general notices about events and any accomplishments that they have achieved and if any particular students have succeeded in a particular aspect of their school life would have their name mentioned in the newsletter and be awarded with merit stickers, certificates or medals in some cases.
Prospectus
This is the be all and end all for a school as well as league tables because this is one of the most important methods of documentation that entices parents to send their children to a certain school over another. The prospectus includes the schools mission statement or their objectives for their future. The prospectus would outline the various subjects they have to offer a typical school day the code of conduct. Also illustrating past academic success/achievements as parents would look at this and only send their children to a good school that provides children with a decent grade at the end of their time spent at school by measuring academic success it can show how successful a school really is.
Special methods
Braille
Braille is the only form of communication enabling the blind to read and write. Louis Braille invented the whole scheme which comprises of a rectangular six dotted combination with up to 63 combinations spelling out the alphabet etc. Braille is printed on thick paper engraved by hand or with the use of a type writer and you can read Braille by slowly moving your fingers across the page to understand what character it is trying to represent. Braille is generally used by the blind who have impaired vision and that cannot simply read normal print. Braille is useful and apart of most blind people’s day to day lifestyle enabling them to do the similar things that we do on the norm.
Communicating with the deaf and blind:
- write large letters on the palm of the deaf and blind;
- use a letter plate with writing letters in relief and Braille letters;
- use loose plastic letters or similar that can be felt;
- Use a writing board and a marker for large and clear writing (not very fast, but very useful).
Lip reading
Lip reading is an effective communication strategy for people with hearing impairment. Lip reading is also a method of using visual clues from the speaker’s face understanding the contents of the language spoken. Lip readers attempt to understand the spoken language by decoding the patterns on the lips. It has been found that 40% of the sounds made from normal speech are clearly readable on the speaker’s lips.
Problems that are overcome whilst lip reading
Similar sounding letters like B, M and P apparently look very similar when on your lips and the lip reader would have to understand the context it was used in order to understand what the other person is trying to say. Objects that are an obstruction to the speaker's face is an additional problem, like people who speak with their hands in front of their mouths or have their backs facing the lip reader.
Makaton
Makaton is a simple language based upon day to day words, speech, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, body language etc. e.g. if you wanted a glass of water you would have to sign out the word, whilst asking the question raising your eyebrows looking as though you are questioning them alternatively you could show a picture of water and ask the question too.
Computerised methods
Email
In most care settings emails are used within the organisation between colleagues e.g. If a doctor was prescribing certain medications or adding notes to a patients file then they can email the notes to the admin staff who can then save it on the database.
Video Conference
This is a good method of having group meetings with other colleagues to update them on how the organisation is doing and other updates they may need to share they could also discuss what their aims are for the week ahead.
Text messaging
Organisations who may want to open up to other markets my use this method as a way of communicating with the service users e.g. Team C use this as a way of informing the service users on how they got on with the tests carried out whether the results were positive or negative.
