Communication and values

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What is communication?

Communication is a process that people to exchange thoughts by several methods. There are lots of different types of communications as people may have a foreign language, or disability: clients may be deaf or blind and young people not understanding at nursery. However these could also be barriers to communication, which I will explain later.

Why are communication skills important?

Communication skills are important in order to get you message across to others clearly. It is better to receive the correct communication instead of a misunderstood message. It is a way to learn, express ideas, feelings and opinions.

The communication cycle

The communication cycle is about the process of sending and receiving messages. Below is a diagram which shows this process. (1)

For this assignment I needed to attend a care setting where I observed the communications between myself and the children. I also carried out a one to one interaction and a group interaction. The group interaction involved a group children and myself which meant that the communications varied between this. However the one to one interaction just involved an individual which meant it differed from the group interaction.

The setting which I attended was an early year setting, a reception, where children aged 4-5 attended. There were about 5 members of staff at the reception department.

There were many different types of communications that I used during my interactions. The main skills I used were verbal and non-verbal communication skills. (Approximately 93% of the population all over the world use non-verbal communication whereas only 7% of the population use verbal communication). Verbal communication involves both speaking and listening whereas non-verbal communication involves our body language. Examples of non-verbal communication would be gesture, posture, eye contact, facial expressions, proximity, touch, conduct, dress and personal grooming. Communication also involves paralanguage, which means the use of language. This may include your tone of voice, pitch, volume, pause, tempo and speed.

In both my interactions I used most of the above skills which made it easier for me to communicate with the children as well as the staff at the school.

Another skill I used was SOLER. This means: Sitting squarely (facing person)

Open posture

Lean towards person (slightly)

Eye contact

Relaxed

This skill also helped me with my interactions as I felt more confident with the children and staff as they did with me.
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Care practitioners need to develop good communication, an important part of this is "active listening". There are many purposes of active listening. Some of these are to activate service users, to enable users to speak freely, to help the service user to develop skills, to gain insight into the issues which are being stated. Other purposes for active listening could be to help the service user solve problems, to help the service user reach satisfactory outcomes, to consider the options available to the same user, or to clarify what is being said.

Active listening does not just ...

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