Topic 3 Parents and teachers as Communication Ambassadors

Parents and teachers can develop effective communication skills with children by:

• Being active listeners: By paying attention to the person (in this case, the child) talking, and by trying to think how they are thinking, without being distracted by their own thoughts, adults can facilitate communication with children. Active listening enables the speaker to express their thoughts without being interrupted. The listener can encourage or initiate the conversation by using their body language. Facial expressions are key. For example, nodding or showing engagement to the speaker will help them understand that the listener actually cares about what they hear, they value and respect the person who is trying to express themselves to them.
• Using body language: As a listener, smiling, maintaining eye-contact with the person sharing their thoughts, and event mirroring their facial expressions can be a powerful affirmation that the messages the sender is giving are being listened and understood by the receiver.
• Avoiding distractions: An active listener should always pay attention to the listener and not to other things that are happening around them.
• Remembering: Making an effort to remember most of the information that the speaker is sharing can help to more concise feedback.
• Questioning: Relevant questions about what the speaker is sharing can initiate longer discussions. Likewise, asking clarification questions is a message to the speaker that they are actually being listened.
• Summarising: After having allowed the sender to share all of the things they wanted to share; the receiver can summarise information received to ensure that they didn’t omit anything.