Help Children Develop Their Communication Skills
Communication is essential to human society. Even the animal kingdom has its own means of communication. However, human beings possess the innate ability for higher-level communication, which begins at the level of children.
Beginning from a baby up to the elderly, communication helps us sustain and progress together as a society. As a child grows, they develop communication skills on the basis of their environment. Hence, the right association helps finetune their communication. Afterall, children imitate their elders.
Home is the first place where their communication skills begin developing, followed by school. The learning environment, especially schools, plays a strong role in determining how children talk, read, write and understand languages. Also, children pick up new elements of communication in their community interactions during play, sleepovers, birthday parties, etc.
How to develop children’s communication skills
The following ways can be adopted to help develop your child’s communication skills.
- Regular conversations: Encourage your child to begin or join a conversation. This makes them more comfortable about opening up. It could be at home, during a walk, watching TV, when you go shopping or other occasions.
- Describe school day: Encourage your child to talk about their day at school. This gives you an idea of how well they observe things and articulate them. It increases the bonding between the both of you.
- Read to and with children: This is an excellent habit that’ll have everlasting benefits for your child while fostering deeper bonds. It helps improve their vocabulary and listening skills.
- Ask for opinions: This simple act can give you an understanding of how your child feels about something and keeps the communication line open. The child will also grow up expressing their opinions confidently.
- Body language: Sometimes, children may face difficulty understanding non-verbal cues. In such cases, you can communicate through body language and then repeat the same verbally for their understanding.
- Repeat words: The more you repeat, the better your child learns. During the growth phase, children learn through repetition, whether it’s alphabets, numbers, words or anything else. Your affirmation helps improve their communication skills.
- Over-corrections don’t help: Children take time and learn words or sentences better with age. Don’t expect them to be perfect with the pronunciations. If you emphasise, it will have the opposite effect on your child. If the child is unable to do it on demand, it may form a negative impression that learning words or languages is a hard task.
Other methods that matter
- Only a bare minimum of TV: We understand the influence of TV everywhere, including children. However, allow your child to watch only those programs that will have a positive impression on them and build their communication skills.
- Debate: Let your child research a topic and come up with arguments for both sides. This significantly enhances their communication skills.
- Role Model: Set the tone for your child’s communication skills by practising them yourself. Keep your level a little high to help your child improve themself.
Hence, your support matters when it comes to developing your child’s communication skills. JGS, Kokapet is one of the leading international school in Hyderabad. We make sure your child’s future matters through an all-rounded approach that includes communication skills on the basis of the renowned IBPYP curriculum.
